Although my family isn't Christian, I've never seen the point in dispensing with the traditional cuisine:   I like Hot Cross Bun Day and Easter Egg Day as much as anyone else.   However, the hot cross buns purchased at the supermarket have never appealed to me, since they are made as a modified fruit bun—that is to say, they have mixed dried fruit in them.   Since I don't care for chunks of peel, I used to spend a tedious amount of time picking them out and leaving them on the side of the plate.   And those were the bits I spotted.   I always missed a few.
        In my early twenties, however, I tried my hand at baking; and one of the things I made was the traditional English currant bun—something that is not available in Canada, sadly.   According to my father, spiced currant buns with icing crosses were the usual hot cross bun of his boyhood; and my mother remembers similar buns from her childhood in Montreal, except that the crosses on top were made of bread dough, which is more usual in Canada.   It occurred to me that, if I added a cross to the currant bun recipe, I could make my own hot cross buns; and I could eat them happily without hunting peel.
        Unlike professional bakers, I do not have access to (relatively) small quantities of plain bread dough from which to make the crosses.   I therefore made them out of a sort of pastry.   This proved successful; and so, every year, I prepare the buns on the Thursday, let them rise overnight, and bake them for breakfast on Good Friday.
        I have only one complaint about these buns.   They get eaten up too fast.   I could always do with twice as many.   Trouble is, if you make more, either you get fat or they get stale.

Ingredients

Directions

Initial Preparations

Put the lukewarm water in a warmed mixing bowl, and add the yeast and one teaspoonful of sugar.   Let the yeast prove.

Put half of the flour in another mixing bowl, and combine it with the sugar, salt, and spices.

Break the egg into a small bowl, and beat it lightly with a fork.

Cut the butter into tiny chunks.

Making the Dough
Add the egg to the proved yeast.   Then add the chunks of butter and the dry ingredients.   Mix well.
        Cover the mixing bowl with a piece of waxed paper or plastic, and tuck a dish towel over to keep it from shifting.   Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for a few hours until the dough is approximately double the bulk.
        When the dough has risen, stir in the currants, using a spurtle or wooden spoon.   Then add the rest of the flour.
        Mix well, kneading the last of the flour in.   Form it into a ball.
        Place the dough on a clean flat surface (such as a kitchen counter) that has been dusted with flour.   Knead the dough well.

Shaping the Buns
Divide the dough into twelve pieces of equal size, gauging them by weight in the palm of your hand rather than by size.   Shape each piece roughly into a ball.
        Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil, grease it, and dust it with flour.   Place each of the buns on it.   Space them well apart to allow for the increase in size when they rise.

Making the Pastry for the Crosses
Place the flour and sugar in a mixing bowl, and rub in the butter.   Add just sufficient water to mix the ingredients together.   The texture should resemble that of ordinary pastry dough.   Form into a ball.
        Place the dough on a clean flat surface (such as a kitchen counter) that has been dusted with flour.   Roll the dough out with a rolling pin so that it is about the thickness of ordinary pie pastry.   Use a knife to cut it into strips no more than ½ inch thick, similar to those that one would cut to lattice a pie.

Putting the Crosses on the Buns
Brush the top of each bun with beaten egg.   Then, across each bun, lay two pastry strips at right angles to make a cross shape.   Tuck the ends of the pastry strips underneath the buns.
        If you wish, you can brush the pastry strips also with egg; but do it after they've been put on the buns.

Overnight
Cover the baking tin with a sheet of waxed paper, putting a dish towel on top so that it won't shift.   Leave the buns to rise overnight.

Baking
Bake at 375°F for twenty minutes, or until golden brown.

Glazing
While the buns are in the oven, mix a half a cup of hot water with two tablespoons of white sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved.
        As soon as the buns have been taken out of the oven, quickly brush them over with the sweetened water, covering the tops and sides.   The heat of the buns will evaporate most of the water, leaving a sticky glaze.         Serve hot.

Makes one dozen buns.