Name: Quick Hot Cross Buns
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 150 grams (1 cup) self-raising flour (| extra flour for kneading and rolling); 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon; 1 teaspoon nutmeg; ½ teaspoon allspice; 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves; 2 tablespoons (4 teaspoons) brown sugar; 200 grams (¾ cup) Greek yoghurt; 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste; maple syrup to glaze; 35 grams (¼ cup) plain flour; 2 ½ tablespoons (10 teaspoons) water

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This quick hot cross buns recipe is a game-changer. Made from scratch and ready in 30 minutes. These hot cross buns are made without yeast, which is why the recipe is so quick, but without compromising on flavour or texture.

chocolate and fruitless Easter buns on a wooden stand with Easter eggs

This recipe came about with tweaking the 4 ingredient cheese and bacon rolls recipe. There was a lot of tweaking and are now distant cousins. Plus a longer ingredient list.

I've made these so many times now that I have them prepared and baked in 25 minutes. The base recipe can be used to make fruit, fruitless, or even chocolate hot cross buns.

These buns are packed with spice, just how I like them. They smell sensational while baking and are fluffy when they come out of the oven. This is an easy recipe for hot cross buns that you will want to try.

Sara xxx

Ingredients

The below ingredients are for the basic quick hot cross bun recipe. With using these ingredients you sill end up with flavour packed fruitless buns. You can add mixed fruit, sultanas, chocolate chips and much more to ramp up this recipe.

Greek Yoghurt: Use full fat, not low fat for this recipe.
Brown Sugar: Adds a little sweetness to the buns, use normal not dark.
Nutmeg: Ground, you could grate fresh nutmeg to an equal amount if you have it
Allspice: Don't confuse allspice with mixed spice, they are totally different.
Cinnamon: Ground, and always use fresh spices. If they have been sitting in your cupboard a little too long they can lose their flavour.
Self-Raising Flour: If you don't have self-raising flour in the cupboard use plain flour instead and add 2 teaspoons of baking powder.
Vanilla Bean Paste: You can substitute an equal amount of vanilla extract or essence.
Clove: Just a touch, a little bit of ground cloves goes a long way
Plain Flour: Used with water to make a paste for the crosses.
Maple Syrup (not pictured): Used to glaze the buns.

Fruit, Fruitless, or Chocolate?

What I love about this recipe is it is versatile. It can be adapted to suit many tastes. I personally like fruit in my hot cross buns, but so many people don't. Instead they opt for fruitless or chocolate.

I cover all three options, this recipe makes four buns, or six mini ones. It's a small batch recipe therefore you can make a couple batches of different varieties to make everyone happy. Unlike a standard lengthy recipe that makes 12 buns.

Quick Hot Cross Buns Tips

cross section of a fruitless hot cross bun

cross section of a chocolate hot cross bun

There are a few tips that need passing on and a couple of things you need to keep in mind when making these hot cross buns without yeast.

Because there isn't any yeast you need to make sure your self-raising flour is as fresh as it can be as it is the only raising agent in the recipe.
Make sure your spices are fresh. If they have been sitting in your pantry for a couple of years, get rid of them and buy some fresh ones. The flavour of the spices are a key ingredient to the whole outcome of these buns (or any hot cross bun).
The dough is a wetter dough than you may be use to working with. The dough will be sticky, but should be still manageable with flour dusted hands. You will get a little dough sticking to your hands (but shouldn't be excessive). Don't be tempted to add too much extra flour.
Don't over work the dough. You bringing the ingredients together to make the dough, and getting it to a smooth ball. As soon as you get it to that point, stop. Over work the dough and the buns will end up tough.
When splitting and rolling the dough into four dough balls, again don't over-handle the dough. Shape them quickly and sit them on the lined baking tray.

Recipe Walk Through

Pre-heat oven 200°C (390°F). Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Place all dry ingredients including brown sugar into a bowl.

Note: sugar is thought of as a liquid in recipes. In this case we add it with the dry ingredients to break down any lumps.

Whisk dry ingredients until combined and lump free.

Using a whisk will give you a better result than a spoon and is much quicker.

If making chocolate or fruit quick hot cross buns please see instructions in the recipe card. It is at this stage that those recipes have a few extra steps. Other than that, the process is the same after this point.

whisking dry ingredients in a ceramic bowl

adding wet ingredients to bun dry ingredients

Add yoghurt and vanilla bean paste to the dry ingredients. Mix with a spoon until it becomes too difficult to do so. Then with a clean hand work the ingredients until they come together.

dough turned out onto a floured smooth surface

Work ingredients until they just come together to form a rough dough in the bowl. Then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until it just comes together to form a smooth ball. Don't overwork the dough.

Split the dough into four small balls. Place on the prepared lined baking tray leaving a small amount of space between each one.