A Derbyshire bakery, which sells more than 200 hot cross buns every day during the Easter period, has reinvented the traditional favourite by introducing a new chocolate and orange variety.
David Stacey, the owner of Stacey's Bakery, which has shops in Ilkeston, Heanor and Eastwood, said: “We have been baking our delicious hot cross buns for more than 100 years and we love them as much as our customers do. But at Easter, people tend to want chocolate, so we thought it would be fun to play around with the traditional recipe.
“The new recipe uses only the finest quality dark Belgian chocolate, so when the chocolate chips melt, it brings a completely fresh dimension to the warm citrus notes of a toasted hot cross bun.”
In Tudor Britain, it was only legal to sell traditional hot cross buns on Good Friday, Christmas Day and for funerals. But hot cross buns are now routinely available every day of the year in supermarkets and David Stacey is keen to point out what a huge difference there is between supermarket buns and those made fresh at his bakery.
He said: “Our light, fluffy hot cross buns are baked using traditional methods in our family bakery. The hot cross buns you buy in supermarkets are dense, like a crumpet. Ours can be toasted in 30 seconds and the supermarket ones can take up to four minutes, due to all the water they use."
The new recipe has been developed by the Master Baker at the Ilkeston-based bakery and it is hoped that it will become a firm favourite with customers.
David added: “This new flavour reinvents the hot cross bun and gives our customers a new choice for their Easter treats. But don’t worry. We will still be selling the traditional spiced bun in all of our shops."
For more information, visit www.staceys-bakery.co.uk
