Hot Cross Buns

When I was a kid, Maundy Thursday had always been so eventful. In the small township that I was brought up, there was a small church but every special event would be made memorable with the involvement of all in some way or the other. On Maundy Thursday, at our home, we would be assigned some clean up work while mummy would be busy preparing the Pesaha Appam. 

In the evening, after the mass, a huge gang of family friends would go to each others house to break the bread as per tradition. Now this gang being a big one, by the time we would be done with a visit of every house, it would be midnight and we would all be so full. It was so much fun to be a part of that gang with so many friends. After, moving out of that township, every Pesaha / Maundy Thursday reminds me of those years. 

That township also didn't have many bakeries, back then. The only bakery was Marian bakery and they used to sell usual buns with cross on it. We would get that as well along with the homemade Indri appam, Vattayappam and Pesaha Paal. I must admit that I had never had these hot cross buns ever before. I always used to see these buns being circulated in the blogging world during this time of the year. When I tried it the first time I made up my mind to make it every year. Well, I read it somewhere that these buns are had on Good Friday. But, I make it on Maundy Thursday to follow the tradition of the breaking of bread.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup of milk
2. 1 /4 cup of oil
3. 1/4 cup of sugar
4. 1 tsp of yeast
5. 2 cups of all purpose flour
6. 1/4 tsp of baking powder
7. 1/4 tsp of baking soda
8. 1/2 tsp of salt
9. 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
10. 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
11. 1/4 cup of raisins
12. 4 tbsp of sugar
13. Egg wash for the glaze

For the frosting

1. 75 gms of butter
2. 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
3. 1 tsp of milk

Method

• In a pan scald the milk, oil and sugar. Scalding means to heat the mixture just untill it starts to boil. Turn off the heat and remove it from the stove top. Let it cool for 30 minutes or so. The mixture would now be just warm.
• Drop in the yeast and flour into it and mix it . Let it rest for 30-45 minutes. It would rise in size. Add the baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix it well. Add more flour to it if you feel its too sticky. 
• In a bowl, mix the ingredients 9-12 to form a raisin and spice mixture.
• Drop the dough onto a floured surface and pat it lightly with your hands. Spread half of the the raisin and spice mixture over it. Fold the dough so that the spice mixture is locked in the folds.
• Again pat the dough lightly with your hands and spread the remaining spice mixture and fold the dough again. Do it again for two more times.
• Now pull out golf size dough balls and pull the dough downwards using your fingers to give the dough balls a neat look.
• Place them on a greased baking sheet leaving enough room between them to rise . Leave it covered at a warm place for it to rise for about an hour.
• Brush them with egg wash to give a glaze.
• Bake it in the oven at 400 F for about 18-20 minutes or untill the top turns golden brown.
• Remove it from the oven and let it cool before you form the cross on top of it.
• For the frosting, mix the butter, icing sugar and milk. Beat it well to make it fluffy. Bring it to a desired consistency by either adding more milk or sugar.
• Place the frosting in a pastry bag with the decorating tip to draw the cross.

Tips

1. You could adjust the amount of spices as per your taste.
2. Since its made during the time of lent and in case you have given up eggs during lent, then you could use milk for the glaze, instead of egg wash.
3. You could use a ziploc bag to draw the cross. Just pour in the frosting into a ziploc bag and cut of its pointed edge and pipe out the frosting through it to make the cross.