Hot Cross Buns and King Arthur Flour

I have childhood memories of hot cross buns.  They came in a box with a cellophane window, and there were six. This was a problem because there were nine of us in our house.  Hot cross buns remind me of Easter and spring time and warm weather.  Visions of green grass, yellow and purple eggs, and Easter bonnets come to mind as well.  When we were little kids, we got new shoes twice a year, for the beginning of school and at Easter time.  My parents would line all seven kids up at the shoe store, one of those foot-measuring devices came out, and there were boxes everywhere.  The girls usually got patent leather Mary Janes for Easter and saddle shoes for school, and I don't remember what the boys got, but we were loving our new shoes!  How my parents were able to do that, I can't imagine.  Seven pairs of shoes for dress and seven pairs of sneakers for playing all at one shot.  There were no discount shoe stores then.  If you wanted shoes, you went to the shoe store.  In Saratoga, we went to Sundial Shoes on the corner of Church and Clinton.  Mr. Izzo was there forever, and knew every family well.  If I remember correctly (which sometimes I do not) he had an index card for every pair of feet. I even took Joe and Katie there for their first pairs of shoes, in the days when all babies wore the stiff white walking shoes which some people (like my mother) later bronzed.  My brother Michael's baby shoes were the only pair bronzed in our family.  The six siblings that followed, no bronzing. 

In honor of Easter memories and hot cross buns, below you will find a link to their recipe for this spring-time treat from King Arthur Flour.  I love KAF because I read the Web site's blog story about its flour (very interesting) and vow now only to buy KAF even if it is $1.00 more than other brands for a 5 lb. bag.  It's worth it.  Their Web site is great.  They have a host of witty baker-bloggers and I love their products. 

Hot Cross Buns recipe and photo credit from KAF: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/easy-hot-cross-buns-recipe