British Easter: the Tradition and the Recipe of the Hot Cross Buns

The English equivalent of the Italian word, “Pasqua”, Easter, derives from the name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess of Spring and fertility, Eostre. She was often seen in the company of a hare, another symbol of fertility, the forebear of today’s Easter Bunny, who hides chocolate Easter eggs in the garden for the children to look for on Easter morning. The egg is a pagan symbol of rebirth too.
Hot cross buns, similar to Italian maritozzi, are eaten during the Easter period, for breakfast or tea. They used to be sold by street sellers accompanied by the chant below. Egg games were and are still played, including ‘egg-rolling’, in which hard-boiled eggs are rolled down a hill and the egg that travels furthest wins.
 hot cross buns
“Hot cross buns, If you have no daughters,
hot cross buns, give them to your sons,
one a penny, two a penny, one a penny, two a penny,
hot cross buns. hot cross buns.”
Recipe of the hot cross buns
Ingredients:
300 ml milk; 50 gr butter; 1 tbsp (tablespoon) sunflower oil; 500 gr flour; 75 gr sugar; 7gr dried
yeast; 1 egg; 1 tsp (teaspoon) salt; raisins 75 gr.; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; zest of 1 orange.
Preparation:
Knead and leave to rise like bread. Makes about 15 buns. For the cross: 75 gr flour mixed with 5 tbsp water. Bake in oven at 220°C (200° fan oven) for 20 minutes. Glaze buns with 3 tbsp warmed apricot jam.
IIA- IV C
Si ringrazia la prof.ssa Loredana Trusso per la preziosa collaborazione.