Candied Ginger and Honey Hot Cross Buns


Imagine a batch of honey-sweetened whole wheat soft dinner rolls. They’re fragrant with warm spices like cinnamon and ginger and cardamom and loaded with candied ginger and dried fruit. Yep, these candied ginger honey hot cross buns.

Make them healthier with whole wheat flour. Give them a cross made of flour and water before baking, or finish with a cream cheese and maple syrup cross once the buns have cooled. The flour and water cross is traditional and the frosting cross is my twist.

Click here to PIN Candied Ginger Honey Hot Cross Buns!

Hot cross buns commemorate the renewal of life that happens each spring–think tulips and daffodils popping up all over and chirping birds busying their nest. Especially when Easter is nigh, it’s time for hot cross buns!

Hot-cross buns! Hot-cross buns! One a penny, two a penny, hot-cross buns. If you have no daughters, give them to your sons. Hot-cross buns! Hot-cross buns! ~ Old Nursery Rhyme

From Mardi Gras right up until Easter, when I worked as a pastry chef, our team baked hot cross buns every day. Using white flour and white sugar.

For a more healthful and rustic-feeling treat, these buns trade honey in place of sugar, and whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. You can find the original white flour and sugar recipe is in my Chocolate Snowball cookbook. (Affiliate link.)

Keep up the tradition. Bake a batch of these soft whole-wheat ginger-spiced fruit-filled rolls!

Why do we put a cross on top?

In the Christian tradition, the 40 days before Easter known as Lent, a cross on each bun represents Good Friday and Holy Week.

Candied Ginger Honey Hot Cross Buns recipe details:

Whole wheat four and dried fruit options:

  • Dried fruit: You can use whatever dried fruit your pantry offers. Like if you only have dried cranberries and raisins, use them. The candied ginger adds a nice bite but it’s not absolutely neccesary for hot cross buns.
  • Flour options: To make these hot cross buns more healthful, I use white whole wheat flour. (Affiliate link.) White whole wheat flour is lighter in color and flavor than regular whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour, ground from white wheat berries, includes the bran, germ and endosperm of the wheat grain, the same as regular whole wheat flour, which is ground from hard red wheat berries. Read more about white whole wheat flour here.
  • White whole wheat flour is not that easy to find. If you can’t get your hands on white whole wheat flour, substitute a 50:50 mix of whole wheat flour and unbleached all-purpose flour. Spelt flour is another option, a good flour to have on hand. These blueberry maple hemp muffins call for spelt flour and I give a more detailed explantion of spelt flour in that muffin recipe.
  • Yeast: I use instant dry yeast, which doesn’t need to be dissolved in warm water before mixing the dough. You just stir instant dry yeast into the other dry ingredients and use a warmer liquid, 120°F to 125°F. Saf-instant dry yeast and the trademarked RapidRise yeast, as well as bread machine yeast, are all instant dry yeast. If you use regular active dry yeast, keep your milk below 110°F.

About yeast dough timing:

  • Yeast doughs, hot cross buns for example, are about passive time. 20 minutes to prepare the dough, then an hour of rising, 10 minutes to shape the rolls, and another hour of rising. You can make and shape the dough one day, and bake them the next.
  • If it works better in your schedule, mix and shape the rolls the day before and let them rise overnight in the fridge. The next morning, bring to room temperature and bake them. Or make and bake your hot cross buns the day before—they’re easy to refresh with a light sprinkle of water and a reheat in the oven. Decorate with the frosting cross when your buns are ready to serve.

More spring recipe ideas:

White whole wheat flour and my Chocolate Snowball cookbook are affiliate links. When you purchase products via my links, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps me continue to provide free content here on Letty’s Kitchen. Thank you!!

To get my latest recipe posts and newsletters, subscribe here. (I hate Spam too and will never share your email with anyone.)

  • Follow me on Instagram!
  • Peruse my Pinterest boards for more vegetarian recipe ideas.
  • Find daily vegetarian and healthy living ideas on my Facebook page.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase products via my links, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps defray the costs of Letty’s Kitchen blog. Thank you for supporting Letty’s Kitchen.

Nutrition information is meant to be an estimate only. Numbers do not include cream cheese frosting. The calculation will vary based on the brands you use and substitutions you make.

*** This is an updated recipe for hot cross buns I posted here in March of 2015!



Source link

Leave a Reply

Discover more from kitchen recipes

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading