Midlife guide to...

cheesy hot cross buns

Ah, Easter is nigh – time to indulge our annual craving for sultana-stuffed hot cross buns.

Careful what you wish for: the nation’s favourite teatime snack has been revamped with a whole range of alternatives to the traditional fruited dough, including Belgian chocolate and toffee fudge (even the notion!), carrot cake, chocolate orange, and, wait for it, savoury incarnations.

Savoury hot cross buns? Is nothing sacred?

It would appear not. Marks & Spencer have launched a version with brewer’s paste – a kind of Marmite-esque yeast extract made from porter ale – while the dough is packed with a blend of two kinds of cheddar cheese, Turkish sultanas, onions, chives and spices.

So it’s still spiced like the kind we know and love?

It does have that traditional sweet, clovey flavour, but now there’s a handful of grated cheddar in the mix. Imagine eating a cheese and pickle sandwich in a sweet bun, say, or a cheese and onion crisp and a mouthful of fruit cake simultaneously. Either way, it’s distinctly odd, but not unpleasant.

Can I still smother it in jam?

You can do whatever you like with it, but your best bet is probably to stick with savoury toppings, perhaps slathering one with salted butter and Marmite for a teatime treat. M&S suggests stuffing them with bacon for a “gourmet bacon butty” – grab a flat white and you’ve got yourself a suitably hipster brunch.

Will our need for ludicrous baked goods never cease?

It seems not. Rainbow bagels, cronuts, chocolate crumpets… the list, like our waistlines from eating all of these doughy treats, is ever-expanding.