Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
Place the raisins and currants into a bowl and add the cognac or rum, apple or pear juice, toss them together and set aside.
Add the flour, salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, eggs, milk, water, lemon zest, butter and instant or fresh yeast into a mixing bowl with a hook attachment. If you want to your hot cross without yeast just replace the yeast with baking powder.
Mix on low speed setting 4 on Kitchenaid mixing machine for 4 minutes then increase the speed to setting 6 and mix until the dough comes together and is fully developed.
Add in the soaked raisins and currants and mix on slow speed setting 4 until well combined.
Remove dough and place into large greased bowl.
Cover and let it ferment for 2 hours or until it doubles in size.
Remove the dough and place onto a floured working surface and scale each piece at 50 grams (1.8 ounce) you will end up with 24 pieces.
If you don’t have a scale, divide the dough into 4 equal parts and roll each piece into a 12 inch log.
Cut 6 pieces from each rolled dough log and round into a ball. Repeat until all the hot cross dough is divided and rounded.
Place the shaped dough pieces onto baking tray separating them about 1/2 inch apart. Depending on how big your baking tray is, you need to use two.
Cover the tray with plastic and let the dough proof at room temperature for 90 minutes or until it doubles in size.
If your using the no yeast recipe, cover and set aside and until ready to glaze.
Preheat your oven to 365 °F (185°C).
Glaze the top and sides of the dough balls with the egg and milk mixture.