Warm fluffy sweet rolls made with dried cranberries and raisins. Serve this Brioche Hot Cross Buns recipe toasted with salted butter for an Easter morning treat!
If you like this brioche recipe, you should try our delicious brioche bread and brioche burger buns, too.
Table Of Contents
What are Hot Cross Buns?
Hot Cross Buns are a type of spiced bread usually containing some sort of dried fruit or raisins. Although they can be enjoyed any time of the year, they are typically eaten during Easter time. They are always iced with a cross pattern over each bun to represent the cross of Jesus Christ. This Hot Cross Buns recipe uses a little extra butter to give them their light and fluffy texture. This brioche version is really scrumptious and will be a great addition to your brunch or holiday menu.
What you’ll need
- Wet ingredients- Milk, Sugar, Eggs, Vanilla, and Butter
- Dry ingredients- Yeast, All-purpose flour, and Salt
- Dried fruit- Raisins and Dried cranberries
- Icing ingredients- Powdered sugar and Milk
How to make Brioche Hot Cross Buns
- Combine the dough ingredients. First, combine the flour, salt, and sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer. Next, pour in the yeast mixture, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Add in the butter. Now, mix the dough on high speed and add the softened butter. Keep mixing the dough for about 10 minutes to really incorporate all that butter throughout the dough. You’ll want to use the hook attachment for this step.
- Let it rise. Now, place the dough into a large greased bowl and let it rise (covered) for about one hour.
- Divide, rise, and bake. Next, separate the hot cross bun dough into 12 brioche buns and place them in a baking pan to rise and bake for 25 minutes.
- Ice each bun. After the hot cross buns have cooled, pipe out the icing on top.
Tips for the best Brioche Hot Cross Buns
- Submerge the dried fruit in water- To really get the intense flavor and sweetness from the raisins and cranberries, submerge them in boiling hot water for about 15-20 minutes. This will make them plump and juicy again.
- Be patient as you work in the butter- Your dough may seem very sticky at first, but be patient as it mixes and combines. Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the mixing bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.
- Don’t forget the egg wash– The egg wash that is brushed on before baking is what gives these hot cross buns their shiny golden tops that are moist and delicious.
- Add more milk if your icing is too thick. If your icing seems too thick, add some milk (a little at a time) until it reaches the smooth consistency you want for piping – not thick, but not too runny either. Then pipe it on when the buns are cool.
How to Serve Hot Cross Buns
Typically, hot cross buns, especially this brioche version, are best served warm (toasted) and sliced with salted butter on top. But you can also enjoy them with jam or preserves, such as this 3 Ingredient homemade Strawberry Jam (no pectin), spread on them. You can also serve them alongside other breakfast items, like this Danish Recipe with Almonds and Cream Cheese, Eggs Benedict, or Bacon and Hash Brown Quiche.
Looking for more Easter recipes? Give these a try!
- Roasted leg of lamb– Perfect main dish dinner idea!
- Couscous and arugula salad– Light, spring flavor.
- Carrot cake– loaded with carrots, pineapple, and cream cheese frosting.
- Easter egg blondies– soft baked bars with pastel-colored m&ms
How to Store them
Allow them to cool, then place these hot cross buns in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. They don’t need to be refrigerated. You can warm them for a few minutes in the oven, microwave, or toasted oven, or just eat them as is.
More fluffy bread recipes!
- Brioche bread loaf– Buttery, fluffy, melt in your mouth goodness.
- Nutella Brioche– Warm yeast dough with swirls of melted Nutella in between.
- Brioche Buns– Great for burgers or slow-cooked meats.
- The Best Brioche Donuts– Light, airy, and perfectly sweet.
- Brioche French Toast– The most delicious French toast you’ve ever tasted!
Watch the VIDEO recipe here
Full Recipe Instructions
Brioche Hot Cross Buns (VIDEO)
Warm fluffy sweet rolls made with dried cranberries and raisins. Serve these brioche hot cross buns toasted with salted butter for an Easter morning treat!
