Easter Feasting

I think Foodies love the holidays because our hours of seeking goodies, planning menus and practice in cooking finally comes to fruition. This Easter, I will be roasting home brined pork picnic shoulders, asparagus flan and lemon dill orzo. Okay, who am I kidding. I never know what I'll be making until I hit the grocery store and see what inspires me. But one thing I know for sure, we will be having Hot Cross Buns for dessert.

I grew up in Hong Kong in the eighties and attended an International School. We learned all about the Easter Bunny and sang that silly song about hot cross buns. However, I thought this Easter stuff only happened at school because the rest of Hong Kong did not decorate their windows with bunnies and eat chocolate eggs. Hence the fact that I had never came across a hot cross bun until I came to Canada.

Now, I have never been very fond of these cinnamony buns crammed with various dried fruits because I detest currents and raisins. But when the CBC radio was searching for the best hot cross buns in the city, I went on a mission. I realize that people were nominating their favorite bakeries and vouching for their buns. Places like Uprising Bakery, Terra Breads and Savoury Island Pie Company all got honorable mentions.

I looked and pondered, and finally found just the right buns for me. And the winner is......Chocolate Hot Cross Buns from Cobs Breads. The Aussies (a couple of them founded the bakery) are geniuses.

The Chocolate Hot Cross Buns are little delightful treats that are filled with miniature chocolate chips instead of currents. The buns have a bit of cocoa in them to bring out the cinnamon and clove flavours. And it was shown in Wikipedia that Australians came up with the idea probably from the popular association with chocolate at Easter.

Traditionally, hot cross buns are eaten on Good Friday because they are made without eggs or dairy products, so people can eat them during Lent. Though the best way to eat them is to slather them with butter and warmed up in the toaster oven.

So guess what I had for breakfast today?