Easter is the holiday of chocolate eggs and leavened sweets, such as doves and sweet buns that each region prepares according to its personal recipe, sometimes with the addition of cheese. In the case of leavened we propose an Easter recipe that is used to eat on Good Friday in the Anglo-Saxon tradition countries: the hot cross buns.
Hot cross buns are small spiced sandwiches named after the cross engraved on the surface with icing. There are those who say that the buns have healing properties, so you would be enough to give a piece of this sandwich and hope for a healing of a sick person, and there are those who say it should be divided into two and share it with a friend to protect friendship.
Ingredients for 12 buns:
- 625 gr flour
- 1 egg
- 45 gr butter
- 85 gr sugar
- 275 ml warm milk
- 125 gr raisins (in addition candied fruit if you like)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoon of mixed spices in powder (cinammon, cloves and nutmeg)
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon and half of powdered beer yeast
Ingredients for the polishing:
- 1 egg
- Milk q.s.
- Granulated sugar q.s.
Ingredients for the icing:
- Icing sugar q.s.
- Water q.s.
In a bowl mix the flour with spices and salt and work with diced butter. Make a fountain with this mixture and add sugar, lemon zest, and yeast.
Aside, beat the egg and add it to the flour mixture with warm milk: forming a soft dough. Transfer the dough onto a slightly dusted surface, and add the raisins, a little at time. Work the dough by mixing well the raisins and place it in a slightly buttered bowl. Cover with a towel and let it rise about an hour. After this time, work the dough back on the dusted surface and, then, put it back into the bowl, leaving it to rise for another half an hour.
At the end of rising, take the dough and divide it into 12 pieces of the same size, give it a ball shape and flatten it slightly. Cover again and let it rise for ten minutes.
Prepare the polishing: work the egg with a drop of milk; brush the 12 pieces with this polish and put them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, sprinkle with powdered sugar and bake at 240° for about 10 minutes.
Allow the buns to cool and decorate them with the typical cross made with the icing (made by mixing water and icing sugar).