Hot cross buns, coffee and fruit are an adequate Good Friday breakfast, although it is no mortification of the flesh to eat them. They will delight the children for luncheon and may be served hot or cold, despite their name. The wartime recipe given is only one of the many improved foods that came out of wartime efforts, the rye and whole wheat flours and the honey all adding to the flavor of the bun, as is attested by the request we just received to reprint it from a woman who has remembered its savor ever since 1918.
Hot Cross Buns
Soften one yeast cake in one quarter of a cupful of scalded and cooled milk. Add this to one cupful of milk prepared in the same manner and mix in one and three-quarter cupfuls of bread flour. Beat the sponge until light, cover and let rise. Beat down again and add one teaspoonful of salt, one-quarter of a cupful of sugar, one-quarter of a cupful of melted shortening, one slightly beaten egg, half a cupful of currants and sufficient flour to make a soft dough. Knead until elastic, cover and let rise. When double in bulk roll out on the floured board, cut in rounds and lay on a greased pan. Allow to double in bulk and bake about 25 minutes. When almost done dredge thickly with sugar and cinnamon and return to the oven for a few minutes. Cool on a wire rack and when nearly cold pipe a cross of ornamental frosting in the center of each.
War-Time Hot Cross Buns
Place in a graniteware saucepan a pint of skim milk and add one table spoonful and a half of oleo, one tablespoonful of honey and one teaspoonful of salt. Heat the milk until the ingredients are dissolved, then remove from the fire, and when it has cooled to blood heat add one lightly beaten egg, half a yeast cake dissolved in a quarter of a cupful of tepid water and sufficient rye and whole wheat flour (mixed in equal parts) to form a stiff batter. Beat hard, add half a cupful each of currants and stoned raisins and a quarter of a cupful of finely shredded citron, dusted with a little whole wheat flour. Cover and set in a warm place over night. In the morning add enough whole wheat flour to form a dough, knead lightly and roll out into a sheet. Cut in circles, lay on a greased pan and allow them to rise again until they have doubled in size. Cut a deep cross in each, brush over with a little hot milk to which has been added a teaspoonful of brown sugar and a little ground cinnamon. Bake in a moderately hot oven for about twenty-five minutes.