The homemade Hot Cross Bagels are fun to make, flavourful, and an excellent addition to your regular Easter Sunday breakfast or brunch!
Today, I’m sharing my recipe for hot cross bagels!
You’re probably familiar with traditional hot cross buns. In Christian tradition, they’re generally served on Good Friday - rather than Easter morning - with the piped crosses representing the cross on which Jesus died, prior to resurrection.
Personally, I grew up *hating* hot cross buns. The first ones I ever had involved glaceed fruit and that gross jellied orange peel - ingredients I’ve never been able to deal with.
As an adult, I’ve come to realize that those... aren’t really the norm.
Hot cross buns I’ve had as an adult have been everywhere from decent to outright glorious, with warm spices and *fresh* orange flavor, in with dried fruit - raisins and currents, usually.
Dried fruit is awesome. Glaceed fruit... not so much.
When considering what an Easter bagel would entail, I went back to those flavors, just repackaged them in a little different form 🙂
These...might be the best bagel I’ve designed.
The smell alone, as the dough was proofing, then baking? AUGH. Can’t handle it - just amazing.
Every time my husband reheats one of them, I just wallow in jealousy - all that citrus and spicy goodness fills the house with the most amazing aroma.
The fact that even he loves them says a lot - he hates raisins in baked goods. He really likes the texture in these, says they work well, and he loves the “little sweet pops of flavor” they provide.
Anyway, let’s get to that recipe!
Ingredients
While the ingredient list for these bagels is a bit longer than my average bagel recipe, it’s mostly pantry staples. All in the name of getting that fantastic hot cross buns flavor!
You will need:
Pantry Staples: All-purple flour, Dark Brown Sugar, Active Dry Yeast, Pure Vanilla Extract, salt.
An orange (both for orange juice and orange zest).
Spices: Allspice, Ground Cinnamon, Ground Cloves, and Ground Nutmeg.
Dairy, etc: Milk & Eggs.
Raisins and/or dried currents (I use them both, 50/50).
Just a couple notes for you:
1. You can swap a lemon in - lemon juice and lemon zest - for the orange, if you prefer.
2. You can use plant based milk to make these dairy free. I actually use unsweetened almond milk.
How to Make Hot Cross Bagels
The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, here is a pictorial walk through, with some additional tips and info.
Make the Dough
Measure warm milk into a glass measuring cup or bowl, stir in 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar until well combined.
Stir in yeast, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
Pour in yeast mixture, juice, and vanilla extract, stir well to combine.
Alternatively, use a stand mixer with a dough hook for about 7 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
Note: If the dough is really sticky - sticking to the bowl, rather that coming together in a ball - add a small amount of flour. It should be slightly sticky, but still able to ball.
Once bagel dough is fully kneaded, place in a lightly oil bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, or until doubled in size.
Form the Bagels
Once dough has doubled, dump it out on a clean work surface, and divide it out into 10 equal pieces.
Use a circular motion to roll each piece of dough into a ball, then press thumb into the middle of each ball.
Once you have a hole made, stretch the ring of dough out a bit to enlarge the hole.
As your bagels are resting, preheat oven to 350 F.
Boil and Bake the Bagels
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the brown sugar, and stir well to combine. Turn heat down a little, allowing water to simmer rather than boil.
2 or 3 at a time, drop your bagels into the simmering water, allow to cook for 1 minute, then flip each and allow to cook for another minute.
Drain well, place on lined baking sheets.
Whisk egg yolk together with 1 tablespoon of water, brush bagels all over with this egg wash.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the ¼ cup flour with about half of the warm water. Add more water, a little bit at a time, to form a smooth, pipable paste.
Spoon the flour mixture into a piping bag, and pipe an X across each bagel. Trim the ends of each X to clean up the edges, if desired.
Bake for about 35-37 minutes, until golden brown.
Once cooled to room temperature, these hot cross bagels can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for a few days, or in the fridge for about a week.
Best served reheated.
More Easter Content!
Looking for more fun / tasty ways to observe Easter? Here are a few of my favourite recipes:
4 Layer Easter Creme Egg Brownies
Chocolate Zombie Easter Bunnies
Easter No-Bake Chocolate Pie with Mini Eggs.
Mini Egg Easter Pavlovas
Easter Pavlova
Easy Pysanky [Epic Easter Eggs]
Gluten-Free Paska [Easter Bread]
Easter Deviled Eggs
Homemade Marshmallow Peeps
Keto Paska
Paska - Ukrainian Easter Bread
Hot Cross Scones
Southern Comfort Glazed Ham
Paska Bagels
Share the Love!
Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you Instagram it, be sure to tag me - @CelebrationGenerationCA - or post it to My Facebook Page - so I can cheer you on!
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Finally, if you love this recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and/or a comment below, and maybe even sharing this post on social media!
Hot Cross Bagels
Equipment
Ingredients
Bagel Dough:
- 1 cup Warm - not hot - Milk
- ⅓ cup Dark Brown Sugar packed
- 4 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
- 3 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 ¼ cups Raisins and/or Dried Currants I used about 50/50
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Ground Allspice
- ½ teaspoon Ground Cloves
- ½ teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- ½ cup Orange juice
- 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
Assembly:
- ¼ cup Dark brown sugar
- 1 Large Egg yolk
- ¼ cup All Purpose flour
- ¼ cup Water
Instructions
Make the Dough:
- Measure warm milk into a glass measuring cup or bowl, stir in 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar until well combined.
- Stir in yeast, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, remaining brown sugar, raisins and/or currants, orange zest, spices, and salt.
- Pour in yeast mixture, juice, and vanilla extract, stir well to combine.
- Dump dough out onto a floured surface, knead until soft and elastic, 5-10 minutes. Alternatively, use a stand mixer with a dough hook for about 7 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
- Note: If the dough is really sticky - sticking to the bowl, rather that coming together in a ball - add a small amount of flour. It should be slightly sticky, but still able to ball.
- Once dough is fully kneaded, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Form the Bagels
- Once dough has doubled, dump it out on a clean work surface, and divide it out.
- We divided the mixture into 10 equal sized balls
- There are two main ways of forming bagels – with roll each lump of dough into a thick “snake” and secure the ends together, or roll each lump into a smooth ball before poking a finger though.
- Once you have a hole made, stretch the ring of dough out a bit to enlarge the hole. Personally, I prefer the latter.
- Once you have all of your bagels formed, set them on baking sheets to rise for another 10 minutes. As your bagels are resting, preheat oven to 350 F.
Boil and Bake the Bagels
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the brown sugar, and stir well to combine. Turn heat down a little, allowing water to simmer rather than boil.
- 2 or 3 at a time, drop your bagels into the simmering water, allow to cook for 1 minute, then flip each and allow to cook for another minute.
- Drain well, place on lined baking sheets.
- Whisk egg yolk together with 1 tablespoon of water, brush over the tops and sides of each bagel, set aside.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the ¼ cup flour with about half of the water. Add more water, a little bit at a time, to form a smooth, pipable paste.
- Spoon the flour mixture into a pastry bag, and pipe an X across each bagel. Trim the ends of each X to clean up the edges, if desired.
- Bake for about 35-37 minutes, until golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
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