Hot Cross Bun Pancakes

Growing up in the UK, hot cross buns were an ordinary product in most supermarkets and basically a staple around Easter time. But since moving to Germany each Easter in our house has been sadly lacking hot cross buns.

This year I felt like I had sufficient experience in baking in general, particularly working with yeast and enriched bread doughs, so I thought I would bake some hot cross buns.

I had already chosen a recipe, mentally prepared myself and got inwardly excited when all the supermarkets in our area ran out of yeast because of panic-buying, corona virus and problems with suppliers etc. I did quickly search the Internet to see if it was possible to make hot cross buns without yeast but the answer was unfortunately no.

Pancakes for Sunday morning breakfast is something I unwittingly introduced a couple of years ago and which speedily progressed from a one-off occasion to a habit. No one complained about the new habit though! Me and my dad make them together every Sunday morning and enjoy the process just as much (or at least nearly as much!) as eating them, so that’s ok 🙂

These hot cross bun pancakes are something I made up as I was going along. I just took our standard pancake recipe and added the spices and special ingredients which are usually found in hot cross buns. It sounded like a good idea in my head and my hope and dream was that they would smell and taste just like normal hot cross buns, except in pancake format. And to my joy the first thing my sister said when she sat down at the table was “They smell just like real hot cross buns!” And after a communal taste-test my youngest brother said “They taste just like hot cross buns!”

The general opinion was that they were a success.

This recipe combines all of the delicious tastes and smells of a traditional hot cross bun, just in a fluffy American-style pancake! Especially perfect for Easter.

Standard pancake recipe:

3 cups flour
2 packets baking powder (8tsp)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 cup milk
3 eggs
4 tbsp butter (or oil or mixture)

Easter add-ins:

2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Pinch of cloves
Pinch of ginger
Zest of orange
1 tsp zest of lemon (1/4 lemon)
3/4 cup raisins

Toppings:

Butter, maple syrup, hazelnut chocolate spread, apricot jam, peanut butter and banana

Method

1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl (I use the whisk attachment on my stand mixer and my stand mixer bowl).
2. Add wet ingredients (milk, eggs and butter/oil).
3. Mix thoroughly until well-combined (I mixed it for a couple of minutes with my stand mixer).
4. Stir in spices, citrus zest and raisins.
5. Heat a drizzle of oil on a griddle until hot, then start cooking your pancakes!

We found that these topping combinations taste especially good, but I’m quite sure that anything would taste good on top of these. Or just eat them on their own 🙂

-Butter and maple syrup (a classic)
-Peanut butter and banana (a favourite in our family)
-Apricot jam (for the full ‘hot cross bun’ experience)
-Hazelnut chocolate spread (high-quality version of Nutella)

Notes/tips:

-you can omit the raisins if you or someone in your family doesn’t like them. Just leave them out or substitute with some chopped dried apricots or chopped dark chocolate instead.