Why so Hot and Cross, Bun?

My memories of Easter aren’t of Jesus risen, they are of dying hard boiled eggs and finding hidden Easter baskets full of plastic grass and candy. As I got older, Easter became about eating. I remember in college, having dinners around Heidi’s Easter Tree (yes, there IS such a thing!), where everyone would cook something to feast on. We would clean house and play grown up, set the table with our mismatched plates, hand-me-down place settings and spotty silverware. Then, we would sit down to most random of random meals. Most likely we had a Ham, Karen’s homemade pot stickers, Heidi’s Deer Meat ‘Surprise!’ Casserole, Carrie’s famous Mac and Cheese, Garlic Bread from Safeway and maybe even a salad.. Of course, in these days, only the finest beverages were consumed as well.
Franzia boxed wine, 2 for 1 at Safeway.

This was long before I discovered my life’s work.

Working at the bakery is when I first really discovered Hot Cross Buns. Just the name has a certain comical ring to it.
I always picture a steaming angry bun.
We would bake these for days, to fill our special orders that were scribbled on pages of loose paper kept under the register. (Our sophisticated system) As hectic as they could be, I loved working the holidays. People were fired up and crazy..we were working at maximum speed, buns cooling on racks everywhere, buns being glazed, buns being baked, buns being packaged and labeled. Often around the holidays, I would have to pull a real bakers shift, and come in the late hours of the evening, just to be able to complete the next days work. (Normally, we baked during the day..)

But, I found it all so rewarding. As moody as people can get, they would usually crack a smile when given their bag of buns, still hot and not so cross.