British Food and Travel

As Good Friday draws near, we pay tribute to a seasonal favourite with a long history. Hot cross buns are sweet, yeasted rolls, often spiced and containing currants. Their top is marked by a cross, whether it be cut into the dough or iced. Mentioned in nursery rhymes and restricted by law at one point, they have origins in both the Christian and pagan religions.

Hot Cross Buns – Legends and History

The earliest mention of hot cross buns, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, dates to 1733. Poor Robin’s Almanac contains the rhyme:

Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs

with one or two a penny hot cross buns.

However, there are many signs that the Easter cake existed long before then. There were simply very few written records to offer concrete evidence.

One story claims that the buns were first made in the 12th century, by a monk who decided to mark them with a cross in honour of the Easter season. As they grew in popularity, they became an annual tradition.

According to the town of St. Albans, they were created by another monk. In 1361 Brother Thomas Rocliffe came up with the roll. He called it the Albans Bun and distributed it to the poor on Good Friday. Over time, the name changed to the hot cross bun. According to this and several other legends, the spices in the bun represent the spices used to embalm the body of Christ after crucifixion. Likewise, the cross is to mark the cross on which he died.

But there are other claims that the buns have a much earlier origin story. Some historians say that they are a part of the pre-Christian celebrations of Ostara, celebrating rebirth and the arrival of spring after the long winter. The cross divides the cake into four quarters, representing the four seasons and the compass points.

By 1592, the hot cross bun was believed to contain magical powers. People believed that if they hung one in their kitchen on Good Friday, it would never go stale and would protect the house from evil spirits. Others thought they contained healing powers. In fact, they were thought to be so powerful that Queen Elizabeth I issued a decree that they should only be sold for funerals, Christmas, and Good Friday, Later they were only available over the Easter weekend. Of course now many supermarkets sell them year-round.

Hot Cross Bun Recipe

The recipe below makes 12 hot cross buns. Feel free to change the spices to suit your taste.

500g strong flour

75g sugar

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

Grated zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp salt

2 7g sachets fast-action yeast

50g unsalted butter

300ml milk

1 egg, beaten

150g sultanas

50g mixed peel (optional)

For the topping

75g flour

2 tbs golden syrup or apricot jam

Mix the flour, sugar, spices and lemon zest in a large bowl. Add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other.

Melt the butter. Gently heat the milk in a separate pan. Add the butter and half the warmed milk to the flour mix. Then add the beaten egg. Combine to create a soft dough, adding more of the milk as you go. 

Put the dough on a floured surface. Knead the dough for 10 minutes, adding the sultanas and mixed peel (if using) as you knead. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Leave somewhere warm until it has doubled in size. This should take between 1 and 2 hours.

Put the dough onto a floured surface again and divide into 12 equally-sized balls. Put them on a baking tray and squash each one a little as you put them on the tray. Cover the tray and leave to double again.

While the dough is rising for the second time, preheat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 7. Mix the flour for the topping into a paste with a little water. Use an icing bag to make a cross on top of each bun with the flour paste.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes. After removing from the oven, glaze with a little warmed golden syrup or jam and then leave to cool on a rack.

Serve warmed with butter.