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Cranberry & Orange Hot Cross Buns

  Rating 0.0

Prep

2 HR

Bake

20-25 mins

Serves

20

Difficulty

Hard

About

A classic Easter treat, Hot Cross Buns are delicious spicy fruit buns that are irresistible when slathered in butter. We definitely believe that they should be enjoyed all year round!

made using

Golden Caster

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Ingredients
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Cranberry & Orange Hot Cross Buns Recipe

To make the buns

Step 1

Start by mixing the yeast with a tablespoon of whole milk and a teaspoon of caster sugar in a large mixing bowl, until the yeast has completely dissolved. Leave on the side for 15 minutes until little bubbles start to appear.

Step 2

Sieve in the flour, followed by the cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice. Add to this the rest of the milk, golden caster sugar and the egg, and stir well.

Step 3

Using your hands, start binding the mixture together for 5 minutes until it forms a dough. Add the soft butter gradually, one chunk at a time, whilst kneading the dough. This should take 2 to 3 minutes and should result in a sticky dough. Knead for a further 5 minutes until you have a shiny and smooth dough.

Step 4

Add to your dough the dried cranberries and candied orange peel and knead for 3 more minutes. Finally, cover your bowl with a clean tea towel and leave to proof in a bowl that has been lightly greased with butter, at room temperature for 1h30 minutes. The dough should have doubled in size.

Step 5

Remove your dough from the mixing bowl, and place on a lightly floured work surface. Divide your dough into 20 pieces weighing 50g each. Roll each dough piece against the palm of your hand to create smooth round buns. Place these onto a large baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving a gap between them.

Step 6

Proove the buns for a second time, covering the tray with a tea towel and leaving to rise at room temperature for about an hour, until they have doubled in size and the bun's sides are touching each other.

Step 7

Whisk together the large egg and teaspoon of milk. Delicately brush the buns with that eggwash.

Step 8

Preheat your oven to 240C/ 220C fan/ Gas 8.

For the crosses

Step 1

Meanwhile, to make the crosses, gently whisk together the flour, sugar oil and milk into a smooth paste.

Step 2

Fill a small piping bag with the mixture and, using scissors, cut a small hole at the end of it.

TOP TIP

If you do not have a piping bag, you can easily make one using baking parchment. Cut a large triangle into the baking paper, and roll the longest edge on itself until you have a cone. Add in your mixture, cut a small hole at the end and start pipping!

Step 3

Pipe the mixture on top of the buns in a cross shape and transfer the buns to the oven.

Step 4

Reduce your oven temperature to 200C/ 180C fan/ Gas 6 and bake for 20 to 22 minutes until golden.

For the glaze

Step 1

Whilst your buns are in the oven, heat up gently the Lyle's Golden Syrup in a pan.

Step 2

As soon as you remove the buns from the oven, carefully brush them with the hot golden syrup, and set aside to cool on a wire rack for around 15 minutes, before serving.

Ingredients – 14 items

Serving

1

For the buns

Yeast

Easy-bake yeast

20 g
Milk

Milk

1 tbsp
Fairtrade Golden Caster

Fairtrade Tate & Lyle Golden Caster Sugar

1 tsp
Flour

Plain flour

400 g
Cinnamon

Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp
Nutmeg

Nutmeg

Freshly grounded

1/2 tsp

Mixed spice

1 tsp
Milk

Milk

Whole

200 ml
Fairtrade Golden Caster

Fairtrade Tate & Lyle Golden Caster Sugar

70 g
Eggs

Large eggs

1
Butter

Butter

Soft, unsalted, room temperature

70 g
Cranberries

Cranberries

Dried, unsweetened

130 g

Mixed peel

70 g
Salt

Sea salt flakes

1/2 pinch

For the cross

Flour

Plain flour

200 g
Fairtrade Cane Icing Sugar

Icing sugar

230 g
Olive-oil

Olive oil

2 tbsp
Milk

Milk

3 tbsp

For the glaze

Lyle's-golden-syrup

Lyle’s Golden Syrup

3 tbsp

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Behind every great donut is a great baker. Matty sits down with Beka from WhoCult to talk baking secrets, guilty pleasures and, of course, donuts.
 
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Competition ends at 17:00pm on 6th October 2025. Must be a UK resident and 18+ to enter. Entries can be made via the Instagram or Facebook posts. One winner will be randomly selected by Tate & Lyle Sugars. The winner will be contacted directly by Tate & Lyle Sugars to arrange delivery of the prizes. Prizes may take 30 days to arrive. Prizes cannot be changed. This offer is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered or associated with Meta. Failure by the winner to accept the prize within 10 days will result in another winner being chosen. Please do not reply to any other account regarding this competition apart from @tateandlylesugars and @clipperteas. Please click the link in our bio for the full list of T&Cs.

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