Hot cross buns

[XmasShoppingsister]

Just a light hearted question, do you eat your hot cross buns toasted or cold/as is? I've always toasted them and my friend looked at me like I'm crazy and said she'd never heard of toasting them.

You are being unreasonable... I eat them cold as is.
You are NOT being unreasonable...
Toasted is totally normal

I love them toasted, love the smell. They just wouldn’t be the same cold.

Definitely toasted. I wouldn't eat them any other way unless they have been freshly baked and still hot from the oven.
The clue is in their name, they have to be hot! 😁

Has anyone tried putting them in the air fryer?

Any normal person toasts them. They are horrible untoasted. The ONLY exception to this is if they have been freshly baked and just out of the oven and are still warm. In which case, you could split and butter them without toasting.

On a similar note, I’m also baffled and repulsed by anyone who eats a scotch egg cold straight from the packet 🤢 You HAVE to heat a scotch egg in the oven so that the sausage meat is hot and you get a lovely crispy coating.

I'd say it's just the same as putting them in the oven, just for much shorter time.

I like both

Started a debate about HCB in our church Lent group the other day. One lady is ADEMANT that they can only be consumed on Good Friday. I am like eeerrrr I eat them as soon as they come in the shops, do a consumer test to see which shop has the best ones and then stock the freezer.
I am a massive hedonistic sinner and am going straight to hell hahahaha (joke, it was light hearted and we all respected each otter's views RE HCB consumption)

We've recently 'discovered' the hot cross bun bacon butty... smoked streaky on a toasted hot cross bun.

It's incredible (has to be a fairly standard HCB not some fancy chocolate/apple/toffee abomination, the extra spiced is fine). Salty/sweet/crunchy/soft... mmm!

@HereintheloveofChristIstand which shop won?

They should only be eaten on GF!

Not because of God or anything, but because they're a traditional, seasonal foodstuff.

Supermarkets should make a spiced bun for general consumption, people do seem to want to eat them all year round. Then we can roll out the crossed buns for GF.

(Lightheated BTW, I'm an atheist, but I am very particular about seasonal foods. It makes them better!).

Too right. I like to stalk around the kitchen looking disapprovingly at DP when she eats them before GF while being a total martyr about it. Occasionally as they're in the house anyway and I don't want them to go stale I will eat one, but under protest.

The jury is still out!

Re the seasonal foodstuff angle. I do agree in principle but they are just too tasty. So our compromise is - all year round we buy maybe just one pack a week. Sometimes no packs, if we are in a crumpet mood instead. But in the lead up to Easter and after Easter, we buy several packs a week, so there is a true abundance of HCB goodness. So there is seasonal variation in consumption.

There is absolutely no waiting till Good Friday though. But we will have them for breakfast on Good Friday.

Yes but @Talipesmum couldn't you just have a toasted teacake?

I could, but they don’t taste the same, the dough is less rich, they’re a bit drier.

It could be an age thing. I'm in my late sixties and I don't remember anyone toasting hot cross buns when I was a kid. They were also only eaten on Good Friday. People would queue up at the bakers in the morning to buy them warm. Maybe we didn't toast them because we bought them still warm and fresh and also because hardly anyone had a toaster - things were toasted under the grill.

I would have them both ways but toasted with butter and jam is my favourite. My husband makes a dish at Easter. He butters and Jams them and then pops them in the oven covered in custard. One year he used nutella instead of jam and that was a hit.

Whoever eats them raw 😱 is just plain weird! Toasted with lashing of real butter dripping down the chin is the only normal way to go, surely, that's the law?

Cut in half,few minutes in the air fryer.

I've always eaten them toasted before but on Sunday I was in a hurry and ate one 'raw', and was surprised to find it perfectly acceptable, just a bit...limp.

Toasted is miles better. What does your friend think the word "hot" means in hot cross buns?

I’m 60 and I’ve never had an untoasted hot cross bun. I’m not sure why using the grill would prevent or discourage toasting…They were available well before GF in my childhood, definitely not just eaten on the day itself. There was no baker’s queue either.
Edit: what I mean is, if it’s about age it must have all changed pretty quickly.

I did live in a small'ish village in the West Country so maybe things were different in town or in different parts of the country - or perhaps our village was just stuck in time. But that was my experience with hot cross buns. I remember the queue outside of the bakers and I used to be sent to join it, clutching half a crown. This would have been around 1962. As for toasters, I thought that that perhaps they were more frequently toasted these days because toasters make the process more convenient. Obviously not!

Edited to say that an earlier poster also remembers the baker's queue.

Yes that was me! Great excitement on Good Friday morning, the kids were sent to buy the hot cross buns first thing. We raced home with them still warm in their paper bags. As I remember the bakery wasn't open all day either, and most shops were closed all day.

Agree they were more of a treat because they were seasonal.

Toasted

Glad it's not just me! Yes, I had to get to the bakers early because they closed I think around midday or when all the buns ran out. They were put in paper bags and were all warm and soft and my dad would slather them in butter as soon as I got home. Nothing else was open on Good Friday at all. I felt as though I was doing a really important job and I can still remember the excitement - and deliciousness!