I went to a Catholic school in Karachi, as did my mother before me. We grew up celebrating Easter with the wonderful nuns and our Christian friends Jovita, Jacelyn and Joanne, who would bring homemade hot cross buns the week after Easter every year.
My nani always talked about a bakery on the then Elphinstone Street, (now Zabunnisa Street), in Karachi, that made hot cross buns at Easter time, and she almost always complained that such a delicious treat must not be restricted to once a year.
So what is story behind this deliciously sweet and spicy Easter delight?
It is said that hot cross buns were once a purely Easter treat; they were toasted to a perfectly crisp outside and kept fluffy inside and then buttered and enjoyed as Easter breakfast by the entire family.
Steve Jenkins, the Church of England spokesman, has the following to say about the buns;
‘You have got the bread, as per the communion, you have got the spices that represent the spices Jesus was wrapped in the tomb, and you have got the cross. They are fairly full of Christian symbolism.’
An article published in the BBC magazine by Finlo Rohrer tells us the wonderful history and significance of this once a year delight in much more detail:
‘The Church of England likes to set the distinctive baked goods, perhaps not unsurprisingly in a Christian context. They are historically eaten on Good Friday, and the symbolism is evident.’
And yet, the precise role of hot cross buns in Christianity and even their provenance seems to be a little hazy.
Google the term and you'll find a plethora of theories – that they go back to Roman times, that they are a Saxon thing, and even that they are a pagan rather than Christian item.
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You will very often see a suggestion that a 12th Century monk first incised a cross on a bun. Yet another recent theory tied the tradition of the buns to a monk in 14th Century St Albans.
Still further references tie them only into the Easter tradition from the Elizabethan era. It is suggested that the buns were viewed with some suspicion by Protestants and legal moves were made to restrict their consumption to only Easter and a few other festivals.’
But the Oxford English Dictionary's first reference to hot cross buns is only from 1733. It's in the form of the ditty:
Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs, with one or two a penny hot cross buns.
Going to a Catholic school, we grew up singing this song, and it was delightful to now read the history behind it.
Food historian Ivey Day opines that the words of the famous song appearing in this reference does rather suggest that the term may have been around a while before that, but any history of the bun wanders into conjecture. He further adds;
‘The trouble with any folk food, any traditional food, is that no one tended to write about them in the very early period.
The street cry ‘hot cross buns’ seems to be quite old.
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The buns were made in London during the 18th Century. But when you start looking for records or recipes earlier than that, you hit nothing. There is a piece of Roman sculpture with a loaf marked with a cross, but that it is probably just to make it breakable into four. There was a wave of efforts by antiquarians in Victorian times to look into the story of the hot cross bun but their sources are not clear.’
These people talk about hot cross buns being eaten for breakfast in London. Unlike contemporary buns, where the cross is piped lines of pastry, the original cross was cut into the bun.
Some of the earlier traditions included keeping bread baked on Good Friday to grate and use as medicine in later years.
It was believed that the buns would never go mouldy and they were sometimes nailed up in the house as a good luck charm.
In the hot cross bun, you do have a surviving fossil of these customs. It cannot be proven, but the provenance of the buns may be more connected to the Jewish Passover – with its sharing of unleavened bread as part of wider ritual – than Roman, Saxon, or pagan customs.
It is not even clear when the buns are supposed to be eaten. The Church of England associates them with Good Friday, that day when the symbolism of the cross is all important. But you can find some references to them being eaten during Lent.’
When it came time for me to make hot cross buns, I asked my friend Angie for guidance. She shared with me the recipe she typically uses by chef Anna Olsen.
Needless to say, the buns were delicious, hot, iced and glazed with a cross. Perfectly taste tested from my kitchen to yours.
Ingredients
¾ cup water, heated to just above body temperature
4 tsp. instant dry yeast
⅓ cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup vegetable oil
3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground clove
⅓ cup dried raisins
¼ orange peel
Ingredients for glaze
½ cup sugar
3 tbsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Ingredients for icing
¾ cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp. milk, plus extra if needed
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Procedure
For the dough, measure all of the ingredients except the raisins and set into the bowl. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, for about 5 minutes (the dough is soft and should stick to the bottom of the bowl).
If mixing by hand, stir the ingredients with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together, then turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth.
Towards the end of kneading, add the raisins and mixed peel and knead in. Scrape the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 75 to 90 minutes, until doubled in size.
Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into 12 even pieces. Shape each piece into a ball by rolling between your hands, while it remains on the work surface.
Place the rolled buns in a greased 9-x-13-inch pan, leaving space between them. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the buns rise for 45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Uncover the buns and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a rich brown on top. While still hot from the oven, prepare the glaze.
For the glaze, bring the sugar, water and vanilla up to a simmer, stirring until the sugar is fully dissolved. Brush this syrup over the still-hot buns. Let the buns cool completely in the tin.
For the icing, stir the icing sugar and milk together until a thick consistency suitable for piping (add a few more drops of milk, if needed).
Pour this into a small piping bag and pipe crosses on top of each bun, letting the icing set for an hour before serving.
—Photos by author.