Leftover Hot Cross Buns Recipe: Apple Crumble

‘What did you think of this dessert?’ I asked my mate who I had over for dinner. I’d made a fancy apple crumble kind of thing served with cream and cinnamon.

‘Lovely! Marvellous!’ He replied. ‘I don’t usually love fruit-based desserts but this was great!’ 

I totally know what he means. When I was a kid, I hated apple pie. Lumpy, hot fruit was such a disappointing dessert to me. I would have much preferred vanilla ice cream with chocolate topping or something else more dessert-like. I also hated hot cross buns. For real, I thought they were so gross. You could get fruit-free ones though and they were delicious. Sweet, cinnamony toasted buns without all those foul sultanas in them. We never bought them though, because I was the only one in my family who didn’t like the fruit ones.

As I got older, my palate changed and I started to enjoy fruit-based desserts. I even started liking fruit toast. One of my most favourite desserts now is one from Not Quite Nigella’s book and it’s Turkish apricots with rose water yogurt. Who even am I? If someone served me stewed fruit and yogurt for dessert when I was a kid I would have been all ‘Why are you giving me breakfast? What’s WRONG with you?’

I make gluten-free hot cross buns every year for Ben and because there’s only two of us, we tend to have a few leftovers after the long weekend. That’s a lie, we generally eat them all but I’ll make extras so I can make this hot cross bun apple crumble. This leftover hot cross buns recipe is a great way to use up any rogue buns that didn’t get eaten over the weekend. The problem with hot cross buns is that they’re the best when they’re fresh. I don’t want to be a princess about it and believe me, I’ve eaten some very questionable food in time because I hate waste but you kind of need to eat hot cross buns within a day or two of buying them and then they get a bit past it. I also like using this recipe to STOP myself eating all the hot cross buns. 

Enter the leftover hot cross buns recipe of your dreams. It’s Hot Cross Bun Apple Pie!

What You Need 

Crumble filling

• 6 Granny Smith apples cut into small cubes
• ½ cup of caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Crumble topping

• 6 leftover, slightly stale hot cross buns
• 200 gms unsalted butter
• ½ cup of rolled oats
• ½ cup of caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

What You Do 

1. Mix apple ingredients in a bowl until well combined and then place in a pie dish.
2. Roughly chop hot cross buns and then whiz them in a food processor until they form crumbs.
3. Mix processed hot cross buns with remaining topping ingredients and sprinkle on the apples in the pie dish.
4. Bake in a 180-degree celsius oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Serve with ice cream.

For someone who avoided hot fruit like the plague as a child and would carry on like a pork chop if someone dared serve me a curry that had sultanas in it, I’ve become quite fond of fruit-based dishes—sweet, fruit-based dishes. Sultanas do not belong in curry or salads. Hot, savoury fruit is still gross.

Hot cross buns are a staple in our house every Easter, but we also tend to have fish on Good Friday. We’re not religious at all it just always seems like a good idea to have fish on that day. What are your Easter food staples? Anything you have every year? Is there anything that would make Easter not feel like Easter unless you had that particular food? One of the things I love about Easter is that it’s my official crossover from white wine to red wine. I don’t love white wine, but I tolerate it over summer when it’s too hot for red. The Easter weekend is usually a bit crisp with a chill in the air, and it marks that time of year when I can safely break out the cab savs and shiraz for the next few months. I’ve got a few gorgeous bottles just waiting to be cracked open on a chilly night. Love it.

Do you think you’ll have enough leftovers for this hot cross buns recipe?

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