It's that time of year where I literally can smell hot cross buns from my bedroom, even if there aren't any in the house. Hot Cross Buns are like a religion for me, never mind Easter and what what. I just care about them BUNS!
I have considered learning how to bake them, but it looks like a lot of effort and I hate kneading tbh. Also the ingredients are expensive and it works out cheaper to buy the off the shelf.
This, however, is a mammoth task and requires a lot of love and patience from my incredible husband person, @zakludick, who puts up with this crap ever year 😜🤣🤦♀️❤️
So, obviously, the further away from Easter you are, the slower the hot cross buns move through any bakery, making it nearly impossible to acquire fresh hot cross buns. Look, they normally have a "shelf life" of up to 5 days, but then they go through the phases of day one and two: eat fresh. Day three and for require heating and/ or toasting. Day 5 they start becoming like rocks and eventually become inedible.
As you get closer to Easter, the other hot cross bun addicts come out of their hidey holes and start frantically searching for their favorites. This is the time where you get clever. While you ae grocery shopping, go straight to the bakery 1st and ask if they have any coming out of the oven. This, is of course, 1st prize!
A few days before Easter, a frenzy begins and shops don't even bother packaging them. To put up with the demand, they just roll the giant baking racks out into the shop and let people bag them themselves. It is very important to note here, that Hot Hot Cross Bus should never be stored in plastic bags, obviously, as the plastic will melt and the hot cross buns will sweat, completely ruining them. Brown paper bags are the best. The are easy to squish so remember, one tray per bag and place them carefully in your shopping cart to ensure they don't get crushed. I normally do my investigating and open talks with the bakery manager before I get the rest of my groceries, but I only actually select my hot cross buns just before I leave the shop.
How did I get like this? Well, I worked in a bakery for almost four years as a retail manager of a giant bakery. I was warned about Easter, but honestly, nothing could prepare me for the insanity that would ensue, especially on the least day before good Friday where we sold a record of 1500 packs of hot cross buns. Which is insane. By this stage though, I hd already tested and munched way too many and I suppose that's a good thing, because like Christmas food, You cn only stuff yourself like this once a year.
So, for as long as I can remember, you were only able to find one type of hot cross bun, and those were the original spiced ones with raisins and sultanas.
Now, there is an insane amount of varieties from extra spiced, to completely plain, to chocolate chip, and more varieties come out each year. Personally, I am a fan of well balanced spice with the perfect raisin/ sultana to hot cross bun ratio.
It is my sworn duty of honor in this post series to try as many of them out as I possibly can. I'm doing it for you 😂😂😂😂😂😜😜😜😜
I sent @aimeludick to go and buy me my first tray of the season nd was bitterly disappointed when I discovered they were the chocolate chip ones. Don't you love it when kids don't listen?🙄🙄🙄
Anyway, I put my craving side, begrudgingly, and gave them a go as its my job to rate them anyway. they were well spiced and nice and sticky so it made up, sort of for the lack of raisins. They weren't bad. As far as chocolate chip hot cross buns go, I'd give them a generous 7 out of ten.
Then after poor @zakludick had to hear me moan about the experience for 24 hours, he bought me a tray of traditional hot cross buns.
They were absolutely delicious!
I decided to try them with the three different traditional toppings: butter only, butter and jam, and butter jam and cheese.
While I enjoyed the variety, I must say that butter only is still my favourite choice.
I don't know if we stored them incorrectly, but i was a bit disappointed this morning when we had the remainder of the tray for breakfast nd they were already turning to stage 5. I then checked the expiry date, nd it was the 6th, which is today. Anyway. a bit of warmth from the microwave and butter, and they were momentarily revived. If you do decide to reheat hot cross buns, especially if you use the microwave, you need to eat them immediately.
Both packs came from our local grocery store, Pick and Pay. I will give them another shot closer to Easter, but for now, they scored:
**
8/10 for fruit/ chocolate chip to bun ratio
6/10 for spice (not spicy enough)
5/10 for sugar (they added too much sugar)
and a combined 4/10 for freshness. The chocolate ones were very fresh, but the raisin ones were at the end of their shelf life.
So, overall, at this stage,
Pick n' Pay Scores 6/10*