Traditional hot cross buns recipe for Easter (2024)

FAQs

What does a traditional hot cross bun contain? ›

They're yeasted sweet buns filled with spices and various fruits such as currants, raisins, and/or candied citrus. They're decorated with a white cross representing the crucifix, either marked right into the dough or etched on top with icing. Hot cross buns are a traditional Easter food, typically eaten on Good Friday.

They are symbolic of this significant day in the Christian faith when Jesus was crucified. Each bun is decorated with a cross made from flour paste, which represents the cross on which Christ died. The spices in hot cross buns are said to represent the spices that were used to embalm Christ after his death.

Andrew Munson and his wife Dot were given the 207-year-old bun by an old neighbour. A note with the historic bun says that it was baked on Good Friday 1807 in Colchester, Essex.

It is hypothesised that the contemporary hot cross bun of Christianity derives at some distance from a bun developed in St Albans in England. There in 1361, Brother Thomas Rodcliffe, a Christian monk at St Albans Abbey, developed a similar recipe called an "Alban Bun" and distributed the bun to the poor on Good Friday.

Prove you are a master baker by making traditional hot cross buns from scratch. Packed with fruit and spices, the whole family will love them.

It has been suggested that the Elizabethan order to control these early versions of hot cross buns was for fear that they were too 'Catholic', and that they had become associated with the bread of the Eucharist, which was sometimes marked with a cross.

Most recipes call for raisins and cinnamon, but there are tons of variations out there. Traditionally, hot cross buns are associated with Easter—a Christian holiday and festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus—and eaten on Good Friday, or the Friday before Easter.

Pagans worshipped Eostre, the goddess of dawn and spring. As spring arrived, the pagans would celebrate a month long festival of the transitioning time from winter entering into spring. This festival saw the Saxons making buns marked with a cross, which represented the four phases of the moon, to offer to the goddess.

Iceland faces backlash after Christian symbol on hot cross buns replaced with ticks. Iceland is trialling a new kind of hot cross bun which has a tick on the top of it instead of the traditional cross. The supermarket faced controversy for the move on Tuesday, after it was accused of being offensive to Christians.

You can use whatever fruit you like in your Hot Cross Buns. I often just use sultanas or raisins and then some currants, but you can mix and match as you like with things like dried cranberries or dates. Some recipes use mixed peel, but I do not like the bitterness of it so I tend to leave it out.

How did hot cross buns get their name? ›

The first known mention of the name “hot cross buns” comes from a rhyme in the 1733 book Poor Robin's Almanack : “Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs, with one or two a penny hot cross buns.” Although on modern hot cross buns the cross is usually piped on with pastry, in most recipes before the 20th ...

The case for toasting HCBs by Molly Urquhart

“Toasting your HCB is the correct way. Microwaving your HCB is for psychos. While yes, they sort of resemble fruit toast, HCBs have embellishments that you don't find in fruit toast, e.g. the cross and the fancy glaze.

Serve the buns warm from the oven, cold or lightly toasted - whichever way make sure to add a generous spread of my tangy orange and nutmeg spiced butter.

New for 2024 is a twist on the seasonal classic, Extra Special Orange Marmalade Hot Cross Buns (£1.40, pack of four). Created after sales insight found customers buying hot cross buns and marmalade together, the new buns are filled with orange-soaked sultanas, raisins, candied orange peel and Seville orange marmalade.

To those practicing their faith today, a bite from a hot cross bun on Good Friday can still be an act laden with religious significance. The bread is a nod to the Communion wafer, the spices represent the spices Christ was wrapped in in his tomb and the cross is of course a reference to his crucifixion.

Hot cross buns contain a little fat from butter/shortening (around 5%) and are high in carbohydrate so consideration is needed around portion size for people with diabetes. Hot cross bun sizes vary a lot. For example, one commercial variety sold in a 6 pack contains 40g carbohydrate and 920 kJ (220 calories).

And here's the thing – you have a dietitian's word for it – hot cross buns are neither unhealthy nor healthy – they're neutral. They're just a food. And you only eat and enjoy them at one time of the year, so there's absolutely zero point feel guilty about sinking your teeth into the perfect bun.

The soft, lightly spiced fruity buns are the ultimate Easter food here in the UK but traditionally they aren't vegan friendly as they contain milk, butter and egg.