Makes 12 buns or bunnies

For the dough

Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup apple juice, orange juice, or rum
  • ½ cup candied citrus peel
  • ½ cup raisins or other chopped dried fruit
  • 1 ¼ cups milk, room temperature
  • zest of 1 orange
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk (reserve the egg white for the glaze)
  • 3 oz butter, softened
  • 2 tsp instant yeast
  • 4 cups (600 g.) AP flour
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ½ tsp colves
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder

For the glaze

Ingredients:

  • 1 egg white (reserved from the dough)
  • 1 Tbsp milk

For the Icing Cross, if making buns, not bunnies

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 Tbsp milk, or enough to make a thick, pipable icing

Directions:

  1. Lightly butter a 9x13” pan if making hot cross buns, or line 2 baking sheets with parchment if making hot cross bunnies.
  2. Heat the juice with the candied citrus peel and dried fruit on the stove or in the microwave until very warm, and set aside to cool to room temperature. While it sits, the fruit will absorb some, but likely not all, of the juice.
  3. In a stand mixer, combine the milk and yeast and stir to dissolve. Add in all of the remaining dough ingredients, including the fruit and the remaining juice that hasn’t been absorbed. Stir with the dough hook for about ten minutes. The dough will be wet and will stick to the bottom of the bowl.
  4. Let the dough rise for about an hour. It will become puffy, but will likely not double in size.
  5. Prepare the glaze while the dough rises by whisking together the egg white and milk with a fork.
  6. Divide into 12 portions, approximately 4 oz each. If making hot cross buns, form the portions into balls and place in the pan, evenly spaced. If making hot cross bunnies, divide each 4 oz portion further into 1 oz oval, 0.5 oz ball, and 2.5 oz that will be rolled into a log, then coiled up to form the body of the bunny. When you curl the body, fold the last bit of the coil away from the body to form the bunny’s foot. Shape the oval into a basic head shape, and cut the ears with a pair of scissors. Place the small ball against the body to form the tail.
  7. Brush the glaze onto the buns and bunnies. Sprinkle the bunny tails with pearl sugar or coarse sugar to give the bunnies a cottontail look. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise for about half an hour, until puffy.
  8. Preheat the oven to 375F. Bake the buns for about 20 minutes and bunnies for about 15 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. If making hot cross buns, mix together the icing ingredients to form a thick, pipeable icing. Pipe the icing into the shape of a cross on top of the buns.