One a penny, two a penny...

I'd like to tell you that I've invented the best hot cross bun recipe ever, but that would be a terrible lie.


These ones pictured are Nigella's recipe, which I first made the year we drove around Europe in a small red car with a cheese knife and a corkscrew in the glovebox (we had a sack of flour and other sundry foodstuffs on the back seat). I've never made them with such success since, but perhaps my changed lifestyle has something to do with that.
Unsurprisingly, I think St Delia has the best recipe, or at least the one I've found to be the best. The only advice I can give you is to go easy on the cinnamon as it retards yeast development and make them somewhere warm.
We were only allowed hot cross buns on Good Friday when I was growing up and I mostly stick to the same rule. So tomorrow I'll be attempting to make them in a breadmaker at my parents' house... since they'll be the first of the year, they better be good!

Do you have any hot cross bun secrets? Let me know! In the meantime, have a wonderful Easter and a happy weekend x