Our easy-to-follow recipe uses the Ballyvolane House, Bertha’s Revenge Irish Milk Gin giving the dish a distinctive Cork twist. It is delicious served with Crossogue Apple Mustard, Dill Mayonnaise and authentic Dromod Boxty Pancakes.   Boxty a traditional Irish dish was a staple food in households where potatoes were relied upon to survive. To this day it is eaten regularly in many households across the country especially in the northwest. Like our Irish Soda Bread, there are many variations of Boxty but we believe Dromod Boxty is exceptionally good.   “Boxty on the griddle, Boxty on the Pan, if you can’t make Boxty, you’ll never get a man” – Folk rhyme   To introduce you to these wonderful local ingredients for your recipe, we have created a Good Food Ireland® Limited Edition Hamper Box. It is full of local artisan produce and includes Achill Island Sea Salt, Crossogue Preserves Apple Mustard, Ballymaloe Mayonnaise and Dromod Boxty. 

A History of the Hot Cross Bun Who doesn’t love Hot Cross buns? Sweet and sticky dough buns, risen with yeast, speckled with dried fruit and mixed peel, and heady with spices. Toast them lightly and serve hot, slavered with good Irish butter. The ultimate Easter bun!   There’s even a school playground rhyme about Hot Cross Buns, sung while clapping in time to the rhythm of the words. A childhood favourite for generations. And it goes like this:   Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns, One ha’penny, Two ha’penny, Hot Cross Buns! If you have no daughters, Give them to your sons, One ha’penny, Two ha’penny, Hot Cross Buns.   View Our Easter Hampers   HOT CROSS BUNS ON GOOD FRIDAY   In Ireland, the UK and as far abroad as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and India, Hot Cross Buns are eaten every Good Friday in Christian communities. They are symbolic of this significant day in the Christian faith when Jesus was crucified. Each bun is decorated with a cross made from flour paste, which represents the cross on which Christ died. The spices in hot cross buns are said to represent the spices that were used to embalm Christ after his death. Read more about Easter Traditions in Ireland. One old belief says that if you bake your Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday, they won’t go mouldy during the following year. Another tradition states that a hot cross bun was always kept from the batch baked on Good Friday, in case anyone in the family became ill during the next year. A small piece of the bun would be broken off to feed the patient. These buns had extremely holy connotations and were believed to be able to cure all ills, including the most dreadful diseases.     CROSS BUNS AND THE GODDESS EOSTRE   Hot Cross Buns are inextricably linked to Easter and to Christianity. But in reality, they probably have pre-Christian origins. ‘Cross Buns’ were baked to celebrate Eostre, a Germanic Goddess of Fertility, after which the season of Easter is said to be named. Eostre was a voluptuous blonde maiden, always depicted surrounded by little birds, bunnies and other baby animals, as well as spring flowers. Cross Buns were baked for the spring festival to celebrate this Goddess. The four quarters of the cross on top of each bun were said to represent the phases of the moon, while the cross itself symbolised rebirth after winter.     BAKE YOUR OWN HOT CROSS BUNS   Whichever theory you wish to attach to your Hot Cross Buns, we can all agree these are the seasonal treat of the holidays. They join Simnel Cake, the light fruit cake topped with marzipan and twelve marzipan balls which represent Christ and his disciples minus Judas, as a traditional baked treat of the Easter season.   If you fancy trying out the theory of whether they will go mouldy or not if you bake your Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday, here’s easy to follow a recipe from Darina Allen at Ballymaloe Cookery School!    Happy Easter!   Written by: Good Food Ireland   Visit Our Shop   Ballymaloe Cookery School Ballymaloe Cookery School instils its students with a love of local produce, under the inspirational tutelage of Darina Allen.