I searched high and low for a great Hot Cross Bun for Good Friday and here they are! I will be attempting these today. There are many stories as to when the first Hot Cross Buns were made. Alan Davidson tells us in “The Oxford Companion to Food” that they were first made in honor of the goddess of Spring, Eostre, from whom the name Easter is derived. Today they are traditionally served on Good Friday and there is a superstition that Hot Cross Buns baked on Good Friday never became moldy and it was good luck to save one bun until the next year’s buns were made.
More Hot Cross Bun trivia: After the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century the English monarchy saw the buns as a symbol of Catholicism because they were baked from the consecrated dough used to make communion wafers. But an attempt to ban them failed because they were so popular. Queen Elizabeth I eventually passed a law permitting bakeries to sell them, but only at Easter and Christmas. Recipe below!