Hot Cross Buns

I love the seasonalityof food.  The different fruit and veg at different times of year, but also the recipies and styles of cooking that fit each season; blackberry and apple crumble seems to fit the mellow fruitfulness of October whilst the red fruit infused bread of a summer pudding with the contrast of clotted cream somehow belongs in August.

That love of seasonality also extends to the food associated with the various festivals throughout the year and particularly Christmas and Easter.  Although we start eating shop bought hot cross buns pretty much as soon as they appear on my on-line shopping list (i.e. Boxing day) I save making the real things until Good Friday.

Like many traditions the making of spiced buns at Easter seems to be something Christians have adopted from pagan rituals.

''The mark is of ancient origin, connected with religious offerings of bread, which replaced earlier, less civilized offerings of blood. The Egyptians offered small round cakes, marked with a representation of the horns of an ox, to the goddess of the moon. The Greeks and Romans had similar practices and the Saxons ate buns marked with a cross in honor of the goddess of light, Eostre, whose name was transferred to Easter.''---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 114)

Whatever their origin they have become firmly adopted as a christian representation of Christs death on the cross and resurrection. I love them. The bready-ness, sweet fruit and warming spices of nutmeg and cinnamon. They are great warm from the oven or toasted with a slick of butter.

The recipe I use is the one from River Cottage although I tend to stick to the traditional spices and fruit.  I also make a thicker flour and water paste for a more defined cross on the top. They taste great and freeze well (although Mr Vitty prefers the shop bought ones...)