Hot Cross Shortbread Cookies are shortbread cookies with all the citrus and spicy flavours of a Hot Cross Bun. It’s the perfect recipe for your cookie jar all year round, but when you dress up these cookies with a piped cross, they make a great addition to your Easter tea table.
The origin of the Hot Cross Bun may go back to the 12th Century when it is said that they were baked by monks and marked with a cross to honour Good Friday.
However, there is an alternative theory that the baking of cross buns may go back even further to Pagan times. when these buns were baked at the beginning of Spring to celebrate the goddess Eostre.
Whatever the origin of the Hot Cross Bun the tradition of eating these sweet treats in Spring, and particularly on Good Friday, have survived because they are just so delicious.
How to make Hot Cross Shortbread Cookies
Let me take you through the process step by step.
All quantities and full instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page
Ingredients for Hot Cross Shortbread Cookies
Use softened butter, sugar, flour, mixed spice, raisins, and mixed peel to make your cookies. Chop the raisins and mixed peel as, otherwise, the pieces are too lumpy in the cookies.
For the glaze
You will need an egg, white only, and an additional tablespoon of caster sugar for the glaze.
Equipment
You will also need an 8 cm plain edged round cookie cutter, baking parchment or a non-stick baking mat and two baking sheets.
Make the Shortbread
Take the butter out of the fridge for a few hours to soften, then take the block and push it into the mixture of flour, sugar and mixed spice, the butter will gradually take up more of the dry mixture as you work it in.
Add the flavouring
Add the finely chopped raisins and mixed peel to the dough when it starts to cling together but has still not formed a ball, then keep working the ingredients together. Get in with both hands!
Knead the shorbread cookie dough
It only takes a few minutes of kneading the mixture and then suddenly you will find that the dough has come together. All the butter will have merged with the flour, sugar, and spice and you should have a nice even distribution of raisins and mixed peel too.
Roll out the Hot Cross Shortbread Cookie Dough
There is no need to chill the dough, in fact, chilling will make it more difficult to roll out. You can make your cookies straight away.
Lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour and press down the dough, then roll it out gently until it is about 1/2 cm thick.
Cut out the cookies
I would usually transfer the cookies using a spatula, but I wanted to show you the depth of the cookie. You do need to press quite firmly with your cutter to make sure you don’t have too many little tags of raisin around the edges.
This recipe makes about 16 x 8 cm cookies, I could get nine cookies on my baking sheet. If you use a smaller cutter you will get more cookies. Shortbread Cookies, don’t really spread so you can place them reasonably close together.
Glazing the Cookies
When I started to develop this recipe, I wondered how I was going to make the shortbread cookies look more like Hot Cross Buns.
Normally, I would dust my shortbread cookies with caster (superfine) sugar, but that wasn’t going to look anything like a Hot Cross Bun. Then it came to me, I could brush them with a mixture of egg white and sugar to make a shiny surface.
Separate the egg, and lightly whisk the egg white until it is broken up, then add the sugar and beat it a little more until it was just frothy. Brush the tops of the cookies.
Bake the Hot Cross Shortbread Cookies
Bake the cookies between 8-10 minutes until golden brown. The glaze keeps them shiny and the sugar in it carmelises and adds a little extra golden glow around the edges of the cookie. Lift the cookies off the baking sheet and let them cool on a wire cooling tray.
How to make crosses on the cookies
Option 1
Melt white chocolate buttons into a disposable piping bag. Clip the open end to prevent any water from getting in, and place it in a bowl of just-boiled water from the kettle. You can also microwave the piping bag but I like the hot water method, as I feel I have more control.
Option 2
Use Royal Icing, you can make this yourself or because you only need a very little buy it ready-made in a tube.
Use White Chocolate
Once the chocolate has melted, snip the end of the piping bag and pipe the crosses. The chocolate comes out quite quickly, put your finger over the end of the piping bag between each cross and when moving between cookies.
If your piping skills are a little rusty the royal icing as it is firmer and will give you more control to create your crosses.
Tidy up your crosses
As you can see, some of the crosses are more even than others. If you do have any chocolate where it shouldn’t be, it is possible to scrape the stray bits of chocolate off with a knife once the chocolate has set firm, so don’t worry if you make a few mistakes.
The texture of the cookies is softer than traditional shortbread cookies because of the raisins and mixed peel. However, they melt in your mouth with the buttery taste you associate with good shortbread and the citrus and spice taste of a Hot Cross Bun.
More Easter Recipes from Farmersgirl Kitchen
Fiesta Rice Krunchie Bars and Edible Ice Cream Bowls
More Easter Cookie Recipes
Easy Creme Egg Cookies – Fab Food 4 All
Carrot Cake Cookies – The Baking Explorer
How to make Easter Biscuits – My Boys Club
Easter Cookie Bar -Cooking with my Kids
Easter Chocolate Shortbread Biscuits with Mini Eggs – Jo’s Kitchen Larder
Traditional Easter Biscuits (Gluten Free) – Gluterama
Almond Easter Thumbprint Cookies – Tin & Thyme
Easter Baking Spring Biscuits – Thinly Spread
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Hot Cross Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 300 g 10oz plain flour
- 100 g 4oz caster sugar
- 200 g 8oz butter
- 30 g raisins finely chopped
- 30 g mixed peel finely chopped
- 2 tsp mixed spice
For the glaze
- 1 egg white lightly beaten (optional)
- 1 tbsp caster sugar optional
For the crosses
- 80 g white chocolate buttons
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 170C.
- Sift the flour into a bowl, add the sugar and mixed spice and mix well together.
- Work in the butter with your fingertips – keep it in one piece and gradually work in the dry ingredients.
- When the mixture starts to come together, add the finely chopped raisins and mixed peel.
