Do you have traditional Easter recipes that you make each year? Perhaps your recipes come from your great grandmother and have been made in your family for one hundred plus years? Or perhaps you like to be a bit more spontaneous and try different recipes each Easter season? Whatever the case, most people would agree that Easter recipes are delicious! Therefore, I have written a blog post featuring my 2 best traditional English Easter recipes kids will love.
In the case of my English/American family-we simply enjoy good food and strong traditions. These recipes are made each year and have become a part of our Easter celebrations. Using my English husband’s suggestions, my personal experiences from living in England, and our children’s tastes, we have created our own version of hot cross buns and English Easter eggs.
Indeed, it is our sincere hope that you enjoy these traditional English recipes as well. Please join us in the kitchen for some Easter baking fun! We would love to have you as our guest(s)!
~The Importance of Passing Traditional Recipes Down to Children~
Naturally, I enjoy being in the kitchen with my children whenever I can. As a homeschool mom of four, I love any opportunity to bring my children into the kitchen to learn beside me. We especially love baking during any holiday celebration! In fact, we look forward to certain recipes at particular times of the year.
Having lived in England with my husband for two years, I have tried to bring many English recipes back to America with me. Personally, I believe it is important to pass traditional (cultural) recipes down to my children. I suppose it is also a way I show love to my husband… by trying to make him feel at home with familiar comforts. (Especially as we are some four thousand miles away from England).
Some of our favorite English Easter treats are cauliflower cheese, roasted potatoes, chocolate cornflake nests, homemade chocolate eggs, and hot cross buns.
~Hot Cross Buns: A Traditional English Recipe~
Hot cross buns you say?! I can’t say hot cross buns without being transported to my fifth-grade music class. I can hear the familiar song now…”Hot cross buns, hot cross buns…one a penny, two a penny, three a penny, more… hot cross buns.”
If you are not familiar with hot cross buns- they are a soft, chewy, sweet roll that is laced with cinnamon, spices, and raisins. Not too sweet… but delicious served warm with a generous pat of butter on top.
Perhaps my favorite element of the iconic recipe- is the chewy texture of the flour cross (which is beautifully draped over the top of this sweet bun).
In England, (the hot cross buns that we bought from the grocery store), most often had a flour paste cross on the top. The flour cross is not sweet; in fact, it doesn’t really have much taste. Instead, it adds a nice chewy texture to the bun.
However, in America, if you see hot cross buns in a store- the cross is often made with a sweet icing. Of course, this tastes lovely as well.
In my family, the children and I like to make these buns for Good Friday. We do this as a part of our math and science lesson for that day.
Certainly, if you and your family enjoy baking sweet treats- I would recommend setting aside time to make hot cross buns. For hot cross buns are a delicious, pillowy-soft English treat.
~My Hot Cross Buns Recipe~
Homemade Hot Cross Buns
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Soak the raisins in boiling water. (Adding just enough boiling water to cover the raisins). Set aside and allow the raisins to soften.
- In a liquid measuring cup, add the heavy whipping cream and milk. Stir, and heat in the microwave until warm (approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds). *Being careful not to scald the milk.
- Stir 1 Tablespoon of granulated sugar into the milk mixture. Sprinkle the yeast packet on the top of the warm milk mixture. Stir and set aside for approximately ten minutes or until activated.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the bread flour, cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. Stir the dry ingredients to combine.
- Add the milk/yeast mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. Then, add the butter and the egg. Mixing in between each addition on medium speed.
- Drain the raisins before adding to the stand mixer.
- Using a dough hook attachment, slowly add the flour mixture to the liquid ingredients. This step will take 5-7 minutes. When the dough begins to come off the sides of the mixing bowl- you know the dough has been adequately kneaded. (Alternately, this can be done by hand if you do not have access to a stand mixer). *Note: if the dough is too sticky and is not coming off the sides of the bowl, try adding another tablespoon or two of flour.
- Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the bun dough to rest for 1-2 hours in a warm area of the kitchen. (The dough should double in size).
- Punch the risen bun dough down, and knead by hand, on a lightly floured surface for 2 minutes or until elastic and smooth.
- Form the dough into a long loaf shape and separate into 12 individual pieces. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Shape each individual piece of dough into a ball. Taking a pinch of each alternating side, pull the opposite sides together. (Almost as if you were pinching each side of a handkerchief and bringing it together to twist closed. Basically, creating a little knap sack or satchel). Once the side pieces of dough are twisted, press down to create a seal. Place the twisted side of the dough down onto the baking sheet. (The smooth, round top will be facing upwards).
- Place the 12 buns about 1/2 an inch apart on the lined baking sheet. Place an oiled piece of plastic wrap over the top of the buns-allowing 30-45 minutes for a second rise.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the flour and the warm water in a small mixing bowl. Wisk together quickly to create a thick (pipe-able) paste.
- Put the flour paste in a piping bag (a Ziplock bag with a small cut on the end will work as well). Carefully pipe a cross shape onto each roll.
- Bake the buns for 20 minutes or until 190 degrees F and golden brown on the tops.
