Hot Cross Buns! Hot Cross Buns!
One a penny, two a penny
Hot Cross Buns!


I thought surely Thomas would have a recipe for hot cross buns but it seems I'm to be left to my own devices on this one. So here's a site with a recipe for hot cross buns and a Russian Easter cheese for good measure.

This site gives some of the hot cross buns tradition. (It seems to be intended for children so of course it is ideal for me.)

It is traditional to eat warm 'hot cross buns' on Good Friday. Hot Cross Buns with their combination of spicy, sweet and fruity flavors have long been an Easter tradition. The pastry cross on top of the buns symbolises and reminds Christians of the cross that Jesus was killed on.

The buns were traditionally eaten at breakfast time.They were once sold by street vendors who sang a little song about them.

"Hot cross buns, Hot cross buns,
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns."

Hot cross buns baked on Good Friday were supposed to have magical powers. It is said that you could keep a hot cross bun which had been made on Good Friday for at least a year and it wouldn't go mouldy.

Hardened old hot cross buns were supposed to protect the house from fire

Sailors took them to sea with them to prevent shipwreck.

A bun baked on Good Friday and left to get hard could be grated up and put in some warm milk and this was supposed to stop an upset tummy.

Good Friday Superstitions / beliefs:
Many fishermen will not set out for catch on Good Friday.
Bread or cakes baked on this day would not go mouldy.
The planting of crops is not advised on this day, as an old belief says that no iron should enter the ground (i.e. spade, fork etc.).