Hot (un)Crossed Buns

I'm not sure I'd ever had a hot crossed bun before.  If I had, it hadn't made a huge impression on me.  I kind of had an idea that they were sweet rolls, although I also may have confused them with Chelsea buns, which I've also never had, although I think they're sweeter.  Anyway, after laboring all day on the garlic french bread on Sunday, I was looking around for something fun and easy.  Ideally, I wanted a cooking project that would taste yummy and satisfy my need to cook more without spiking my frustration level through the roof.  The Joy of Cooking, my old standby, came to the rescue.

I was flipping through the bread section, looking for a fast bread that didn't require lots of milk and eggs - items I am ambivalent about during the best of times and certainly can't afford at the moment (seriously, the only eggs I don't feel completely guilty about eating cost nearly half my weekly shopping allowance!)  As soon as I saw the recipe for hot crossed buns, I knew I had found what I was looking for.  It only required one rising period and 20 minutes in the oven, plus, it called for raisins, one of my favorite foods.  I didn't notice until I was almost finished making the dough that it called for one egg.  I'm not sure how I missed it, since the Joy is very clear in its ingredient lists.  I think I assumed that, as in the other roll recipes in that section, the egg was optional.  At any rate, I didn't have any eggs so I carried on without them.  The rolls turned out just as delicious as I had hoped, but a little dry.  I have two theories for this.  First, I would have let them rise a little bit longer if I hadn't had plans in the afternoon.  Second, I think that I kneaded them too much!  After working with tough dough all morning, I think I might have been a bit too excited to be kneading nice soft dough.  Finally, I have a third theory, that eggs help bread rise and would have added moisture.  The next time I make these I will remember to add the egg. 

Nonetheless, I'm happy with the result.  These buns are slightly sweet, the golden raisins are delicious, and they kind of remind me of Christmas with all the cinnamon and nutmeg.  They're excellent with a little butter and a cup of tea in the morning.  When I realized that the "crossed" in the name referred to actually drawing a little cross on the top of the rolls, I skipped it.  Who wants to do extra work for something that has no effect on the deliciousness of the food?  Which leaves me wondering what to call these yummy un-crossed buns.