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Hot Cross Cookies

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These soft, chewy, spicy, fruit & nut studded Hot Cross Cookies have all the flavours of a hot cross bun in cookie form!

These soft, chewy, spicy, fruit & nut studded Hot Cross Cookies have all the flavours of a hot cross bun in cookie form. They are perfect for gifting or making with children this Easter!

Whilst I am not a religious person, I do enjoy Easter. Probably because of the copious amounts of chocolate involved! It doesn’t have to be all about chocolate though. There are homemade hot cross buns, and now there are Hot Cross Cookies too!

Ideas for recipes spring up when I am least expecting them. I woke up on Saturday morning with no clue that these little beauties would materialize. Then, while cleaning my bedroom they suddenly popped into my head. I have no idea where the idea came from but the cleaning was abandoned and I ended up in the kitchen creating these Hot Cross Cookies.

These soft, chewy, spicy, fruit & nut studded Hot Cross Cookies have all the flavours of a hot cross bun in cookie form. They are perfect for gifting or making with children this Easter!My Hot Cross Cookies are incredibly flavourful and spiced to absolute perfection. They are soft, flecked with chewy raisins and crunchy walnuts then topped with delicious vanilla flavoured white crosses. Hot cross buns in cookie form! How cool is that?

These soft, chewy, spicy, fruit & nut studded Hot Cross Cookies have all the flavours of a hot cross bun in cookie form. They are perfect for gifting or making with children this Easter!

They are great for gifting this Easter. Your friends and family will welcome a sweet treat that doesn’t involve chocolate. They are also really easy to make (no mixer needed) so great as an Easter activity for children. If nut allergies are an issue then the nuts can be omitted without affecting the recipe at all. And if they do love chocolate be sure to check out my Homemade Copycat Cadbury Creme Eggs!

I hope you all have a very happy Easter weekend! If you love the flavours in these cookies then be sure to look out for my Hot Cross Bun recipe which is coming very soon. Join my mailing list then it will be sent to your inbox the instant it is published! If you just love cookies in general then you really need to make my Chocolate & Coconut Cream Cookies. They are just as awesome!

I would love to see your versions of these Hot Cross Cookies. Share your pictures with me on Instagram, Twitter (@avirtualvegan) or on my Facebook page.

4 from 1 vote
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Hot Cross Cookies

These soft, chewy, spicy, fruit & nut studded Hot Cross Cookies have all the flavours of a hot cross bun in cookie form. They are perfect for gifting or making with children this Easter!
Course Baked Goods
Recipe Type vegan
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 17 minutes
Total Time 27 minutes
Servings 13 cookies
Calories 172 kcal
Author Melanie McDonald

Ingredients

For the cookies

  • 145g | 1.25 cups spelt flour (wholewheat can be used as an alternative but spelt gives the best result)
  • 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
  • 75g | 1/2 cup coconut sugar (any brown sugar can be used if you don't have coconut)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
  • 75g | 1/2 cup raisins
  • 30g | 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional but adds great texture)
  • 5 tablespoons oil (I used mild olive oil but coconut oil (melted) or any other mild tasting oil is fine)
  • 120mls | 1/2 cup non-dairy milk

For the crosses

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat
  2. Put all the dry ingredients, including fruit and nuts, into a mixing bowl .
  3. Add the oil and milk then stir to combine everything. Make sure you can't see any dry bits of flour and you scrape the bottom of the bowl well.
  4. Drop mixture onto the cookie sheet. I use an ice-cream scoop. Leave plenty of room round each one.
  5. Flatten the tops of each cookie with the back of a fork.
  6. Bake for 15-17 minutes. When ready they will be hardening up round the edges but slightly soft on the inside when you press with your finger. They will continue to firm up when you remove them from the oven.
  7. Leave to cool on the tray.
  8. When completely cool prepare the frosting.
  9. Add the aquafaba to a small bowl and whisk until just starting to go thicker and foamy. I used an hand whisk. It's difficult as there is such a small amount but just tip the bowl slightly to the side. With an electric hand whisk it will take 30 seconds tops. By hand slightly longer.
  10. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir with a spoon a little bit so it's not so dusty then whisk again for about two minutes until very thick.
  11. Use a piping bag and a nozzle with a very small opening to pipe cross shapes across the top of each cookie.The crosses will dry hard within a few minutes.

