Every year around this time I have two distinct thoughts. Thought number one goes something like this: ‘Oh great! It’s Easter season! Time to get my hands on some Hot Cross Buns!’. Thought number two quickly follows thought number one and sounds something like this: ‘There’s no way I’m making Hot Cross Buns from scratch, I don’t care how many people call me an Easter Scrooge… what else can I hot cross?’.
Last year I made Hot Cross Biscuits. They’re almost shaped like buns, and they’re buttery tenderness totally excuses the fact that biscuits aren’t buns.
This year we’re getting away with Hot Cross Pancakes. It’s Lent you can eat, breakfast-in-bed-style. Is that how you’re supposed to celebrate Lent… in bed? Probably not, and yet I’ve still hot crossed my pancakes and doused them in too much syrup.
A more clever woman would insert some sort of Pope joke here but I’ll just stop while I’m ahead.
Let’s pancake.
This recipe begins with my favorite buttermilk pancake base. The batter is thick and the pancakes are durable enough to flip, but they’re wonderfully light and tender. Are they the perfect pancake? Maybe, just maybe they are.
To our classic pancake we’ll add cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg, along with currants and citrus zest. Big full flavors for breakfast!
I forgot melted butter! Melted butter goes in everything.
In this case, melted butter is whisked with egg and buttermilk. Good goes great!
Thick batter meets extra flavor.
I really do love this pancake batter.
This is where things get hot crossed. Cream cheese plus powdered sugar plus heavy cream.
I threw this thick cream cheese topping in a pastry bag with a medium tip. Then I fried up some pancakes.
Golden pancakes: hot and crossed.
Everything would be fine and good just as it is… but of course fine and good is never enough. Let’s add syrup!
A pool of pure maple. Totally normal!
Oh! Ps. I visited a maple syrup farm in Vermont last weekend! I have a lot to share. There’s maple in our future.
These pancakes have all the flavor of warm Easter breads but in pancake form. Sometimes laziness spawns creativity (and breakfast in bed).
Hot Cross Pancakes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 cup dried currants
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
butter and oil for cooking
pure maple syrup for serving
For Cream Cheese Cross:
4 ounces (1/2 cup) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
In a small bowl whisk together butter, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients. Stir to combine. It’s ok if the mixture is a bit lumpy. Add the currants and fruit zest and stir to combine. Allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes while the griddle heats.
Preheat oven to 150 degrees F. Place a oven-proof plate in the oven. This is where the pancakes will stay warm while the entire batch is cooked.
Heat a griddle (or nonstick skillet) over medium heat. Add about a teaspoon of butter and a splash of vegetable oil. Heat until fat is hot. Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Fry until golden brown on each side, flipping once. Place cooked pancakes on the warm plate in the oven and cover with a clean towel. Place a bit more oil or butter in the pan after each batch of pancakes are cooked.
To make the cream cheese mixture, stir together the three ingredients in a small bowl. Place in a pastry bag with a medium round tip. If you don’t have a pastry bag, a ziplock freezer bag with the corner tip cut off is a good substitute.
Top stack of pancakes with cream cheese cross. Serve warm with maple syrup.
Vickie
ooh, yum!
I have (& will be) making hot cross buns – but we have a bread-maker, which is almost cheating…
Miss Kim
With all the spices and flavors added in the batter, I can only imagine the yummy of this dish. The cream cheese cross is perfectly themed for Easter.
Kathryn
What an excellent way to celebrate Easter – I made hot cross buns at the weekend but now I wish I’d made pancakes instead!
Sara {Home is Where the Cookies Are}
Aww. I love that you did hot cross pancakes! I made hot cross buns as a kid, and I honestly don’t remember much about it – except that it wasn’t too difficult. I also think they weren’t difficult because it was my Aunt doing all the work. . . . All I did is cross them with frosting! But – I love the idea of having them in pancake form!
Jayne
I don’t celebrate this Easter thing but I can definitely do with some hot cross anything!
Ellen
Glory be, these look fantastical. I so wish I had read this post earlier in the evening when I had the energy to make them. I might settle for toast with maple syrup as a make-shift but inferior substitute, but these are going on the to-make list!
Katie
Joy! This recipe is all kinds of perfect. I always find hot cross buns so disappointing (I think I go in expecting gooey cinnamon bun-ness and it’s always a let down) but this is genius. Way faster and easier, plus all that maple syrup and cream cheese frosting? Total win! I’m making these this weekend for sure!
axelle the french cook
What an attractive tower !! I definitively have to try pancakes…
Verena
I love that combination, looks perfect!
Mia
Yum! My birthday falls during Easter this year, and I’ve been wondering what to have for birthday breakfast. Needless to say, I’m wondering no more :)
Caz
Who needs hot cross buns when you can have pancakes! They look so good.
Katy @ KatysKitchen
Love pancakes, so comforting. I can’t wait to hear about the maple syrup farm. I visited one when I was so young and it is such a great memory.
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
Love! That cream cheese cross is perfection!
Averie @ Averie Cooks
So much faster and easier than making hot cross buns. Great thinking! I just made buttermilk pancakes last week for the first time in ages. I used a batter pretty similar to yours here but I need a tutorial on how to flip NEATLY :)
That Cream Cheese Cross is the best looking cross ever! Pinning!
Catherine
Hosanna in the highest. They look delectable.