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Coles Bakery Traditional Hot Cross Buns | Chewsday Review

As Easter rolls around, so do the hot cross buns! Do you like yours toasted, buttered, or straight from the packet? Let’s hop to it and take a closer look at what these buns bring to the Easter table.

Ingredients

Fruit bun [wheat flour (vitamins (thiamin, folic acid)), fruits (25%) (currants, sultanas, raisins, sunflower oil), water, sugar, yeast, vegetable oils (palm, canola), wheat gluten, spices, iodised salt, processing aids (wheat)], crossing [water, wheat starch, wheat flour, vegetable oils (palm, canola), emulsifier (471 from palm), thickener (415) (soy), salt], glaze [water, sugar, thickeners (1400, 415), acidity regulator (330)].
This is a pretty standard ingredient list for commercially made hot cross buns.
The freshly baked in-store buns (very plain packaging) have the same ingredients as the “thawed from frozen” version (pink Easter patterns on the bag). The pre-frozen ones can’t be re-frozen though. I much prefer to get them fresh where possible.
Allergens: Wheat, gluten, soy.
May contain: Cashew, pecan, egg, milk, sesame, brazil nut, macadamia, pistachio, lupin, sulphites, walnut, almond, hazelnut, peanut, pine nut.

Positives

You might be surprised to hear that these hot cross buns don’t contain much added sugar! Even I was. They’re 25% dried fruit, but each bun contains less than 3g of added sugar- which is mostly used to feed the yeast as it is in many breads. FYI: the fruit-free hot cross buns are lower in total sugar but tend to have more added sugar (because they need to taste more interesting than plain bread!). So opt for the fruit ones if you can. As you might expect, the choc chip hot cross buns contain more than 4 times the added sugar, at almost 13g per bun.
Each hot cross bun contains about a tablespoon of dried fruit, this is nearly 1 serve of fruit!
These hot cross buns contain 3.7g of total fat and 1.2g of saturated fat per 100g. Although both of these are within our guidelines, the Woolworths Traditional Hot Cross Buns contain less total fat (3.3g per 100g) and less saturated fat (0.4g per 100g) but they don’t taste as good (come at me anyone?).
At 214mg per 100g, the sodium content meets our guidelines, although the Woolworths Traditional Hot Cross Buns offer a lower sodium option at 166mg per 100g.

Negatives

The fibre content of these buns comes in under our target, at just 2.1g per serve. This is still almost a fifth of a toddler’s daily fibre intake though!
I don’t love the palm oil as an ingredient (high saturated fat and not always environmentally sustainable). As a hot cross bun aficionado, I was mad (and wrote to Coles) when they made this addition years ago. Sadly they didn’t listen to my feedback. Luckily they’ve found a better balance and taste since the initial change.

Marketing

Alternatives

Some fruit toast (particularly the no added sugar varieties) will be lower in sugar than hot cross buns. For some toddlers that will be a fine substitute, others will be outraged. You know your toddler best!
If you’re looking for a lower sodium and slightly lower fat option, the Woolworths Traditional Hot Cross Buns offer this. None of the brands will be considered high fibre foods though.
Overall, these hot cross buns are a yummy addition to your Easter table, breakfast, lunchbox or snack plate. I like to buy the fresh in-store ones to keep in the freezer once the season is over!