These delicious small-batch blueberry lemon hot cross buns are a lovely twist on the Easter tradition. They can be made ahead and frozen, too!
I love this small-batch hot cross buns. It’s a nice size for just baking a few to enjoy anytime (hot cross buns are so good, it’s a shame to only eat them only one weekend a year!). For Easter though, since there’s always so much other food around (hello chocolate Easter eggs) I find I don’t really need a 9×13 pan of hot cross buns.
Ingredients and substitutions
Blueberries – I’ve used dried blueberries here. I’m a wee bit addicted to these dried morsels of blueberry goodness. They rehydrate beautifully and add a great punch of blueberry flavour.
If you don’t want to use dried blueberries, simply substitute fresh or frozen blueberries. For frozen blueberries, rinse in cold water to thaw slightly and to prevent purple from bleeding into the dough.
Lemon – A fresh lemon will be needed to get the zest needed for the dough.
Yeast – You can make these buns with either Active Dry or Instant yeast.
Recipe tips!
- If you want more than a small batch of hot cross buns, feel free to double this recipe to make two 9×5-loaf pans worth (12 buns). Simply double all the ingredients. Tip! You can use the “2X” button in the recipe card to automatically double the ingredients.
- I love icing crosses on my hot cross buns. The only downside is that you can’t toast them with the icing on. While I mostly just eat hot cross buns at room temperature with butter, if you want to toast them, there’s no shame in removing the icing before toasting. (I may have been known to spoon the icing off the top and eating it prior to toasting :)
Variations
Swap out the dried blueberry and lemon zest for dried cranberries and orange zest!
Making ahead, storing and freezing
I often bake bread products ahead and freeze them. Bread freezes beautifully! Simply store well-wrapped in the freezer and allow to come to room temperature on the counter over-night. The trick to making sure it doesn’t dry out while thawing is to keep it well-wrapped while it thaws. (I know sometimes people think they should un-wrap so bread doesn’t get damp, but in my experience, that’s a sure way to dry it out :) If freezing ahead, you can pipe on the frosting before freezing or simply pipe some on once buns are thawed.
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Get the Recipe: Blueberry Lemon Hot Cross Buns
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) milk, scalded then cooled to lukewarm
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast
- 2 Tablespoons lukewarm water
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tablepsoons white sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt, reduce slightly if using salted butter
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup blueberries, fresh, dried or frozen *see Note 1 below if using dried or frozen blueberries
For glaze:
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon water
For the icing (optional):
- 1 cup icing/confectioners sugar
- 3 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- **If using dried blueberries, set into a bowl and cover with hot water. Let stand for 10 minutes, then drain and pat dry before using. For frozen blueberries, place them into a strainer. Rinse with cold water to thaw slightly. Pat dry before using.
- Heat the milk in a small saucepan or in the microwave until steaming with small bubbles around the edges. Set aside to cool to lukewarm, about 110F. **Be sure the milk is cooled to lukewarm. If it is too hot, it can kill the yeast!
- In a small bowl, add the yeast to the lukewarm water (about 110° F.). Stir and let stand for 10 minutes.
- Once milk has cooled to lukewarm, add the egg and stir until well combined. (*Be sure your milk has cooled sufficiently, otherwise the egg will cook in the hot milk). Add the yeast mixture, stir in and set aside.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the sugar and lemon zest. With a spatula or with paddle attachment, rub the lemon zest into the sugar. Add the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter to the bowl. Still using the paddle attachment (or a spatula), work the butter into the flour until it has broken down a bit.
- Switch to the kneading hook with a stand mixer (or switch to a spoon if mixing by hand). Add the milk/egg/yeast mixture to the bowl. Knead until dough until it is smooth and elastic, adding a bit more flour if necessary. Remove the dough to a floured work surface. Gently knead in the blueberries until incorporated. Remove dough to a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until doubled, about 60-90 minutes.
- Remove the doubled dough to a floured surface and divide into 6 equal pieces. Form each portion into a ball and place it onto a greased or parchment-lined 9×5-inch loaf pan., placing in 3 rows of 2 across. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise until almost doubled and puffy, about 30-45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375° F. (non-convection setting)
- When buns have risen, combine the egg yolk with the water in a small bowl. Brush the tops and sides of the buns well, then bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until they sound hollow when tapped or when they reach 195° F. when tested with an instant-read thermometer (*check buns at 20 minutes and loosely cover with tin foil if tops are browned enough).
- Remove from the oven and immediately remove the buns from the pan to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- For the icing (optional): Be sure the buns are completely cooled before icing!. Add the icing sugar, milk and softened butter to a bowl and stir to combine. Add more icing sugar (or milk) as needed to make an icing of piping consistency.
Notes
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
I made a batch of these yesterday and they are really delicious. I was so pleased with the way they turned out and IMO much nicer with blueberries! Thank you so much, Jennifer, for all your lovely recipes and inspiration right now…
So glad you enjoyed them Alison and I agree, I found the blueberries a nice change from the traditional, as well :) Thanks!
Can I make the dough the night before? Thank you :)
Hi Emma, I think you could refrigerate them after the first rise and shaping into buns. Then next day just take out of the fridge and let them warm to room temperature/do their 2nd rise, then bake. I don’t see a lot of benefit to just refrigerating the dough, as this is a two-rise process, the dough would have to warm, 1st rise, shape, 2nd rise, bake the second day. You might as well just make the dough fresh in that case as it would actually be shorter (wouldn’t need to warm to room temperature).