Hot Cross Buns

Happy Easter! For years I have planned to make hot cross buns at Easter time and have never gotten around to it. Thursday night I searched through my numerous recipes and cookbooks for a good recipe. I even went on the internet to look up more. By the time I was done searching and had watched the Pens game and The Big Bang Theory in between, it was too late to bake a yeast recipe with 2 rising times. I ended up making these yesterday morning. I halved a recipe from The Complete Guide to Country Cooking (A Taste of Home cookbook). This particular recipe comes from Dorothy Pritchett. An easy recipe, but you do have to factor in all of the time for rising. I am giving the recipe with the proportions I used, which made about 16 buns.

Hot Cross Buns
1 package of active dry yeast
1/4 cup of warm water (110 degrees)
1/2 cup warm milk (110 degrees)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 to 3 1/2 cups flour (plus more for kneading)
2 eggs
1/2 cup raisins or currants (I could not find currants and I really wanted to try them!)

Icing
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons of milk
A small splash of vanilla

Grease 2 nine or eight inch round cake pans.
Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Add the milk through the cinnamon. Add about half of the flour and beat until smooth. I just used a wooden spoon,  no need to get the mixer out. Add the eggs, then the raisins and the rest of the flour until you have a soft dough. Knead on a floured surface about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise one hour (until doubled). Punch down dough and shape into 16 balls, placing 8 in each pan, touching each other. Cover and let rise another 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake 15 to 18 minutes. Cool and then mix up the icing and place it in a ziplock with the corner snipped off. Make a cross on top of the rolls with the icing. Let set.
Linking up to: Sweets for a Saturday