Hot Cross Buns are always a special treat at Easter. These gluten-free Spiced Hot Cross Buns do just the trick. Making treats and special meals for your family is a joy and creates memories that last long afterward.
Easter is a special time to share cooking in the kitchen, outings, family dinners, crafts, and activities with family and friends. You can make this recipe with spices that turn the buns brownish -or plain, making them white. Sometimes I use frosting for the Cross instead of just the white dough.
We usually painted eggs together when the children were small and made cut-out cookies or homemade pulled taffy. These traditions help focus us on family; the homemade pulled taffy, for instance, was a tradition started by my mom. Then there was always the egg hunt, placing eggs down the stairway and hiding them among the furniture for eager little ones to find, or weather permitting, there would be an egg hunt outside.
Before finding out we had to change to eating gluten-free, we always bought Hot Cross Buns, which were available a couple of weeks before Easter. They were good for breakfasts and even a treat for a sandwich lunch.
One year I decided to make this gluten-free version of Hot Cross Buns and take them out on an outdoor day trip adventure as the basis for a packed lunch sandwich.
This bun recipe is versatile whether you add spices or make them plain. It freezes well either in an unbaked form to bake fresh as needed or already baked and sliced. When the kids were still at home, I made dozens of various rolls, bread, and buns, and I would freeze them ready to bake. This recipe allows you to pop them in a cold oven while still frozen. Then turn the oven on and bake. Voila, fresh buns when you want them. I do believe in planning ahead.
These days since I only need one or two buns at a time, I bake them ahead, slice them, and freeze them. Then I toast them in a toaster oven. Most of my bread and bun recipes can be made this way so that you can have freshly toasted buns or bread slices anytime.
Spiced Hot Cross Buns, a Gluten-Free Recipe
Course: Breakfast, LunchCuisine: BreadDifficulty: Medium8
servings25
minutesGluten-Free Spiced Hot Cross Buns Recipe. These buns stay soft and delicious without toasting.
Ingredients
Step One: In a bowl, place dry ingredients as follows:
4 cups of Trina’s White Bread Mix #7 Recipe in the cookbook,
Gluten-Free, You Can Do It -by Trina Astor-Stewart.1/3 cup soft butter
3 tablespoons sugar
Blend the dry ingredients together, then add the butter. Crumble the mixture to resemble making pastry, and set aside.
Step Two: Assemble Wet Ingredients as follows in a separate bowl.
6 eggs, beaten until light and frothy
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water (or milk)
Step Three: Beat or whisk in the Dry Ingredients (from the first bowl) until the batter is smooth but not too dry.
Remove about 1 1/2 cups of the dough and set it aside to be used for the crosses on the buns.
Step Four: To the largest amount of dough, add the following. This becomes the spiced dough.
Juice and Zest of 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Directions
- Let both dough mixtures proof covered for about 2 hours. The dough will double in size.
- Knead the Spiced Dough using as a Dusting Mix, a little of
Trina’s Fine Flour Mix #3 – the recipe is also in the cookbook. - Just add enough Dusting Mix to make a workable dough. Too much, and the buns may become a bit heavier, although still good.
- After kneading the dough into buns and placing them on a Parchment Paper lined baking sheet. Use a pastry brush to brush an egg wash on top of each bun. An egg wash is a slightly beaten mixture of egg and water.
- Take the plain or white dough mixture, knead it gently, and roll it out into a round of flat dough from which you can cut strips to place on the buns in the shape of a Cross. The egg wash will help the crosses of dough stick to the bun.
- Let the buns rise for another 30 minutes. At that time, either bake them or freeze them to bake later.
- I baked 4 large buns right away and froze the 4 remaining to bake later. You can make a larger quantity by making them smaller, but I wanted large ones for some hearty chicken salad sandwiches.
- Bake at 350℉ for about 25 minutes until browned. Don’t overbake.
- To bake frozen buns, place buns them in a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 350℉ and bake for about 45 minutes.
- For an extra special touch, you can add white icing to the crosses or make the crosses with some white icing instead.
- To Make White Frosting: Mix 5 tbsp. of soft butter, 1 cup of icing sugar, and enough cream ( about 1 tbsp.) to make the right consistency for the icing. Since I was using these for sandwiches, I omitted the icing.
Notes
- See the step-by-step photographs below in the rest of the Blog.
My husband and I went for an Easter Saturday hike through the woods and trails of Niagara Glen, located alongside the Niagara Gorge, Niagara Falls, Ontario. As an aside, we walk on both sides of the Gorge. It is called Devil’s Hole at one point on the American side. Here you can walk along the top of the Gorge and view the Eagles flying at the same height as where you stand. Or descend almost to the Niagara River and walk along for quite a long way. There are steps down at both ends of the trail.
I packed a picnic lunch consisting of two Hot Cross Buns filled with chicken breast, slathered with Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise, which is gluten-free. Plus, a couple of oranges and bananas and a thermos of tea. This surely hit the spot and tasted good after our three-hour trek through the beautiful Niagara Glen!
The photograph above shows our Hot Cross Bun lunch perched on the part of a fence overlooking the Niagara River. It was a beautiful sunny early spring day in March, and the river was visible at many points along the trail. This was interesting as the river would probably have been hidden behind foliage in summer. Lunch sure tasted good!
Trina’s White Bread Mix #7 stays soft and moist, so it is good to use as a sandwich for a packed lunch. You will love making this mix because, with just a few differences in Method, it is used for many recipes. Imagine soft gluten-free dinner rolls!