- Knead the chopped raisins and mixed peel into the mixture until the dough comes together in a ball.
- Pat down on a work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough to about 1/2 cm (1/8 in) and cut out with a plain edged (8 cm) cookie cutter.
- As you cut the cookies place them on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment or a mat.
- Gather together the remaining dough and cut more cookies, repeating until all the dough has been used and all the cookies are on a baking sheet. I used two baking sheets.
To glaze
- Mix together the lightly beaten egg white with a tablespoon of caster sugar, then brush the tops of the cookies with this glaze.
- Bake in the oven at 170C 8-10 minutes until firm and pale golden brown. Lift onto a cooling tray with a spatula.
To make the crosses
- Once the cookies are completely cool. Place the white chocolate buttons into a disposable piping bag, clip the end of the bag, The place the closed end into a bowl of boiled water and leave until the chocolate has melted.
- Carefully snip the end of the piping bag and pipe a cross on top of each cookie. This is quite tricky as the chocolate wants to run. As an alternative, you could use ready-made royal icing to pipe the crosses.
- Leave until the chocolate is firm, then pack carefully into an airtight container until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Camilla Hawkins says
What a genius idea Janice, love the idea of hot cross bun flavoured shortbread:-)
Janice Pattie says
Thank you, Camilla. I love a bit of a mix up of different recipes and there are so many ways you can use Hot Cross Bun flavours.
Helen says
Yum, I love hot cross buns and these look just as tasty but a lot easier to make 🙂
Janice Pattie says
Me too, Helen. Definitely easier to make.
Rebecca says
I love to read about recipes and where they originated from (that’ll be the historian in me) these look like the perfect treat to go with a cup of tea this Easter.
Janice Pattie says
Thank you. I’m also fascinated by food history and love all the historical tv shows which feature food.
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder says
My favourite Easter goodies hot cross buns turned into cookies! Now, that really is a genius idea! I will definitely be giving them a go in the run up to Easter! 🙂
Janice Pattie says
Aw thank you, I hope you enjoy them.
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder says
I will! And thank you for sharing your cookies with #BakingCrumbs 🙂
Janice Pattie says
Thank you, Jo. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
Helen @ family-friends-food.com says
They sound absolutely glorious – what a gorgeous combination of flavours. I bet it’s impossible to eat just one!
Janice Pattie says
Thanks, Helen. Fortunately, they are quite big, so one does seem to do the trick!
Sisley White says
These look absolutely incredible. I have to make them. Shortbread and hot cross buns are wonderful alone but together I can only imagine how wonderful.
Janice Pattie says
Thank you Sisley, I love both Hot Cross Buns and shortbread too.
Helen at Casa Costello says
I love this twist on a traditional Easter recipe – I suspect your cookies would be very popular with my girls who normally leave buns well alone. Thanks so much for joining in with #BakeoftheWeek once again
Janice Pattie says
Thank you, Helen. I’m sure your girls could make these themselves and give you a treat!
Choclette says
These biscuits look so good Janice. I’m wanting to rush off to the kitchen to bake some. Love Easter spices and shortbread, so this is a real winner. What a very excellent idea.
Janice Pattie says
Thanks so much. I hope you get a chance to do some Easter baking too.
Elizabeth says
This is such a super clever recipe idea! All the flavour of hot cross buns and shortbread, but without all the time-consuming nature of making a yeasty bread. Genius!
Janice Pattie says
Thank you, Elizabeth. That was my thought exactly!
Monika Dabrowski says
This is a great alternative to hot cross buns. Plus these cookies look gorgeous! Pinned to my Easter board. Thank you for bringing your lovely recipe to #CookBlogShare
Janice Pattie says
Thank you, Monika.
Kavita Favelle says
Oh yes, I LOVE this idea, and we’re more likely to eat the shortbreads over a couple of days than a big batch of Hot Cross Buns! Really lovely fusion idea, Janice!
Janice Pattie says
Thank you. Yes, same for us. I usually freeze Hot Cross Buns and forget about them, but cookies never go wrong!
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
They look fantastic and so yummy!
Janice Pattie says
Thanks Kat. I’ll need to make more before Easter.
Corina Blum says
I love shortbread cookies and these sound delicious with the Easter flavour in. I think I’d like them more than I like hot cross buns even!
Janice Pattie says
Thanks for your kind words, Corina.
jenny walters says
What a great idea for these cute cookies. Loving the whole thing.Pinned!
Janice Pattie says
I’m glad you like them, Jenny. I know you are a very talented baker, so it’s nice to hear that.
jenny paulin says
I really like the sound and look of your hot cross cookies. I love the flavour of hot cross buns so I know I would really love your biscuit versions. Thank you for sharing with #Bakeoftheweek
Jill's Mad About Macarons says
Janice – absolutely love this idea! Looks so tasty and perfect for Easter. I adore Hot Cross Buns but as shortbread? Brilliant.
Janice Pattie says
Thank you, Jill. I love to mash up my favourite recipes and create a new one!
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
I love the idea of these biscuits, they look delicious
Janice Pattie says
Thank you Jacqui, indeed they are delicious!
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie says
Such a lovely idea! I am a huge fan of hot cross buns and also of Easter biscuits, so I am sure I’d love these! Eb x
Janice Pattie says
Thanks, Eb. Looking forward to Easter for all the treats.
Anca says
That’s such a fab idea and they look so cute. Well done!!
Janice Pattie says
Thank you, Anca.
Helen C says
These look wonderful and make a nice change from chocolate bakes. Really sweet recipe, thanks for sharing! 🙂 xx
Helen | Helen’s Fashion, Beauty & Lifestyle Blog
Janice Pattie says
Thanks, Helen. I must get some out of the freezer, I’d forgotten all about them!