Hot Cross Buns Recipe from Mrs. Rabbit (Peter’s Mother)
This hot cross buns recipe is a foolproof, easy, step by step recipe with phenomenal results. If you love soft, fluffy, hot cross buns, laced with a hint of mixed spice, and dotted with currants, this classic British recipe is for you!
Originally published on March 27, 2015.
This hot cross buns recipe is not a normal recipe post for me.
This post may contain Amazon affiliate links for your convenience, at no additional cost to you.
First of all, I took some of the photos below long before I even began Christina’s Cucina. I didn’t make the hot cross buns in those pictures, and the recipe belongs to a storybook rabbit!
When my children were young, I used to entertain them with all things ‘Beatrix Potter’, and one of the coloring books I bought for them was called, “Peter Rabbit’s Easter.” It contained lots of activities for the Easter holiday, and one of them was a recipe for children to make hot cross buns.
Here’s another great recipe to make with, or for children at Easter: Italian Easter bread rings.
Well, I pulled out that particular page and kept the recipe because it sounded really good, but it wasn’t until my daughter was 13 years old, that she actually made them. (Yikes, time flies!)
The photo of the page below is from that little coloring book. It contains the recipe she followed and we continue to follow. Please note, I am quite sure the 1 tablespoon of yeast is a typo, as this is a very large amount of dried yeast for the amount of flour, so please follow my printable recipe instead.
You may also like my homemade cinnamon roll recipe.
We make hot cross buns in our bread machine (this is the one I have, but there are many less expensive models), and if you’d like to do the same, just follow the directions below.
You can see from the very last photo below, we either added our own little touch of icing the first time my daughter made them (as the recipe didn’t include it). However, for true and authentic British hot cross buns, you’ll skip the icing and make the proper crosses. Here are a few more English recipes.
Flour and water is made into a loose paste which is piped onto the buns before baking. I can assure you, these hot cross buns taste even better than they look! Delicious, anyway you eat them, and they are so good toasted the next day (cut them in half first), then slather with butter, jam or marmalade!
Mrs. Rabbit’s Hot Cross Buns
adapted from a coloring book recipe makes 12 medium sized buns
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW (see recipe card for stand mixer directions)
Ingredients
Buns
- milk
- butter
- sugar
- flour
- mixed spice
- salt
- yeast
- currants
- flour
- water
Glaze
- sugar
- water
Add the milk and melted butter to the bread machine bowl. Place the flour, sugar, salt and mixed spice* (see below) on top of the liquid and make a well in the center, to which the yeast can be added. Set the bread machine to the dough setting and press start. Add the dried fruit when the machine beeps to “add ingredients”.
*To save yourself ordering the British spice blend, you can make your own with this recipe for the British mixed spice.
When the cycle has ended, make sure the dough has doubled in size, then shape into 12 equal pieces and place in a buttered 9″ x 13″ pan.
As I stated above, just mix water and flour until it forms a thick, glue-like consistency.
Put the mixture into a sandwich bag, piping bag, (or condiment bottle) and trim a tiny piece from one corner, if using the bag.
Pipe across the rows in each direction. NOTE: DO NOT MAKE Xs ON EACH BUN. Follow these instructions and you will have proper looking hot cross buns.
Allow the buns to rise until almost doubled in size. I place mine in the oven with a jug of boiling water (so they won’t form a crust). Then remove from the oven, and set it to 400°F (200°) and allow to come to temperature before placing the buns to bake in the center of the oven for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown.
Meanwhile, make the glaze by melting the sugar in the water in a small pot over low heat. Allow to simmer for about two minutes, then brush the buns with the glaze as soon as they come out of the oven.
Allow to cool slightly before serving, preferably with a hot cup of tea. It always seems nicer with a real china cup and saucer, too.
The picture below is of my daughter’s first time making hot cross buns from Mrs. Rabbit’s recipe. Excuse the poor quality of photo as it was never meant to end up on my page, especially since she didn’t want her photo on here–well, I sort of cut her out. ;)
As you can see, I’ve managed to fix up the recipe a bit–I think Mrs. Rabbit would be proud, too!
Don’t miss another recipe or travel post; sign up for my free subscription at the top.
Mrs. Rabbit's Hot Cross Buns Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 oz milk
- ¼ cup butter softened or melted, if using a bread machine
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour or bread flour (you may need more flour if the dough is too sticky)
- 2 tsp. mixed spice (more or less, depending on your preference - recipe for mixed spice is below this recipe card)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp. yeast dried
- ¾ cup currants
Cross Mixture
- 2 Tbsp water more or less as needed to get the gluey consistency
- 2 Tbsp flour
Glaze
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp water
Instructions
- Add the milk and melted butter to the bread machine bowl. Place the flour, sugar, salt and mixed spice on top of the liquid and make a well in the center, to which the yeast can be added.
- Set the bread machine to the dough setting and press start. If the dough is too sticky (sticks to your finger when touched, add a little more flour.) Add the dried fruit when the machine beeps to “add ingredients”.
- When the cycle has ended, make sure the dough has doubled in size, then shape into 12 equal pieces/rounds and place in a buttered 9″x13″ pan.
- Allow the buns to rise until almost doubled in size. I place mine in the oven with a jug of boiling water (so they won’t form a crust).