Print Pin Rate Servings: 12 Buns
Calories: 234kcal
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raisin
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp yeast
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour add more if needed
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- Pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 4 tsp milk
Instructions
- Add Half a cup of golden raisins and half a cup of dried cranberries into a bowl. Now fill the bowl with boiling water and let the submerged raisins sit for about 15-20 minutes.
- Now warm 3/4 cup milk to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Then add 1 tbsp sugar and 1 1/2 tsp of dry active yeast.
- Give it a quick stir and set it aside for about 15 minutes or until it becomes frothy.
- Meanwhile, add 3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Then add in 1/2 cup of granulated sugar into the bowl. make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture.
- Lastly, you’ll add in 3 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract and I almost forgot the salt. You’ll need about a pinch of salt.
- Now using the hook attachment start off by mixing all the ingredients on low speed until the flour begins to incorporate into the wet ingredients. Now pick them Speed up to high and mix until no more patches of flour appear.
- Now you’ll add 3/4 cup unsalted softened butter to the dough and continue mixing on high speed for about 10 minutes. Depending on the size of your eggs you might need to add another 1/4 cup of flour.
- The dough may seem too sticky at first but be patient, continue beating and it will begin to take shape.
- During this process, you may need to scrape down the sides of the beater bowl with a spatula to pull away any butter that may have stuck to the side of the bowl.
- Now drain the soaked raisins and dried cranberries and add it to the dough. You’ll want to mix these in for about a minute or so pretty much until they’re well incorporated.
- Now you can remove your dough from the mixer bowl and begin working it into a ball. The Dough should still be sticky but firm enough to work with. That sticky texture is from all the Incorporated butter. Which will soon be fluffy layers of bread.
- Place the dough into a large greased bowl and cover it for about one hour or until doubled in size.
- Now shape the dough into a log and divide it into 12 equal pieces. Take each piece of dough and shape it into a ball with your hands.
- Then place the shaped buns into a deep baking dish coated in non-stick spray. Now cover the buns with a kitchen towel and let them proof for about 1 hour.
- Once the buns are done rising brush them with egg wash and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile make the icing by combining 1 1/4 cup of powdered sugar with 3-4 tsp of milk. You want the icing to be slightly runny yet thick enough to pipe out and not spread out.
- Once the buns are baked and cooled, pipe out the icing In a cross pattern over each bun.
Notes
RECIPE TIPS
- Submerge the dried fruit in water- To really get the intense flavor and sweetness from the raisins and cranberries, submerge them in boiling hot water for about 15-20 minutes. This will make them plump and juicy again.
- Be patient as you work in the butter- Your dough may seem very sticky at first, but be patient as it mixes and combines. Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the mixing bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.
- Don’t forget the egg wash– The egg wash that is brushed on before baking is what gives these hot cross buns their shiny golden tops that are moist and delicious.
- Add more milk if your icing is too thick. If your icing seems too thick, add some milk (a little at a time) until it reaches the smooth consistency you want for piping – not thick, but not too runny either. Then pipe it on when the buns are cool.
Nutrition
Calories: 234kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 126mg | Potassium: 101mg | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 445IU | Vitamin C: 1.3mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 0.4mg
Did you make this recipe? Snap a photo of it and tag me on Instagram @simplyhomecooked or use the hashtag #simplyhomecooked so I can see it and feature it!
This post was originally published on April 11, 2019. It has been updated since.
Hi, I’m Dina, so glad you stopped by! I believe life is too short for bad coffee and boring meals. With my easy to follow step-by-step recipes, you’ll be surprised at how quickly a wholesome and delicious meal can come together. I hope you find something you enjoy!
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Mary Barbieri says
My first time making these Hot Cross Buns. The house smells amazing. They were a hit with my family. Thanks for sharing love the step by step video.
