RECIPE :: HOT CROSS BUNS W/ CANDIED LEMON PEEL

I'm at that point in my life where I'm really looking to make my own traditions--my own traditional foods for holidays like christmas, thanksgiving, earth day, and easter. enter :: the favorite easter hot cross bun. this mix of butter and sugar and egg is historically remembered for breaking bread on good friday as the cross on top denotes the cross of our savior. but according to more superstitious sources, the cross on top wards off anything that will make the bun go moldy or stale. we'll see how that holds up here in the tropicale of the caribbean.

you can find the recipe for these buns here. but I will say I needed way more rising time than one hour. even in our humid condo { we rarely use our a/c }, that mound of dough was not rising like it should have. in the end, I needed two hours. I would also adjust your cooking temp { as you can see above }. mine, as well as the original baker's, turned out a little more brown than I prefer. I would maybe heat that oven up to 450F degrees and then drop it to 375F degrees and see how that goes. but all in all, they still received the 'mitch seal of approval' and this recipe will be archived for next year.

what threw me off the most about the above recipe was the called-for candied lemon peels. did I grow up under a rock? is this a pantry staple? I had no clue if I was supposed to find these in a grocery store and where they would be or if these are typically made at home. in the hope of avoiding an awkward conversation at the store where the language barrier already makes asking questions a little difficult, I opted for the homemade variety. I adapted a recipe I found here. but I'm going to give you a step-by-step if, like me, this is not something you are familiar with. 

anyway, you're going to need some things. but nothing super obscure ::

the recipe

3 lemons

1 cup sugar

 1/4 cup honey

 10 cups water, divided

{ pretty simple }

001 :: CUT. wash, then cut your lemons in half. then slide a paring knife around the inside peel of your lemon like you would with a grapefruit freeing the peel from all of that pulp. I'm saving my lemon insides for a recipe later this week. 

then, cut your lemon peels into strips. strips work best if you're going to use them as garnishes atop ice cream or pies, but in the interest of not coming across a super long piece of lemon peel in my hot cross bun, I cut one step further and diced mine.

002 :: BOIL. in a small saucepan, set your diced lemon peels onto boil with 3 cups of water. when it reaches a rolling boil, discard the water. repeat this step twice more so that the inside of your lemons are almost translucent. this step takes about 20 minutes.

003 :: MIX. in a separate saucepan, mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, and 1/4 cup honey and set to high heat. the original recipe called for 2 cups of sugar. but when I measured it out and looked at it, I felt really guilty because it was just too much. so I opted to use the honey for some added sweetness and then decrease the water. 

004 :: when the sugar mixture reaches a boil and looks more like syrup than water, add in the strained lemon peels. set your burner to low heat and simmer until you can chop through your lemon peels with just a wooden spoon.

005 :: COOL. let these cool in their syrup, preferably in your fridge. 

006 :: when you're ready for use, drain away the syrup. be carefullish..it's super sticky. and I know this is hypocritical, but toss in sugar till the little guys look mostly dry. and voila! you're all done.

I really do hope you get a chance to make these hot cross buns with the homemade lemon peel. it doesn't even have to be for easter because you need no excuses to eat delicious sweet buns! just maybe don't eat them everyday ;)

love, arielle