It’s that time of the year, the Easter season… wherein the religion of Christianity, embraces the story surrounding Jesus’s crucifixion, and commemorates his resurrection which is said to have happened three days after his death.

The start of this season reveals the point at which most people are barely hanging on to upholding the New Year’s resolution(s) they made, or they simply toss it out the window and revert to old habits. At this point, resolutions mainly take the back seat and people tend to focus on giving up something in honor of lent. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday which happens six and a half weeks before Easter and is a time of preparation to honor the symbolic nature of the season.

In most countries, the importance of this celebration became so widespread, and as such, holidays are now given on certain days during this period. Easter is celebrated in many different ways across the world where people engage in activities that forms their own meaning and understanding of the season. Currently, Easter has evolved from just being religious in nature to being embedded in the culture of many nations.

The Jamaican spiced Easter bun is a recipe that has earned its rightful place in the Jamaican culture as a special treat indicating that we are in the Easter season. This bun was said to be originated from an old English tradition of eating what is called “hot crossed buns” customarily on Good Friday.

Hot crossed buns are slightly sweet spiced buns that are round and contain dried fruits and aromatic spices. They are made with a cross on the top which signifies the crucifixion of Jesus dying on the cross… and the spices that are added represent the spices used to embalm his body after his death. In the late 1600s, despite being banned from being made and sold in England surrounding several superstitions, these buns gained much popularity so that Queen Elizabeth I declared laws around specific times the buns could be made and consumed. Good Friday was no exception.

Jamaica was once ruled by the British in the mid-1600s, and these traditions were brought over to the island inducing the spirit of Easter. Jamaicans slowly became receptive to the practice and developed their own twist to the recipe. The Jamaican cuisine is known to be packed with spices and bold flavors which by no doubt was incorporated in their version of the Easter buns. This recipe became a hit, and is now available all year round but is popularly sold and consumed during the Easter season.

Because the shape of Jamaican buns is like a loaf of bread, locals tend to slice and serve it as if making a sandwich. That is how I perceive having it with cheese came about. It is popularly called “bun and cheese” because it is almost always served with slices of cheese in-between slices. It can also be paired with butter or slices of avocados which also adds a much satisfying contrast of flavors.

I began making Jamaican Spiced Easter Bun when I migrated from Jamaica and I was missing the taste of home. Back home I always buy them and never felt the need to make them because they were easily within my reach. Currently, whenever I am feeling homesick, I recreate a piece of Jamaica right inside my kitchen.

The great thing about this recipe is that it’s really simple. It came out as a great success on my first go, and boy was I super excited. It’s almost as if you are baking a cake, but in my opinion much simpler. You first gather and combine all your dry ingredients, do the same with all your wet ingredients and merge them mixing until well combined. Before tossing it in the oven to bake, you can also dress it nicely with some additional raisins and cherries on top. You can find the recipe below.