Hot cross buns were considered only for Easter although now you can buy and eat Hot cross buns year round and eat the hot cross buns at any time.
The reason hot cross buns are only eat at Easter is the English were deeply superstitious and believed the hot cross buns carried medicinal or magical properties and were fearful of those powers being abused and towards the end of the 16th century Queen Elizabeth I passed a law that limited the sale of sweet buns to funerals.
You can buy the Hot Cross buns all-year round these days (and a good thing too) yet this is still the time of year to celebrate and enjoy hot cross buns.
Hot cross buns are eaten warm by most people when they are fresh and hot from the oven.
You can also eat the hot cross buns cold if you want too.
But if you're baking hot cross buns then they are best enjoyed warm from the oven.
To enjoy hot cross buns at their best, they should be eaten warm from the oven, with a generous slather of butter on top.
A hot cross bun is a spiced bun usually made with fruit, marked with a cross on the top, which has been traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, India, Pakistan, Malta, United States and the Commonwealth Caribbean.
Hot cross buns are symbolic of this significant day in the Christian faith when Jesus was crucified.
Each bun is decorated with a cross made from flour paste, which represents the cross on which Christ died.
The spices in hot cross buns are said to represent the spices that were used to embalm Christ after his death.
Hot cross buns are lightly sweet, and include ground spices, grated orange zest, and currants.
Hot cross buns taste warm and spicy with a touch of citrus.
The sugar crosses piped on top add another sweet note.
Hot cross buns are traditionally eaten over the Easter religious Christian holiday to symbolize the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday on the cross.
Pagans worshipped Eostre, the goddess of dawn and spring.
As spring arrived, the pagans would celebrate a month long festival of the transitioning time from winter entering into spring.
This festival saw the Saxons making buns marked with a cross, which represented the four phases of the moon, to offer to the goddess.