Dina says
Hi Mary 🙂 I am so happy to hear you and your family loved these hot cross buns! Glad to hear my video was helpful! Thank you so much for your kind words and feedback! 🙂
Maria says
I made these yesterday and they turned out spectacular so delicious and so fluffy, my grandson had 2. We demolished them all. Thank you for sharing your recipe. I will definitely make these again and again.
simplyhomecooked says
That is so awesome to hear Maria! So happy that you and your family loved these hot cross buns 🙂 Glad to hear this will be a repeat recipe in your home! Thank you for taking the time to leave such an awesome review and I hope you find many more delicious recipes on my food blog 🙂
Olga Demchuk says
How long do they last?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Olga, they last about 3-4 days if stored in a plastic bag or airtight container.
Hannah says
My dough just looks like cake batter. I can’t seem to get it looking like dough even after adding over 1/4 cup of flour. I don’t want my buns to taste like flour. I am so sad I wanted to try the recipe so bad. Any suggestions as to what went wrong?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Hannah. Not too sure what happened but it should definitely not look like cake batter. That is really wet. There are a few things that might affect that. Go through to make sure all the ingredient quantities are the same. If so you may need to mix the dough longer. Occasionally people will have wet dough if it is under mixed. It can take over 10 minutes to mix it well. If that isn’t the problem then it sounds like you need to add more flour. I have noticed that some brands of flour require slightly different quantities of flour. I hope that helps! Let me know how it goes or if you have any more questions!
Amanda says
These sound amazing, thank you for sharing. Are these US cups or metric cups? Or is the recipe in weight anywhere?
Thank you!
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Amanda 🙂 Thank you and you are very welcome! Cups are the same everywhere. The Metric system is a completely different unit of measurement. I use US cups due to most of my followers use that unit of measurement. I just added an automatic unit conversion to these hot cross buns. However, I have noticed that the automatic conversions are not always accurate and are closer to a rough estimate. If you are able to follow this recipe using cups it will be more accurate. However, I understand the dilemma. Hope that helps 🙂
Lil says
Your brioche hot cross buns recipe sounds really nice. I haven’t made it yet and question why there’s no spices included . Traditional hot cross buns always have mixed spice.
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Lil, thanks for asking. This recipe isn’t very traditional. It’s more of a spin of an old family recipe. I do plan on posting a more traditional recipe for hot cross buns though. You are welcome to add spices to this recipe if you want though 🙂
Janine says
I wanted spices so I added 1T cinnamon, 1/4t cloves and about 1t fresh nutmeg.
Angela says
Delicious thank you! I make hot cross buns every year and this recipe is the best to date. Happy kids munching warm buns on Waiheke Island, New Zealand during lock down.
simplyhomecooked says
You are very welcome Angela! It makes me so happy to hear people love my recipes! Glad to hear your kids loved these brioche hot cross buns 🙂 Thank you for your feedback and I hope you find many more delicious recipes on my blog 🙂
Dilshad Fahad says
I really really want to try this recipe. But where I live we have instant yeast? How do I go about?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Dilshad 🙂 Yes, you can use instant yeast for this recipe. Just skip the frothy yeast mixture and add the instant yeast into the mixer bowl. I hope that helps and I hope you love these hot cross buns 🙂
Katrina says
I’m fairly new to bread making, but these turned out my best batch of bread so far. My rolls are SUPER tender, with a delicate crumb. I’m not sure if that’s how they are supposed to be, but we loved, loved, loved them. The only differences I did was to soak the dried fruit in warm orange juice instead of water and then glazed with apricot preserves mixed with orange juice instead of piping the cross. I will definitely be using the recipe again in the future.