- While the buns are rising, mix the water and flour until it forms a thick, glue-like consistency.
- Put the mixture into a sandwich bag, piping bag, (or condiment bottle) and trim a tiny piece from one corner, if using the bag.
- Remove the buns from the oven, and set it to 400°F (200°). Pipe the flour and water mixture across the rows in each direction. See the photo above (do not pipe an X on each bun)
- Place the buns in the center of the preheated oven for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Meanwhile, make the glaze by melting the sugar in the water in a small pot over low heat. Allow to simmer for about two minutes, then brush the buns with the glaze as soon as they come out of the oven.
- Allow to cool slightly before serving, preferably with a hot cup of tea.
- The next day, slice them in half and toast them to serve with butter, and of course another cup of tea!
Notes
- Activate the yeast in the warm milk with a pinch of sugar.
- Meanwhile, mix the softened butter and sugar until well combined, then add a little of the milk mixture.
- Remove the paddle and insert the dough hook then add some flour. Add the rest of the milk, flour, salt and mixed spice and let the machine knead the mixture into a dough. (If using cups, begin with the lesser amount of flour, and only add more to acheive a workable dough.)
- Continue run the machine for about 5 minutes; after a soft and smooth dough has formed add the currants. Mix through then stop the machine. Cover and let the dough double in size, then proceed with STEP 2 in the main recipe to shape the dough, etc.
Nutrition
Mixed Spice (British Recipe for the US/Canada and Recipes to Use it)
Special Equipment
- 1 glass jar
Ingredients
- 2 tsp cinnamon ground
- 2 tsp nutmeg ground
- 2 tsp coriander dried, ground spice (not cilantro)
- 1 tsp ginger ground, dried spice (not fresh)
- 1 tsp allspice ground
- ½ tsp mace ground
- ½ tsp cloves ground
Instructions
- Mix all the spices together and place in a glass jar or container.
- Keep sealed in a sealed container in a dry place.
Notes
Nutrition
Christina’s Cucina is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
looks yummy! will try tonight. thanks for sharing love.
Awesome! :) Hope you enjoyed them!
Hi friend! this is awesome and looks easy to make. Will try on this weekend.
Thanks!
Hi, I was wondering if you could use almond milk instead of cow’s milk? We do not have cow’s milk. So would vanilla almond milk work? Thank you. Looking forward hearing from you. ☺
Hi Beth, I have never tried it, but this is a similar dough to my vegan doughnuts and it works there! I’d give it a try, tbh. Let me know how they turn out :)
I love the name `Mrs. Rabbits` hot cross buns. They are delicious and easy to make. Thank you for this wonderful site x
Thanks, Muriel! So glad you like the recipe and my site! CC
Hi Christina. So pleased to be able to have new recipes. Thank you for your postipostings.
I do not own a machine, can I hand mix the Hot Cross bun dough.
Of course you can! It’s not a dough that needs tons of kneading, so pretty easy, too! Enjoy!
hi, i was also wondering around how long each rise would be, and also how long the dough is mixed. I don’t own a machine so i don’t know how long the cycle of mixing/rising is.
Hi Gabrielle, don’t go by time when working with yeast as it will vary depending on some factors (the yeast used, temperature, etc.). For the first rise, let it double in size. For the second rise, you can see how mine look when I’m adding the crosses, not quite doubled in size, but they’re touching each other in the pan. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
Hi Christina,
its a beautiful site, and I’m glad I visited.
just a doubt, I’m sure you must have done it over & over again & all the others who commented positively.
Isn’t 1 tbsp active dry yeast justifying for 450 gms flour. it cant be 1 tsp according to me.
thank you!
Well, don’t know what to tell you because I just made these again yesterday and 1 teaspoon of yeast does it every time. They turn out beautifully. 1 Tbsp for 1 lb of flour is overkill (according to me). :)
Hi Cristina,
I made your hot cross buns last year and made my husband a happy man! He is from England living on the central coast of California and missing his daily ration of currant buns, I had tried several recipes over the years but all were too stodgy and heavy. Thank goodness I found your web site now I can rest easy in SLO and he can feel comforted by soft light currant buns .
Thank you
Lauren Price
These were delicious and very easy to make. We didn’t have any when they came out of the oven at night but were perfectly fresh the next morning for breakfast on Good Friday
Wonderful, Claire! You can warm them up, too and they’re also good, split and toasted! :) Thank you!
Sounds and looks lovely ! I would like to know how to make this dough without a bread machine / I use a large kitchen aid mixer / by tomorrow morning!
Thank you!
Sharon
Hi Sharie, of course you can make this in the mixer! Just use the dough hook and put all the ingredients for the dough in the bowl. Good to go! Enjoy and happy Easter! CC
So the fact that I ate 3 of these hot cross buns might tell you what I thought of them! They are delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe. I’m bringing the remaining buns to a friend who just had surgery. They were so good that I might make another batch this week to bring to work or for our family Easter celebration. Happy Easter!
Haha! Now you’re making me think of them and I want some, too! Thanks for letting me know, Rochelle! Happy that you like them. Why not make them for Good Friday? That’s when Hot Cross Buns were traditionally for. However, to me, they’re good any day of the year! Happy Easter to you, too! CC
I take it you were only able to leave 4 stars? This happens way too often to my readers. I hate this rating system, it’s so unfair.