Hot Cross-buns

Hot Cross-Buns A kind of muffin or biscuit, with the figure of the cross impressed upon them, quite generally used in England by the adherents of the Church of England for breakfast on Good Friday. These biscuits are said to be derived from the Ecclesiastical Eulogiae (q.v.), formerly given as a token of friendship, or sent to the houses of those who were hindered from receiving the host. — See Staunton, Ecclesiastical Dictionary, p. 377.