- Place the apricot jam and the warm water in a mixing bowl. Stir until a loose glaze has been created. Use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over the tops of the warm buns. This adds a beautiful shine to the hot cross buns and helps to lock the moisture in.
- Allow the hot cross buns to cool. Serve warm with butter (or however desired) for best results.
Notes
~How to Make Hot Cross Buns~
Allow me to share my preparations (and baking) through the medium of my photography. Welcome to my kitchen!
~Preparing the Yeast and Softening the Raisins: ~
~Making the Hot Cross Bun Dough: ~
~Allowing the Dough to Rise and Shaping into Individual Buns: ~
~Adding the Flour Paste Crosses and Apricot Glaze to the Tops of the Hot Cross Bun Dough: ~
~No Bake English Easter Eggs~
Now that the Hot Cross Buns are baked, it is time to start working on our English Easter eggs.
While baking is a favorite Easter tradition, having a no bake Easter treat is always a good idea…especially when children are involved. In fact, any time a recipe requires no baking and only a few simple ingredients, I consider this a handy recipe to keep in my recipe box.
Therefore, to recognize both the bakers (and the non-bakers) in the crowd… I thought I would also share my family’s favorite no bake chocolate Easter egg idea.
~Enter the English Easter Eggs~
In England, the Easter candy and chocolate is different to American Easter candy. It seems to me that America has a lot of brightly colored jelly candies, chewy sweets, and lollipops. Whereas, England seems to have more chocolate eggs than anything else.
Of course, many of us- (when thinking of English candy) may think of Cadbury Eggs. There are certainly plenty of Cadbury Eggs on the shelves of English grocery stores. However, the chocolate eggs on the shelves that were most memorable to me (as an American living in England), were the big chocolate eggs that were wrapped in beautiful foil and filled with even more chocolate. Unarguably, they were beautiful…real pieces of edible Easter egg art.
As it would be, my husband and I have not been able to find anything in America that is close to what we enjoyed eating in England. So naturally, we decided to make our own English-inspired, chocolate Easter eggs.
Quickly, this became an Easter tradition. We now enjoy making these simple eggs every year with our four children. Naturally, we don’t like our chocolate eggs to look perfect- but instead, homemade by little fingers. Personally, we like to fill our “eggshells” with Cadbury mini eggs, jellybeans, and Peeps.
Furthermore, these English Easter eggs make the table look sweet…while also acting as an edible table decoration. A win-win!
~How to Make English Easter Eggs~
Making chocolate Easter eggs does not require many ingredients… but it does create a bit of a mess. Therefore, it is my recommendation to place parchment paper (or newspaper) on top of your workspace… as this will help alleviate some of the chocolatey mess.
All you will need is some balloons (small to medium sized work best), some good quality melting chocolate, and some extra candies to fill your egg form with once it is dry.
The process is simple: melt the chocolate, blow up your balloon, dip the balloon in the melted chocolate, allow the chocolate to dry, pop the balloon, and fill the remaining chocolate eggshell with Easter candies of your choosing.
~My Top Tips for Making Chocolate Easter Eggs: ~
My top tips are as follows:
- Top tip number one: use good quality melting chocolates (my family and I generally use both milk chocolate and white chocolate).
- Top tip number two: Sometimes coating the blown-up balloon with butter or coconut oil can help the chocolate to not stick to the balloon when demolding.
- Top tip number three: Coat the balloon with chocolate, allow the balloon to dry, and then recoat with chocolate to create a thicker eggshell. Making the eggshell too thin can cause the eggshell to break when removing the balloon.
- Top tip number four: Placing the chocolate covered balloons on a lined baking sheet, and then in the refrigerator, allows the chocolate to properly chill and set.
- Top tip number five: Demolding the chocolate eggshell from the balloon needs a gently, steady hand. Therefore, this step may best be done by an adult.
~How to Make English Easter Eggs in Photo Format: ~
~Lastly, How to Use a Thrifted Plate to Serve an Easter Treat~
Of course, I couldn’t forget to mention that the floral plate we placed our hot cross bun and our chocolate egg on is a thrifted find (made in England- called Mayflower). The gold rimmed plate was my grandmothers, and the pink glass plate is another thrifted find. In my opinion, this amalgamation of glassware(s) creates a warm and inviting table.
Don’t have any vintage glassware? No need to spend a lot of money… for thrift stores offer a plethora of beautiful china and glassware. (Just be sure to be aware of the possibility of lead used in the old paints).
These beautiful pieces of history add a simple elegance to an Easter-themed tablescape. Therefore, I enjoy incorporating thrifted pieces into my seasonal table settings whenever I can.
~Until Next Time~
I hope these sweet treats inspire you to get in the kitchen and get baking. And as always, don’t forget to add the secret ingredient…a sprinkle of love. Afterall, traditional hot cross buns and English Easter eggs would not be as sweet without the addition of love.
If you enjoyed this Easter post, be sure to check out my thrifted Easter blog post for more ideas and inspirations. Also, look out for my Cotswold Kitchen Mom Facebook and Pinterest pages. Also, for more English recipe ideas- check out my ultimate guide to traditional English recipes here.
Before you leave, be sure to subscribe and share. I appreciate your support and will look forward to seeing you again very soon!
~Elizabeth~