What's New
@ Three Little Bakers
YES we are open from
6am to 4pm and will be in the coming days.
Business is as usual.
NO Eat-In, Take-Away only.
A Hot Cross Bun is a spiced sweet bun usually made with fruit, marked with a cross on the top, and traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, India, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States and some parts of the Americas. The bun marks the end of Lent and different parts of the hot cross bun have a certain meaning, including the cross representing the crucifixion of Jesus, and the spices inside signifying the spices used to embalm him at his burial. They are now available all year round in some places. Hot cross buns may go on sale in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand as early as New Year's Day or after Christmas.
English folklore includes many superstitions surrounding hot cross buns. One of them says that buns baked and served on Good Friday will not spoil or grow mouldy during the subsequent year. Another encourages keeping such a bun for medicinal purposes. A piece of it given to someone ill is said to help them recover. If taken on a sea voyage, hot cross buns are said to protect against shipwreck. If hung in the kitchen, they are said to protect against fires and ensure that all breads turn out perfectly. The hanging bun is replaced each year.
Fact or fiction? The question is: Why did cross buns come to be called HOT cross buns? Well, it came about in the early 18th century when street vendors would be out selling the freshly baked buns during the holiday, and they would shout, or sing, a rhyme that went something like this:
Hot cross buns, hot cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns,
Butter them, and sugar them,
and put them in your muns.
Hot cross buns, hot cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns,
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons.
Muns was a slang word for mouth. And the hot part was inserted both because it made the buns obviously more appealing and it rhymed better.
So, although the hot part was originally just an adjective designed to help sell the buns, it eventually evolved into an integral part of the name.
That’s how cross buns came to be called hot cross buns.