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Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Australia's best hot cross buns crowned and they're just $1.40 each: 'Perfect'
Long gone are the days when hot cross buns were merely offered in the fruit or no fruit variety. These days, they come in every flavour under the sun and are available in supermarkets pretty much all year round (much to the chagrin of some shoppers). So, how are we to know which of these tasty treats are worth our hard-earned money and which are better off left on the shelf? And how do we know whether to head to Coles, Woolworths, Aldi or someplace else to stock up on our Easter goodies? While spending a day tasting hot cross buns is a tough job, someone has to do it, and this year, a panel of three CHOICE judges spent hours meticulously blind testing 19 varieties of hot cross buns to bring Aussies their number one. 'We assessed appearance, aroma, flavour and texture and we tasted the hot cross buns toasted and untoasted,' Brigid Treloar, Food Consultant and CHOICE judge told Yahoo Lifestyle. 'We also made an overall comment on each sample about whether we liked it or not and why. It's a very good process. The three judges don't talk so you don't know what the others score and then the CHOICE team put the results together to work out the winners.' RELATED: New $5.50 Woolworths sweet treat wows taste testers: 'They've nailed it' Coffee from Coles, Woolies at '30c a cup' beats premium ground in CHOICE taste test Coles, Aldi ice cream from $6.50 beats gourmet brand in CHOICE taste test This year, the Hot Cross buns came from Coles, Woolworths, IGA, Aldi, Bakers Delight and Costco. 'With the cost of living, I think they went mainstream and focused on hot cross buns that are available everywhere. Those little artisan bakers just aren't able to compete on price,' Treloar explained. But, as in previous years, they still tested a range of different styles and rated traditional fruit, chocolate and gluten-free hot cross buns. Taking the win with a 75% score, Coles' Luxurious Fruit Hot Cross Buns impressed the judges across the board. The experts praised the buns - which retail for $5.50 for a pack of 4 - for their great array of fruits, which produced interesting flavours and textures. 'The winner was perfect for toasting and eating uncooked which doesn't always happen,' Treloar said. Coming in a close second the delicious Aldi Bakers Life Fruit Hot Cross Buns had a score of 72%. Coles took another spot on the podium with its Coles Bakery Easter Traditional Fruit Hot Cross Buns, which the judges handed 66%. Treloar told us they eat so many hot cross buns during the tasting day that by the end of it all she's desperate for something salty. She also admits that since the blind tests weeks ago she hasn't eaten a single bun. Easter ruined, right there! 'You have to taste each bun at least twice – toasted and untoasted and then if the fruit isn't evenly distributed you might need another bite to make sure you've tasted that. I'll have a bigger bite if I do like it and there is a spit bucket if you don't. It does sometimes get to that.' There was no spitting out the chocolate buns but Treloar said there was quite a variation of aroma and chocolatey flavour in the ones they tasted. Coming in first again was a Coles product: the Coles Bakery Easter Choc Chip Hot Cross Buns, which retail for just $4.40 for a pack of 6. With an an impressive score of 82%, the experts were pleased with the amount of chocolate chips, noting the chocolatey smell was evident. If you prefer a chocolate hot cross bun, the CHOICE experts recommend trying this one. At 67 cents per bun the Aldi Bakers Life Chocolate Hot Cross Buns with Milk Chocolate Chips was a winner on price as well as taste. In its only placement in the top spots Woolies took out third with its Bakery Hot Cross Buns made with Cadbury Milk Chocolate Chips. If you're unable to eat gluten for health or personal preference reasons, there is no need to miss out on some Easter fun! SHOP: 💸 Kmart, Bunnings shopper's simple $4 trick for saving hundreds each year: 'Worth it' 🧸 Aussie brand's 'amazing' new range to help bad sleepers: 'Perfect solution' ☕️ 'Love it': $2.25 item the secret to perfect at-home coffee Treloar noted that the hot cross buns in the gluten-free category were getting better each year but for 2025 the winner was Aldi Bakers Life Gluten Free Fruit Hot Cross Buns which received a score of 68%.
