Hot Cross Buns

My daughter broke out her recorder the other day and played "Hot Cross Buns" for about a half an hour (blerg!). This prompted the kids to ask about hot cross buns. They wanted to eat them. I decided to oblige. I did a google search and quickly found out hot cross buns are hard. By hard I mean, they require yeast. Mommy doesn't do yeast. I am scared of yeast. I can do baking powder and/or soda. Those are my leavening agents. Needless to say, I redid the search and added "EASY" to the buns. I found the following recipe on cooks.com



Quick and Easy Hot Cross Buns

1 c. whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder (ah, there we go)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. shortening or butter
1 tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. raisins
1/3 c. milk

Frosting:
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla.

1. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Cut in the shortening with a fork until it looks like coarse crumbs. Add honey ( plus a squirt for me), cinnamon, raisins* and toss lightly. Make a well in the middle and pour milk in all at once. Stir it around quickly until it forms a ball.**

* I do not heat raisins. I do not like them baked, cooked, heated in anyway. They get weird.
** I did all mixing and cutting with my electric mixer. Paddle attachment.

2. Divide the ball into 6 small balls. Grease a baking sheet and place balls on sheet, 2 inches apart. With a knife, cut a deep cross in each ball. Bake at 400 degrees for 15- 20 minutes (15 was more than enough for ours)

3. Mix frosting ( I added about an extra 1/4 c. powdered sugar to make a thicker frosting). Cool rolls slightly and drizzle with frosting.


These were dry, but I think they were fairly good otherwise. Maybe with less cooking and butter rather shortening they would be pretty good. I think I would add more honey next time as well.