Friday, April 17, 2009

Australia – the Food Icons - Hot Cross Buns



This post is a few days too late. It was meant for Easter but I enjoyed the extra long weekend too much to bother ‘bout doing anything else.

Hot Cross Buns are not uniquely Australian but they feature prominently in the Antipodeans’ Easter celebrations that I think it should be up there with the other food icons I’ve blogged about before (follow them all here: Australia – The Food Icons).

I do not know if there is a law preventing sale of the said buns after Easter but sure enough you’ll have difficulty finding any outside the season.

Traditional hot cross buns are sweet spiced bread chockfull of currants and/or other dried fruits. The distinguishing feature, naturally, is the cross on top of every bun as a symbol of the crucifixion of Christ.

Nowadays though, you can get all sorts of varieties of this much loved Easter bun. Well, there are four main ones: traditional fruit, fruit & peel, fruitless, and choc chip. Yes, there is a chocolate chip version the rationale being the close association of chocolates with Easter.


Thank God for the fruitless variety as the missus is not so fond of fruit in bread

They’re best fresh out of the oven smothered with “real” butter.

I don’t have a recipe for this but I recently stumbled upon a Greek Tsoureki Style Hot Cross Bun that looks and probably tastes better than the traditional one. Just follow the link to Souvlaki For The Soul.

6 comments:

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Mmm - its been ages since I've had a really good hot cross bun... and I have yet to try making it from scratch myself!

The Beancounter said...

i haven't made them myself as well...probably 'cause it's just too easy to get them from the shops...pero i might try the greek version i found...

Anonymous said...

There were so many hot cross buns floating around the blogosphere. We wish we had had one. They look so good.

Tangled Noodle said...

I pretty much love any kind of baked good, hot out of the oven, at pretty much any time of the year. I need to make your pan de sal recipe first!

The Beancounter said...

duodishes...time to bake some yourself! ;)

The Beancounter said...

After making so many pan de sals TN it has become so easy...so take the first step...you won't regret it...