Hot Cross Buns have their origins in the mists of time. Some people believe that buns marked with a cross were eaten by Saxons in honour of the goddess Eostre (the cross is thought to have symbolised the four quarters of the moon.)
In 1592, during the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth, a decree was passed by the London Clerk of the Markets:
“That no bakers etc, at any time or times herefter make, utter, or sell by retail, within or without their houses, unto any of the Queen’s subjects any spice cakes, buns, biscuits or other spice bread (being bread out of size and not by law allowed) except it be at burials, or on Friday before Easter, or at Christmas, upon pain of forfeiture of all such spiced bread to the poor.”
At some unknown later date they became associated purely with Easter and were traditionally eaten only on Good Friday, with bakers making them only on Maunday Thursday. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the first recorded use of “Hot Cross Bun” was in 1733. Nowadays they are sold all year round by supermarkets, but we only make them in the few weeks before Easter.aster, or at Christmas, upon pain of forfeiture of all such spiced bread to the poor.”
"Delicious Hot Cross Buns"
