Hot Cross Buns

The first thing I saw in Whole Foods on Sunday was Uprising Bread's Hot Cross Buns - while I love Uprisings' - they're local and they're fresh and they pride themselves on all natural and organic ingredients, but they use eggs in some of their baking... Thus I had to bypass them - but the craving came back as I stood in the baking isle staring at a package of candied orange peel. Darn cravings I thought, and bought the package.

So what to do then? I need a recipe right and apparently hot cross buns are not a regular Easter treat in North America, where as peeps are... eww. On that note, crack out your raisins, candied peels and yeast.

Recipe modified from Vegan Visitor's Cinnamon Bun recipe:

1 Ripe Banana, finely mashed
1/4 Cup Sugar
6 Tablespoons Margarine, melted or vegetable oil
3/4 Cup Soy Milk, warmed slightly
3 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Unbleached Flour, plus additional for dusting
1/2 Cup Soft Whole Wheat Flour
2 teaspoons Instant Dry Yeast, 1 Package
1-1/4 teaspoons Salt (less if using the margarine)
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8-1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup candied peel
Zest of one orange and one lemon
Cooking spray or vegetable oil

1/4 cup Agave syrup

Combine sugar and warmed soy milk, stir to dissolve, add yeast - set somewhere warm to bloom/develop. Meanwhile beat banana and marg/oil mix until combined, add zests. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients (w/peel and raisins), leaving out 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour. Add the yeast once developed to the banana mixture and then using a dough hook or a strong arm add in the flour - you're looking for a soft dough - add the remaining 1/2 cup if necessary. Take dough from bowl and knead until soft and elastic - adding flour as necessary. Grease outside of the dough and a bowl - place in a warm place to proof. If you live in a cold basement suite like I do - your oven is the best bet - warm it up, turn it off and then place the bowl, covered into the oven, leave the door ajar, if the temp drops, heat again briefly - you don't want to cook the dough so place it on the lowest setting. Once doubled. Punch down and divide into small balls - I managed 12 from this recipe - depending on the size you're looking for. Place on a cookie sheet and place back into the warm area covered to double in size again. Bake at 350 for 35minutes - approx.

While warm glaze with agave syrup. Once cooled either use marzipan or a simple soy milk and icing sugar mix to form the namesake crosses.