Breathe new life into old hot cross buns

They’ve been favourites for hundreds of years. Leah Hyslop shares the experts’ tips on how to enjoy them for even longer

Britain has had a long love affair with the hot cross bun. The Oxford English Dictionary’s earliest recorded reference to the plump, currant-stuffed treats is in 1733, but spiced buns had been a favourite treat for hundreds of years before that. The Tudors are most often credited with linking them to Easter, but some people believe that the bun’s history stretches back even further: in Saxon times, people baked small cakes with a cross to honour the arrival of spring. Hot cross buns used to hold a curious power over superstitious Britons. Sailors claimed that if a bun was brought on board, it would prevent shipwreck, while hanging one in the house was said to protect the residents from bad luck for the rest of the year. There was no need to worry about the bun going mouldy, because people were also convinced that if made on Good Friday, the bread would never go off. It certainly proved true for one bun: there is a spotless example owned by a couple in Colchester that is thought to be more than 200 years old. Today, we munch our way through millions of hot cross buns every year, whether toasted, buttered, or straight from the pack. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm for Easter treats, combined with the allure of those buy-one-get-one-free offers in supermarkets, means it’s easy to overstock on them. All too many of us will end Easter with several half-eaten packs littering our kitchens in the next few days. But don’t throw them away, because there are countless recipes that will help you to use up leftover hot cross buns. The most obvious is a variation on bread and butter pudding – the perfect dish for any stale bread, whatever the season. But our Telegraph Food writers have lots more delicious ideas you can try. Xanthe Clay likes serving them as French toast with poached rhubarb, while former Great British Bake Off winner John Whaite suggests, “Blitzing up the buns to crumbs and spreading on to a baking sheet. Cook at 100C for 30 minutes until very crunchy but uncoloured, then mix into a crumble topping, and use for a crumble with a twist.” Meanwhile, Diana Henry recommends using the buns in a Bettelman, a traditional French pudding made from layered apples and breadcrumbs. Opposite are two delicious recipes to try at home this week. And if all else fails, remember: they make a great snack for the birds.