Second coming of Easter buns

A little bit of sun coming through the window on a Wednesday, making plans for the Easter weekend to come.

To my left, in my favourite teal green mug is a weak cup of Earl Grey. To my right; a toasted Easter bun with a hunk of melting butter. There’s not a lot to top it.

I’ve gladly returned to the doughy fold after some time wandering in a prickly wilderness. Courtesy of a tiresome health issue there were a couple of years where things made of wheat, and those coloured white were no friends of mine.

Spelt may be very circa 2008 but it doesn’t really cut it in the texture stakes. Hence Easter was always a bit dismal. No chocolate to hunt for, no buns to devour. Last year we were in Paris- which held plenty of distraction. The Hungry One made
his way through a chocolate fish and we cooked a rib of beef in the apartment, sheltered against the cold and went for a long walk through windswept streets.

Easter has always been one of The Hungry One’s favourite times; one he’s always very generously shared. One year to make sure I didn’t miss out on the festivities he specially hid a chocolate coloured scarf he’d bought as a substitute egg. I wear it often and smile every time.

The Easter bun always had a special place in our house. Back when I wore a box pleated skirt Monday through Friday bun season was about scoffing two from a brick of Tip top’s best, which were always slightly glued to their cardboard case. You’d rip them apart, put a wedge of Medow Lea in the centre and then nuke them for precisely 13 seconds and munching them on the way to the bus stop.

These days I’m more about buns that are slightly fluffy and spongy dome of dough with a crunchy sweet raised scar of white marking the top. I love it when you can take off the cross and nibble it on its own. I want currants AND raisins. I want a bit of candied peel too please. And a few spices in the mix. Is that too much to ask for? Apparently not if you’re prepared to find your way to Bourke Street Bakery. I showed restraint and only picked up half a dozen yesterday. We’ll see how long they last.

What I never got my head around was chocolate buns. If you’re The Hungry One you’ll gleefully top your untoasted bun with a snapped segment of Easter egg before putting them both under the grill and supervising while the chocolate subsides into a pool of (sickening) indulgence. That’s fine. But chocolate chips in the Easter bun? I may not make it to Sunday service over Easter; but that seems sacrilegious.

So when the abomination of chocolate chip Easter buns found their way into the house; courtesy of a very hungry Hungry One we had to find something to do with them.

It was a kamikaze kitchen experiment; it could have been very bad- but somehow it gave them a second life. Chocolate chip Easter buns have re arisen.

Chocolate chip Easter bun pudding

Turn the oven onto 180 degrees.
Find a small shallow oven proof dish. Otherwise individual ramekins would do. Butter the insides.
Take three Easter buns and cut them horizontally into thirds.
Butter one side of each third- just like you’d do toast is fine.
Take a shot of espresso, add 170 mls of milk. Or, now that I think about it, you could just take a latte.
Let it cool slightly, then add three whisked eggs.
Dunk the bun into the coffee/ milk/ egg- like you would French toast. You want it to be pretty sodden.
Layer the bun pieces. I dotted in some slices of banana, just because it was looking sad in the fruit bowl.
Put a sprinkling of sugar over the top and put in the oven for around 20 minutes.

It has the flavour of a coffee éclair and the texture of bread and butter pudding.

Eat for dessert with vanilla ice cream.

Or if you’re The Hungry One- eat again cold in the morning for breakfast.

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