Weekend Cooking.. "One ha' penny, Two ha' penny, Hot Cross Buns"

Hot cross buns,

Hot cross buns,

one ha' penny,

two ha' penny,

hot cross buns.

If you have no daughters,

give them to your sons,

one ha' penny,

two ha' penny,

Hot Cross Buns

I am a person riddled with fears...and one of them is yeast! It is so mysterious, all bubbling and...alive! But we should try and overcomes our fears and so I struck out to make something yeasty, some Easter-y. Something that looks like it would be lovely with a cup of tea. So, off I went in search of a recipe. I could not find one from America's Test Kitchen (lol) so I went with one from my friends at King Arthur Flour, mostly because they were named Easy Hot Cross Buns.
They had me at the word easy.

Buns

• 1/4 cup apple juice or rum
• 1/2 cup mixed dried fruit
• 1/2 cup raisins or dried currants
• 1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature
• 3 large eggs, 1 separated
• 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 4 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Topping

• 1 large egg white, reserved from above
• 1 tablespoon milk

Icing

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 4 teaspoons milk, or enough to make a thick, pipeable icing

Directions

1) Lightly grease a 10" square pan or 9" x 13" pan.

2) Mix the rum or apple juice with the dried fruit and raisins, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave briefly, just till the fruit and liquid are very warm, and the plastic starts to "shrink wrap" itself over the top of the bowl. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Note: If you worry about using plastic wrap in your microwave, simply cover the bowl with a glass lid.

3) When the fruit is cool, mix together all of the dough ingredients except the fruit, and knead, using an electric mixer or bread machine, till the dough is soft and elastic. Mix in the fruit and any liquid not absorbed.

4) Let the dough rise for 1 hour, covered. It should become puffy, though may not double in bulk.

5) Divide the dough into billiard ball-sized pieces, about 3 3/4 ounces each. A heaped muffin scoop (about 1/3 cup) makes about the right portion. You'll make 12 to 14 buns. Use your greased hands to round them into balls. Arrange them in the prepared pan.

6) Cover the pan, and let the buns rise for 1 hour, or until they've puffed up and are touching one another. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.

7) Whisk together the reserved egg white and milk, and brush it over the buns.

8) Bake the buns for 20 minutes, until they're golden brown. Remove from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool.

9) Mix together the icing ingredients, and when the buns are completely cool, pipe it in a cross shape atop each bun. I went with the rum to soak the fruit, because oddly I have a big bottle of rum on hand but not a drop of apple juice. Go figure!  I also added a bit more fruit than the recipe called for, maybe 1 1/2 in all and a bit more brown sugar, more than 1/4 but less than a full 1/2...whatever that would be. I made those changes based on some of the comments on the KAF site. Ok, I also added 1 tsp of vanilla extract and the zest of an orange and used some of the juice instead of milk in the icing...because I had that sad zested orange sitting there, just begging to be of use!  Let me tell ya, these things smell WONDERFUL as they baked.

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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