Vegan Hot Cross Buns Recipe

Deliciously fluffy vegan Hot Cross Buns Recipe - the perfect vegan Easter treat. With warming spices such as cinnamon & mandarin juice for a fruity flavour.

Happy Easter everyone! The day has come - and if you're still looking for an easy last-minute Vegan Hot Cross Buns Recipe recipe, then you've come to the right place. There's a first time for everything and this year it is my first time creating this British Easter classic - or at least a vegan version of it that is just as tasty! Time to start a new tradition for me because these turned out super delicious and I am sure I will be making them again (not only for Easter I'm sure!)

I, of course, had to create my own twist on these Vegan Hot Cross Buns as traditionally they are created with dried fruits such as raisins - which are 100% absolutely not my thing, however, so please say hello to these raisin free hot cross buns!

A couple of days ago my colleague actually brought a couple of free from Vegan Hot Cross Buns to the office - they were vegan, but sadly used palm oil, which I am trying to avoid and therefore also did not have any buns that day. The more a reason to be making my own this week - and let's be honest: self-made nearly always tastes better than store-bought. And yes, I am saying 'almost' on purpose here - I am sure everyone has a failed recipe every now and then 😉 For me it was that time I tried to create bread completely without flour... but let's talk about that another time!

Did you know: Where does the Hot Cross Buns Tradition come from? 

The origins of hot cross buns may go back as far as the 12th century. According to the story, an Anglican monk baked the buns and marked them with a cross in honour of Good Friday. Over time they gained popularity, and eventually became a symbol of the Easter weekend.

What ingredients you need for Vegan Hot Cross Buns: 

• yeast
• sugar
• soy milk
• rapeseed oil
• sea salt
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• mandarin juice
• lemon zest
• self-raising flour
• vegan “egg” wash: soy milk, juice of a mandarin, maple syrup
• cross mix: plain flour, vanilla extract, soy milk

How to make Vegan Hot Cross Buns

Start by activating your yeast

In a large jug, add the yeast, sugar and lukewarm water. Briefly stir, then set aside for a few minutes until the yeast has foamed up and 'activated'. It's important to use lukewarm water for this process to work! If your water is too hot or too cold, the yeast will be destroyed or not activated properly.

Mix your ingredients

Add the soy milk at room temperature (also important to not kill the yeast!), rapeseed oil, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, lemon zest and mandarin juice. Reserve about 1 tablespoon of the mandarin juice aside as you will need it later for your glaze. Mix everything together well, then transfer it to a large mixing bowl and add about half of your flour. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to combine everything.

How to make the dough

Once combined add another quarter of your flour to the mix and keep stirring to combine your ingredients to a dough. Slowly keep adding the rest of the flour until you reach the point of the dough is not being overly sticky anymore. This mainly depends on the type of flour you are using and whether you've used lemon zest or lemon juice in your ingredients, so keep adding little bits of flour until your dough is soft but not sticking to your hands anymore.

Gently form a ball from your dough, then lightly oil the bottom of your mixing bowl and place the dough inside. Cover with a clean, wet kitchen towel or cling film and set aside to rest for an hour in a warm place. I like to preheat my oven to 50C, then turn it off and place my dough inside with the door shut.

Getting oven ready

In the meantime, you can prepare your oven dish. On this occasion, I used a rectangular oven dish that fit 3×4 buns inside and cut two sheets of baking parchment that would fit across both ways of the dish, so that my buns would not get stuck. I also greased it with a little coconut oil – just to be on the safe side.

Get kneading

Once the hour has elapsed, push the air out of the dough and knead for one minute on a floured kitchen surface, then separate the dough into 10-12 equal pieces, depending on how large you want your hot cross buns to be. Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place them into your lined oven dish – it’s fine if they are close together (they’re meant to stick together on the edges) – and cover with a wet towel again. Let them rest for another 30 minutes and preheat your oven to 190C degrees.

How to prepare your glaze

Whisk up all ingredients for the vegan egg wash and gently brush it across your buns. Combine all ingredients for the crosses with a fork, then transfer the mix into a small piping bag and gently pipe the lines across the buns to create the crosses.

Place the buns in the oven and bake them for 20-30 minutes or until golden. The exact baking time will depend on the quality of your oven and the size of your buns, so please check them after 20 minutes and only add more baking time if necessary.

Variations for this recipe

Non-dairy milk

As in most of my recipes that call for 'soy' or 'non-dairy' milk, you can easily replace it with your favourite non-dairy milk, such as coconut, rice, oat, hemp & co. Just bear in mind that these can add additional flavouring to your buns - depending on the type and brand. We use soy milk on an everyday basis - simply as we use a lot of it (and it's the cheapest one we can find in the UK).

Fruit

If unlike me, you are a fan of raisins and co, then feel free to add a handful of dried raisins before the first proving process.

Mandarin juice

As you can see in the recipe card below, I've used the juice of a mandarin in my ingredients as well as the glaze to give my buns a deliciously fruity and light flavour.

How to serve your vegan hot cross buns

These buns came out just perfect - though I have to admit I was a little worried that they might be sticking together a little too much but was quickly advised that that's how they are supposed to be, so I am simply rolling with that explanation 😉

In an ideal world, these are best enjoyed when freshly baked and coming from the oven, but if you don't fancy serving and/or eating them all in one go, you can simply cut them in halves and toast them the next day. They taste amazing with a spread of vegan butter - and also with some vegan cheese (I used a slice of Violife!)

This recipe is:

• 100% vegan
• fluffy
• delicious
• fruity
• easy to make
• the perfect vegan bake for Easter!

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Looking for more Easter bakes? Try out my traditionally German Marzipan Easter Plait - the vegan version of course!

Here are some other great baking recipes, perfect for Easter or any other time of the year: 

• Baked Vegan Churros
• White Chocolate Biscoff Rocky Road Recipe
• Easy Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
• Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Babka