Hot Cross Bun bliss

I don't spend my hours lingering outside English food purveyors Myers of Keswick, lusting after British food, but every Easter my thoughts turn to Hot Cross buns and Creme Eggs.

Unfortunately, all the Hot Cross buns I've seen on sale over here are not the Real Thing. Most recipes suggest that the cross should be made of ICING (as opposed to flour & water pastry). Some even have bright green & red candied fruit in them. So wrong. (Although Gourmet gets it about right with a Hot Cross bun recipe here.) And Cadbury's Creme Eggs are produced under licence in the US by the dreaded Hershey's so the chocolate is not echt.

Last year I tried to make Hot Cross buns for Easter Sunday at JK's. They were edible, but rather heavy and the crosses were distinctly wonky. Still, they were better than the bakery aberrations.

And now I've been spared from getting yeasty dough glued to every kitchen surface as darling JK flew back from a meeting in London yesterday with a packet of M&S specials and two bags of mini eggs.

I am in heaven, writing this with one hand and a bun firmly gripped in the other.