Hot Cross Buns ...
April 1, 2007 at 4:08 PM
by Ashleigh
One ha' penny, two a penny, hot cross buns. If you have no daughters, give them to your sons. One ha' penny, two a penny, hot cross buns.
Holland does not celebrate Easter with hot cross buns. Instead they have 'paasstol' which is pretty much the same as 'kerststol' or 'feeststol' or any other kind of stollen. I have nothing against a good slice of stollen, but going without hot cross buns? Terrible!
The first year we were here we forewent the hot cross buns. It was miserable. Joe was tiny, and I had no energy to bake.
The year after that I used a Good Food recipe. In 2005 I used a weight watchers recipe which worked ok, not wonderfully, but ok.
Last year I used Delia's recipe and, if you're familiar with Terry Pratchett's writing, then you'll know what I mean when I say that they were the perfect example of dwarf bread. Dwarvish indeed.
I was happy to note (via Becks & Posh) that Cooking for Engineers also fell foul of Delia's recipe, so it wasn't only my kneading skills that were lacking.
This year I hadn't even considered which recipe for hot cross buns I might use.
Sadly, I missed the Waiter There's Something in My ... Easter Basket event. Too busy and the date for submissions came and went before I had time to take stock. Luckily, in reading some of the other submissions I was alerted to this fantastic hot cross bun recipe.
This is a recipe that will rock your buns!
I used a food processor instead of mixing by hand and I found that I needed a few extra tablespoons of flour.
Other substitutions I made were the addition of candied peel, using only currants for the fruit component (instead of mixed fruit), the use of active dried yeast instead of fresh (I used 15 ml) for the ferment, and leftover lemon honey for the glaze instead of syrup. I also used 'koek en speculaas kruiden' for the mixed spice.
So go on, go make some buns.
** Updated to say: Thanks Johanna for including me in the round up even though I was so late! Can't wait for the next one, being hosted by Andrew at SpittoonExtra!
Comments
I used to make hot cross buns in the U.S. every Easter. I cheated by making the dough in the bread maker...so easy and so delicious. I don't like the candied peel; I used to do mine just with raisins and a bit of lemon in the frosting.
Nah...I haven't cooked anything using yeast for about 30 years, the last time being when I tried to make hot cross buns and they were a disaster! I give up easily..
BTW, any luck with a recipe for little Dutch pancakes?
And off topic - do you like Andre Rieu? Just curious..
Oh my - what a GORGEOUS bun! And here's a secret - if you send this link to Johanna TODAY, she will still include you in the roundup as I know for a fact it's still being written. And this bun is just too beautiful not to enjoy the limelight!!
Your post came just in the nick of time - was just about to start searching for another recipe (I too did not have much success with Delia's last year). Thanks - I am looking forward to making them on Friday!
hi ash,
just added your entry to the round-up... your buns look too delicious to ignore!
thanks for sharing!
Hello Ash, I love reading about your life in Holland, but I have a problem. After I'm done reading your blog, no matter what time of day or night, I'm starving!! And I keep risking death by electrocution from drooling all over my keyboard. Happy Easter to you and yours.
~~ drool ~~ My mouth is watering.
Wow - they look like shop bought as my childen would say (which I think is meant to be a compliment)! I've making some buns for a few years but I fancy trying a new recipe so I'll go and take a peek at the one you've linked to.
Can you find bread flour in NL? I import mine as I have only found bread mixes so far.
This bun looks absolutely fabulous!!! I could just lick the screen!
April 1, 2007 6:04 PM