Recipe Notes

If you don't happen to have aquafaba for the frosting then you can use water instead. You won't need to whip it up like the aqufaba. Just add the vanilla to the powdered sugar then add the water a drop at a time, stirring well until you have a thickish paste. If you can use aquafaba then please do as the crosses are much hardier with it.

Nutrition Facts
Hot Cross Cookies
Amount Per Serving (1 cookie)
Calories 172 Calories from Fat 63
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 7g 11%
Sodium 147mg 6%
Total Carbohydrates 26g 9%
Dietary Fiber 2g 8%
Sugars 17g
Calcium 3%
Iron 4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.


These soft, chewy, spicy, fruit & nut studded Hot Cross Cookies have all the flavours of a hot cross bun in cookie form! #cookies #hotcrossbuns #easter
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A Virtual Vegan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to amazon.com. I make a very small commission when you order from Amazon through one of my links. These is no extra charge to you at all. This very small income goes towards the costs of running this site (things such as web hosting fees, domain name fees, technical assistance,  ingredients, equipment & necessary software/hardware). This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

    • Ha ha! Thank you so much. I prefer just about anything over cleaning! If I can find an excuse I will take it. The cookies saved me on Saturday!

      Reply

    • Thanks Jenn. Spelt flour is just wonderful for baking. It’s gives such a soft crumb and a lovely slightly nutty flavour.

      Reply

    • Thanks so much Vanessa. I hope they do want to make hot cross buns though as I have a recipe for them coming soon too! Lol

      Reply

    • Spelt flour is so delicious. I love using it in baked goods. You’ll see what I mean whe you try it!

      Reply

  14. I wanted these from the moment I saw them, and now that I’ve read your post I want them even more! Love the spices, the raisins, the nuts…everything!

    Reply

  15. This is such a fun recipe! I’m totally making these in case I feel to lazy to make the actual buns 🙂 I’m excited to see your bun recipe too though, they’re one of my favorite treats

    Reply

  16. What a clever idea – I love it! I am a huge fan of hot cross buns, but not the time involved in making them – these are the perfect alternative 🙂

    Reply

    • Ha ha! I would never recommend more cleaning but I do recommend more cookies! Thank you Patricia :0)

      Reply

  18. Cookies that taste like a hot cross bun? Ummm, yes please! I’m not religious either but I love Easter for all the food of course and as a kid it was my favourite holiday for the egg hunts 🙂

    Reply

    • Thank you! I have great memories of Easter as a kid too. You’ve made me reminisce. Thank you for stopping by :0)

      Reply

  20. Another awesome aquafaba miracle! 🙂 I’m continually impressed by that weird, wonderful ingredient. These cookies look really amazing, and I love the simple but bold hot-cross icing.

    Reply

    • Thank you Sean. I don’t know what us vegans did before aquafaba was discovered! It’s like magic!

      Reply

  21. Oh just yummy thank you.
    Can’t do yeast and biscuits a brilliant plan.
    Am going to try oat flour as I can’t do spelt. I wondered if lentil flour or combination if lentil/chickpea or Kat somehow would work out….. what do you think?

    Reply

    • I think oat flour would probably be best, or a gluten-free blend, although I haven’t tried it myself so can’t guarantee. I find that chickpea flour lends a distinctive taste which probably wouldn’t be great in these, and I’ve never tried lentil flour. Good luck!

      Reply

      • Thanks for help there! Quite ok with Kat flour funnily enough. And I do love hot cross buns you know.

        Reply

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