Thursday, April 7, 2011

The search for Hot Cross Buns, Pt I


Easter is upon us again.  The supermarket shelves are piled with delicious chocolate eggs and soft, spicy hot cross buns... my favorite.

I enjoyed a regular hot cross bun a few weeks ago, the night I came out of hospital.  Gosh it was delicious but I quickly learnt that for health reasons I couldn't eat them on a regular basis, and so I told myself I could last until Good Friday without any more sweet, fruit-laden morsels.  Then I was taunted by my good friend M baking her own buns at Bakers Delight and Mum and Dad eating a couple in my presence.

I started researching online and it became my mission to track down some hot cross buns that I could eat.  I spent a lot of time reading nutritional labels in gourmet food stores (yes, I've become one of those people who reads the label on everything).  After chatting to a few friends it became apparent that sourdough hot cross buns were going to be my best (and tastiest) option - low GI and low sugar, exactly what I need.

La Madre Bakery (Geelong) sourdough hot cross buns, $14 for 6
Available at Thomas Dux and speciality grocers

It took me awhile to track these babies down and then another five or so minutes of umm-ing and ahh-ing in Thomas Dux as to whether or not I was prepared to pay $14 for 6 hot cross buns.  Yeah, that's not a typo.  But I was getting desperate (possibly all the smells of mixed spice were making me dizzy with hunger!) so they came home with me.


I popped five of them into the freezer straight away and left one out for breakfast the next day.

The packaging suggests that the buns are "best served toasted and buttered up".  These little babies are heavy and dense; weighing in at 125g each.  I cut mine in half and toasted it under the grill, then slathered it in margarine.

I have to say that it was delicious... not soft like the hot cross buns I am used to eating, but chewy, flavoursome, sour and a little bit sweet all at once.  The sweetness comes only from the fruit; there is no added sugar in these buns, making them perfect for me.

I wouldn't eat the buns untoasted and without butter/margarine - I think they would be a bit dry and heavy.  But follow the suggestion on the packet and you will have a tasty (and almost healthy) low GI treat.

I'm preserving the rest of my supply for now... I will have another (or two) on the weekend!  I think I've finally tracked down a Bakers Delight store that makes sourdough hot cross buns so I'll be heading there on Saturday to see if I can get a different sort to try, and then stash in my freezer.  Hopefully I'll have time to make some of my own over the Easter break...


(image source)

2 comments:

  1. Oh my god now I need... NEEED a hot cross bun!!! I'm going to go to bakers delight... seriously... haahaha

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