One of the drawbacks of being a pastor is that our family seldom has the opportunity to attend family activities on holidays. So when Sophia was born, we decided to start a tradition where we served some kind of special food on major holidays. For Christmas we serve poffertjes and sometimes saucijzebroodjes. On Easter, we celebrate with hot cross buns. I’ve tried a number of recipes to come up with the “right” one and consistently find them either tasteless or overly dry, so I set out to create my own. Hidden in the recipe is a nod to our Dutch and Swedish heritage (allspice for the former, lingonberries for the a latter). The “crosses” are made out of a lemon and cream cheese mixture which, although not traditional, is a favorite flavor in our household.
Since dried lingonberries are a bit hard to come by, try dried cranberries (but chop them into smaller pieces, North American cranberries are bigger than lingonberries). Of course, you could always replace them with the more traditional currents or raisins.
Scald:
¾ c. Milk
3 Tbs. Sugar
2 Tbs. Butter
½ tsp. Salt
Cool to luke warm
Add:
1 tsp. Yeast
1 Egg
½ tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Allspice
3 c. Flour
Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes)
During the last minute, knead in 2 Tbs Dried Lingonberries (or Cranberries, chopped into smaller pieces)
Let rise overnight in fridge. (You can make the cream cheese mixture in the evening as well – put the ingredients in a bag and let the kids smoosh it around, don’t forget to refrigerate it.)
In the morning (2 hours before breakfast) work out bubbles; shape into 16 buns, and place them ¼” apart on a lightly greased sheet.
Let rise in a warm place (i.e: on top of a preheating oven) until ½ an hour before breakfast.
Cut a “cross” in the top of each bun.
Pipe cross-slices full of cream cheese mixture.
Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes.
Cream Cheese Mixture
4 oz Cream Cheese
¼ c. Sugar
½ tsp Vanilla
1 Egg Yolk
1 tsp Lemon Zest
Happy Easter!
Grace and Peace,
`tim
