Hot Cross Biscuits
These hot cross biscuits are made with warm spices, orange peel and raisins, and topped with an easy icing. Like the traditional hot cross buns, but easier!
Hot cross buns, but let’s make them biscuits instead. All the flavor, with a fraction of the time and effort! This recipe is done in just 30 minutes start to finish.
These hot cross biscuits are tender and flaky, with so much flavor from the cinnamon, allspice, and orange peel. The signature cross of icing across the tops of the biscuits gives them away as an Easter treat, but if you’d like to skip it or thin the glaze out and drizzle it over the whole thing then these really would be perfect anytime!
Ingredients you’ll need
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking powder, baking soda and salt
- Ground cinnamon and ground allspice
- Orange zest
- Butter
- Buttermilk
- Egg
- Raisins
- Powdered sugar and milk
How to make hot cross biscuits, step by step
- Combine dry ingredients. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices and orange zest to a large bowl.
- Cut in butter. Use a pastry blender or fork to cut the cold butter into small pea-sized pieces within the dry ingredients.
- Add raisins. Toss them in until incorporated.
- Add wet ingredients. Whisk egg and buttermilk and pour it into the bowl.
- Bring the dough together. Use a spatula to stir them together to make a shaggy dough, then dump the mixture out onto your counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together.
- Roll and cut. Roll or pat the dough out to about 1 inch thick and cut into rounds.
- Bake. Place rounds on a lined sheet pan and bake at 400°F until lightly golden on tops and bottoms, 16-18 minutes.
- Top with icing. Whisk powdered sugar and milk together to make a thick icing and spoon over the cooled biscuits.
baking tip:Why biscuit and scone ingredients need to stay cold
For tall, soft, and flaky biscuits and scones, make sure you start with cold butter and milk/buttermilk, and work the dough quickly so the butter doesn’t have a chance to warm up. If your kitchen is really warm, consider freezing your biscuits and scones on the sheet pan for 15 minutes before baking.
More biscuits recipes
- Easy Buttermilk Biscuits
- Cinnamon Roll Biscuits
- Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage Gravy
- Whole Wheat Cheddar Biscuits
Hot Cross Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
- ½ cup (113 grams) butter , cold and cubed
- ½ cup (149 grams) raisins or dried currants
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup (170 grams) cold buttermilk
Icing:
- 1 cup (113 grams) powdered sugar , sifted
- 1 tablespoon milk or cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice.
- Add butter and cut into dry ingredients with a pastry blender or knife until butter is the size of small peas. Stir in raisins.
- Combine egg and buttermilk and pour over the cut butter mixture. Use a spatula or spoon to combine mixture, then dump out on to a clean surface and use your hands to bring it completely into a ball. It’s okay if it’s a little craggy.
- Roll or pat to about 1 inch thick and cut with a 2 or 3-inch glass or biscuit cutter.
- Place on the prepared sheet pan and bake until tops and bottoms are lightly golden, about 15-18 minutes (smaller biscuits will need less time). Let cool while you make the icing.
- Combine powdered sugar and milk or cream to make a thick icing. It should be thick enough to hold it’s shape.
- Using a spoon or pastry bag fitted with a plain tip, drop icing over the biscuits in the shape of a cross. Let icing set up before serving.
Notes
- Be sure to measure flour correctly with spoon and level method so you don’t accidentally add too much, otherwise your dough biscuits will turn out tough and dry.
I baked the biscuits at 400 for 20 minutes- was too long – turned out hard. Wondering if the time was a misprint. Also hard to roll into the dough as not enough liquid. I was excited to find a recipe using biscuit dough for hot cross buns but was disappointed as will not serve to the group they were planned for. I Must have done something wrong. They looked so good in the photo.