Ok, I know, my Jamaican readers (if you exist!) must be thinking really, a blog post on bun and cheese? Have you run out of things to blog about? But consider that I'm not in Jamaica, so procuring bun and cheese for Easter requires effort.
In Jamaica one of our Easter traditions is to eat bun and cheese. Jamaican Easter Bun looks nothing like hot cross buns, and I'm not sure if it tastes like it either, but I suspect the tradition ought to have some relation. There are several ways to make Easter bun. My cookbook, Enid Donaldson's The Real Taste of Jamaica, Rev. Ed.
, has 4 recipes! Each recipe uses a different leavening agent: Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Yeast and Stout. I decided to do the baking powder version, partially because the Yeast recipe yields 7 loaves, partially because I prefer bun with just raisins, not mixed peel, and partially because I wanted to try making it with port. So without further ado, the recipe (found on Pg 114 of the first ed.):
, has 4 recipes! Each recipe uses a different leavening agent: Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Yeast and Stout. I decided to do the baking powder version, partially because the Yeast recipe yields 7 loaves, partially because I prefer bun with just raisins, not mixed peel, and partially because I wanted to try making it with port. So without further ado, the recipe (found on Pg 114 of the first ed.):Easter Spice Bun (Baking Powder)
3 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk or wine
1 cup raisins
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. lime juice
pinch of salt
- Preheat oven to 350 F. about 15 minutes.
- Beat egg. Add sugar, then melted butter and 1 cup milk or wine.
- Pour into dry ingredients and beat until smooth.
- Add raisins.
- Pour into lined and greased loaf tin and bake for approximately 1 hour.
- As soon as bun is done, make a glaze using 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup water, boil until thick, spread on bun and pop back in oven for about 5 minutes.
Yields 1 loaf.
The main change I made was to use half cup of milk, half cup of port wine. I also put the bun in for 50 minutes and I think I could have put it in for 40 or 45 minutes instead. When I put the bun back in it was for 4 minutes. The results:
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| From Drop Box |
The next time I use this recipe, I'll reduce the amount of sugar by either a half cup or full cup, since my only complaint was that it was a little too sweet. Still, it tasted like the real thing!
haha Nice. I was asking my fam in CT how come big Easter weekend and no EASTER bun and Cheese. Then i started singing that HTB easter bun jingle lol. That looks good though, and I'm sure it tastes good too.
although i am commenting a year later, you can never go wrong w/ this post in the month of April.... looks really good!!
I have done Enid Donaldsons recipes for my husband who is born from st Mary in Jamaica he loved it. Entire family loved it Mrs.Dacosta
When do you add the lime juice?