Hot cross buns acquired their name from being indented with a cross commemorating Good Friday, the only day they were eaten; originally known simply as cross buns, they became hot cross buns in the early eighteenth century because of a rhyme shouted by street vendors: “One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns, butter them, and sugar them, and put them in your muns,” muns being slang for mouths. The word hot in this rhyme not only made the baked goods more appealing, it also gave the rhyme its effective rhythm (try reading it without the word hot and see how bad it sounds). In time, the word hot became not just an adjective describing the cross buns, but an integral part of their name, a name they retain even when they are frozen solid.
A delectable, leavened pastry composed of raisins and citron and embellished with a cross fashioned out of white icing. Typically consumed in England on the day of Good Friday, or in the United States, throughout the entire period of Lent.
A yeast-raised sweet bun commonly eaten during Lent in the United States. It is flavored with nutmeg and marked with a cross on top, which is made by cutting the dough with scissors before baking. After baking, a frosting cross is added to the buns.