I'm not a big fan of the way supermarkets market 'seasonal' products over a wide timeframe, but HCBs are the one exception! We buy them regularly across the whole period they're available, but I'll make them over Easter (crossless, to reflect my (lack of) beliefs!); I use a recipe that has way more spice than commercial ones, and also has a decent proportion of brown flour for quite a different but delicious bun.

Even supermarkets are now selling relatively up-market takes on HCBs; I recently bought two different types of the Yarrow's four-packs, which some may see as heresy to the tradition of HCBs: one flavour (blueberry and white chocolate) was nothing special, whereas the other (apple and cinnamon) was absolutely delicious.  Not cheap ($6.50 for four) but worth a try for sure. I was going to try to replicate the style, which uses decent chunks of apple for a cross between a bun and an apple cake.