How to Make the Most of Stale Hot Cross Buns
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Here are some delicious ideas to make the most of any stale Hot Cross Buns you might have. However if your buns are not stale, no worries! – just slice or dice the buns leave about till stale or pop in a warm oven for a few minutes.
Hot Cross Bun French Toast
For a custardy middle cut the buns a little on the thick side and soak for 10 minutes or so before cooking. For a bready interior briefly dip the slices of bun in the mixture and fry immediately.
1 egg
½ tbsp sugar
50ml milk or cream or a mixture
a drop of vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 hot cross buns – cut crosswise into 3 slices each
~ Whisk together all the ingredients except the buns.
~ Soak the bun slices in the mixture.
~ Fry in butter till crisp and golden on both sides.
I normally have maple syrup on French toast, as is only natural, but in this case I wasn’t too sure so I asked myself “What would Jesus do?” Turns out he’d go for honey and I think he’s right – it worked perfectly.
A rather splendid …
Hot Cross Bun Brown Betty
60g butter plus a little for greasing the pan
200g hot cross bun crumbs
1kg cooking apples
120g soft light brown sugar
~ Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/180ºC fan/gas 6~ Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the crumbs and stir together over medium heat till they are a little crisp. Decant the crumbs from the pan so that they don’t go on cooking and set aside whilst you prepare the apples.
~ Peel and thinly slice the apples and toss with the sugar.
~ Lightly butter an ovenproof dish.
~ Divide the crumbs into three portions.
~ Put a third of the crumbs into the dish and press lightly to the bottom and sides.
~ Add half the apples and sprinkle with a second third of the crumbs.
~ Add the rest of the apples, level the top as much as you can and then sprinkle with the remaining crumbs.
~ Cover with foil and bake for about 20 minutes.
~ Remover the foil and continue to cook till the apple are cooked through and the top golden.
Serve hot or cool with custard, cream, ice cream or clotted cream.
Stale Hot Cross Bun Croutons
Sweet croutons are a much neglected realm, but not by me. I often use a little bit of buttery fried leftover cake to top creamy desserts and ice cream. Stale hot cross bun croutons are particularly good with fruit. Similar to this …
Hot Cross Buns also make excellent Apple Cribbly
Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding
Actually I lied about the “and Butter” in the heading – this, to my mind, is a better version but who is going to search for Hot Cross Bun Pudding? I am just trying to help!
150g ish of stale hot cross buns
75g of dried fruit – possibly alcohol infused (see below)
200ml milk
100ml double cream
2 eggs
80g sugar plus a little for sprinkling
½ tsp vanilla essence
~ Slice the hot cross bit off the top of the buns and set aside. Tear the rest of the buns into chunks.
~ Put the bun chunks into a lightly greased ovenproof dish.
~ Add the dried fruit and toss together.
~ Whisk together all the other ingredients (except the sprinkling sugar) and pour over pushing the buns under the surface to soak it.
~ Lay the bun tops, cross upwards, attractively on top of the pudding and press lightly to submerge.
~ Set aside for 30 minutes or more – even overnight will do.
~ Preheat oven to 350˚F/180˚C/160˚C Fan/gas 4.
~ Sprinkle the pudding with the extra sugar and bake for about 40 minutes till risen, golden and slightly wobbly when nudged.
Serve hot, warm or cold but warm is best with clotted cream!
I saved the best for last …
Crunchy Hot Cross Bun Ice Cream
This is my favorite way to use stale hot cross buns and the recipe is in my book which you can read about here ~ Luscious Ice Creams without a Machine. There is no need for stirring or faffing about – the end result will be rich and smooth and delicious.
Although, of course, ice cream keeps very well in the freezer this is one I would recommend eating sooner rather than later because after a time the little crispy bits soften and you lose some of the loveliness.
Alcohol Macerated Fruit
I thought I’d better go into detail about this. It is something I always keep to hand. It is simply a matter of putting some dried fruit into a clean jar, pouring in enough spirit (I use rum or brandy) to cover completely, putting on the lid and storing in a dark place. The fruit is wonderful in all sorts of deserts and so is the alcohol. Just remember to always make sure the fruit is completely and utterly under the surface of the booze – top up fruit and spirit as you go through life.
Incidentally …
As this is a sort of after Easter post, if you make a Simnel cake (I did and am delighted with it – the layer of marzipan in the middle is soft and sticky and caramelised and chewy around the edge, I might not be able to wait till next Easter to do it again!) and have leftover marzipan then go here for some good ideas.
How to Use Up Any Leftover ~ Delicously!
I so love cooking with leftovers I have written a whole book on the matter; Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers.
In it I give all the information, ideas, recipes, handy hints, cook’s treats, storage info, ideas of what goes with what that I can think of for over 450 possible leftovers.
Suzy Bowler
Having been a somewhat itinerant chef for over 30 years I was amazed, on my return to the UK, at the blatant food waste that now seems to be rife in the country; amazed and irritated. So much so that I decided to start a blog about spontaneous cooking from leftovers to show people that there are great alternatives to throwing food away.
2 Comments
Suzy Bowler
Croissants are good too, if you cut them in half and lay so cut side up the top goes all crisp and flaky!
purplestormwitch
some great ideas here i know that brioche makes a good bread and butter pudding but i think hot cross buns would be even better!