If I may make one small suggestion to Dina it would be to include an exact amount for the salt. A pinch can vary according to every person’s interpretation (and a Google search wasn’t very helpful, haha) and I was really nervous about having too much or not enough salt. I went with 1/2 tsp and it worked out great. Otherwise, perfect. Thank you so much for an easy and delicious recipe!
simplyhomecooked says
Wow Katrina, thank you so much for such a kind and thoughtful review! It means so much to me 🙂
john zabawa says
you think lyrics
Clint says
Came out great. Used stand mixer with hook. Added one third more flour while mixing. Made 22 buns
simplyhomecooked says
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this Hot Cross Buns recipe, Clint! Thank you so much for your feedback! 🙂
Marsha says
Hi can u tell me do I knead butter in by ham of mix with spoon if doing by hand I cannot find my dough hook
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Marsha, yes you can knead the butter into the dough by hand. It will just take longer than using a mixer. Just make sure to knead it until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
Rodney says
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve never made Brioche, little alone, Brioche Hot-cross Buns before, and they turned out great!!! The only thing I did different was I used Candied fruit, cherries, and apricots, instead of cranberries, but I stuck to the 1/2 C, loved them, so did my partner!!! So fluffy and, buttery, and light!!!
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Rodney, thanks for leaving your kind feedback 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed the hot cross buns!
Alina says
Planning to make these today but serve them tomorrow! How do I go about that so that they are baked tomorrow but prepped all today?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Alina, you can make them up until before the last rise and cover and refrigerate. That way they slowly rise overnight and will be ready to bake in the morning.
Marci says
This is an awesome idea to prep them the afternoon and cook them in the morning. Can I take them out from the fridge and into the oven, or should they be out a couple of hours in room temp ?
simplyhomecooked says
You should be fine just putting them into the oven. If they didn’t rise enough before you put them into the fridge then you would let them sit out for a bit prior to baking. Hope that helps 🙂 Let me know if you have any other questions!
Lauren says
Easy to make, really good. Perfect recipe. Wish I could share the picture I took! Looks just like her photo. Only thing I did was add more raisins.
simplyhomecooked says
Thank you for your feedback, Lauren! I’m so happy to hear you loved the hot cross buns 🙂
Sophia says
Milk at room temperature or less than 110 degrees Fahrenheit works fine too. I made these at 110 and it seemed to have killed the yeast so my buns didn’t rise at all. But a great recipe indeed thank you.
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Sophia, thanks for your feedback. I’m not too sure why your yeast got killed. But if you’re concerned, next time try doing a lower temperature 🙂
Linda malins says
Yummoh brioche Easter buns.delicious,shared them with our neighbour and she also said yummoh.thankyou for the awesome recipe.greetings from New Zealand God bless you and your precious loved ones,keep safe.we are all in lock down here kindest regards linda
simplyhomecooked says
Linda, thank you so much for taking the time to write such kind feedback 🙂 I am thrilled to hear that you enjoyed this recipe. I hope you are all staying healthy and safe. Sending love and God’s blessings your way!
Maddie says
what dimensions should the baking pan be?
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Maddie, the baking dish should be 9×13 inches.
Nikki says
I don’t know what went wrong with these when I made them, I had to add nearly a cup more flour to the dough as it was so wet (Maybe my eggs were too big?), and now they are cooked they taste like flour. They took waaaay longer to cook than the said time – maybe my pan wasn’t quite big enough. I am going to try them again as they did rise nicely and they look good!
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Nikki, I’m sorry to hear that your dough was too wet. How exactly did you measure your flour? I always spoon it into a measuring cup and level it off with a knife. It makes quite a difference. Also, what type of flour did you use? As mentioned in the video, you want to mix the dough for a while or until the dough is smooth and elastic. This may vary depending on the type of mixer you have. Brioche dough is slightly different than regular bread since it has extra butter. The longer you beat the butter into the dough the better texture and crumb you will get out of it. I hope that helps you. Let me know if you have any questions 🙂
Shalice says
Can you do this by hand as I don’t have a mixer
simplyhomecooked says
Hi Shalice, yes you can do it by hand, but it will take longer than using a stand mixer.
Victoria says
These look amazing! Making for Easter! Thank you!
simplyhomecooked says
Thank you so much Victoria! I hope you enjoy these Brioche Hot Cross Buns!! 🙂
armando says
This looks great! I will prepare it for my children……..Thanks for sharing
simplyhomecooked says
Thank you, Armando! I hope you all love the hot cross buns 🙂