The Guardian
19-03-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
Supermarket hot cross bun taste test: Choice judges award top scores to Coles and Aldi
When it comes to supermarket hot cross buns, shoppers should stock up at Coles according to Australian consumer group Choice, which evaluated 19 traditional, chocolate and gluten-free varieties in its annual taste test. Judges blindly tasted toasted and untoasted versions of fruit and choc-chip hot cross buns from Aldi, Bakers Delight, Coles, Costco, IGA and Woolworths. Coles took out the top spots in both traditional and chocolate categories: Coles Finest Luxurious Fruit Hot Cross Buns received a score of 75%, and Coles Bakery Easter Choc Chip Hot Cross Buns received the highest overall score of 82%. 'One of the things we picked up with the chocolate one is the aroma,' said culinary judge Brigid Treloar, who also judges chocolate in the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show competition. 'When it was toasted you could really smell the chocolate, and as the chocolate melts it gives you even more of that luscious texture and chocolatey flavour.' Treloar and judges Eddie Stewart, co-owner of Tokyo Lamington in Sydney, and Choice content creator Jane Bardell, found both categories of hot cross buns were 'equally good untoasted as they were toasted', which is not always the case, said Treloar. 'The winning [traditional] one had a good array of fruit, like candied orange peel, apricots and cranberries, so you get more texture and more variety of flavour as you're eating it,' she said. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Flavour, aroma, appearance and texture were all taken into consideration. For Treloar, the best traditional buns were light, not too dense with evenly distributed fruit. 'You want your fruit to be plump and soft,' she said. 'Being a traditionalist, I also want to see a good consistent cross.' The winning Coles Finest Luxurious Fruit Hot Cross Buns were more than double the cost of those in second and third place, priced $1.38 a bun compared with runners up Aldi Bakers Life Fruit Hot Cross Buns at 67c a bun (with a score of 72%) and Coles Easter Traditional Fruit Hot Cross Buns, 73c a bun (scored 66%). Coles' first place chocolate chip bun is 73c a bun. The final expert rating was determined with the judges' scores as well as a nutrition score based on the buns' health star rating, calculated after the blind taste test. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Overall, judges found an improvement in choc-chip varieties and gluten-free options compared with previous years. 'Gluten-free ones are much better than they used to be,' said Treloar. 'They're good enough to be able to compete against the traditional ones, but it's still very hard for them to climb up the ladder.' Aldi Bakers Life Gluten Free Fruit Hot Cross Buns took first place for gluten-free, with a score of 68%. Aldi's chocolate buns also came second in the chocolate category, with its Aldi Bakers Life Chocolate Hot Cross Buns with Milk Chocolate Chips, priced 67c a bun, scoring 70%. 'As we blind test we don't know how much the buns cost,' said Treloar. 'Everybody eats with their eyes first, so I look for good height, a nice dome, sheen, and I don't want the crosses to be too hard so that when you bite into them they flake and fall off.' Choice's editorial director Mark Serrels said the total number of hot cross buns tested had fallen, down from 29 types in 2024. 'It was a tough decision but we wanted to test the main ones people would buy in store,' he said. Choice also ran a separate 'not cross buns' test in February to evaluate the growing flavour combinations on the market, but Treloar said it was important to separate the traditional Easter treat from the 'weird and wonderful' styles out there. 'It's a little bit like sacrilege if you do something else to it,' she said. For purists, the traditional way to eat a hot cross bun is toasted with butter – but judges don't want to 'dilute the flavour' with spreads in the taste test, said Treloar. 'I want to taste the spice. You also don't want butter softening the texture because one of the things we're testing is how well it toasts. You don't want a hot cross bun to fall into a ball of dough when you start to eat it, that's unpleasant.'
