Hot Cross Buns

This is not a recipe post, I have never made hot cross buns and I usually delegate that responsibility to my mother, but as some long forgotten french philosopher once said, the act of eating and more importantly enjoying food is just as important as the act of cooking, so with this philosophy in mind, I shall continue.

I adore hot cross buns, but I only eat them once a year, holidays permitting, on good friday. I find the culture of supermarkets selling hot cross buns year round, often in quirky flavours like toffee apple or cranberry rather vulgar. There is something lovely about only eating these homemade on good friday, still hot from the oven and spread thickly with salted breton butter. Many people toast hot cross buns. I have never left them long enough to even get cold before I eat them, so this is an impossibility.

One of my favorite things about homemade hot cross buns, is the glaze, my mother generally makes this out of marmalade, letting it melt and then thinning it slightly, and it makes the most wonderfully sticky and pungent syrupy topping. Truly, a springtime treat.