...hot apple buns

I love hot cross buns - without the cross part and the dried fruit. And as we come up towards Easter I have wondered what it is about them that I like. I am sure it is the spices in the bread and the sticky glaze on the top.

So this last weekend I make a version of the buns with fruit that I like, fresh rather than dried apple. I made my dough in the bread maker and then shaped the buns, let them rise again and baked them in the oven. They were great - and disappeared very quickly!

Hot Apple Buns
6g dry yeast
475g bread flour (plain flour is OK too)
25g gluten flour
24g powdered milk
34g sugar
8g salt
2tsp cinnamon
2tsp mixed spice
1-2 cups apple* peeled, cored and chopped into small chunks (you'll need 1-2 apples)
45g butter
350ml water
1 cup flour extra, for kneading
* Granny Smith or other green baking apples are best
Glaze
1 tsp gelatine
2 tbs Water
1 tbs sugar

Method
1. Make the dough with all ingredients according to the instructions of your breadmaker - my dough function allows me to add the fruit mid-cycle to stop the fruit becoming crushed. If you aren't using a machine make the dough by hand and then allow to rise for 1-2 hours and doubled in size.
2. Knead dough on a floured surfacer until the dough is elastic and springs back.

3. Divide the dough into 15 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball/bun and place on baking tray a little way apart to allow room for rising and spreading.

4. Cover tray with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise for a further 30 minutes.

5. Bake in an over preheated to 200 degrees C for 20-25 minutes.
6. Make the glaze during the last 5 minutes of the baking time by mixing all ingredients in a jug in the microwave or standing in a pot of warm water until the ingredients are melted together.
7. Brush the buns as they come out the the oven when hot.

8. Allow to cool a little then eat spread with butter.

Delicious - I wish the pictures could convey smell - a cross between warm bread and apple pie!

...notes and pictures from the weekend

A busy weekend full of baking, sewing, cooking and all the normal weekend chores. 

After my post on Friday looking for some new bread recipes I got one from Becky. I tried it out and the finished texture is great. The quantities didn't quite yield the dough weight I need for it to prove to the lid in the pan but I think a 1.5 mix might work. For now I took the lid off and made a domed loaf that we are already a lot of the way though. 

I also started a scrap project that I kept the bit for for the last 51 weeks - these are the off cuts from the star points from this quilt. I had already sewn them into half square triangle units, the job now is just to trim them all to 2" and sew them together. 

It will end up 14x14 units - 1.5" finished units for a 21" cushion. 

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I also finally got pictures of my finished Giant 'Valentines' Swoon. The top is 80" square, I'm just considering quilting now. 

An afternoon movie yielded the latest Dessert of the Month stitchery. 

My tip for keeping track of where you are up to - use a highlighter to mark the stitches executed

A few more seams on the scrappy stars too - I hope to have this one finished by the end of the month.

...cupcakes

Since I posted about the Cookie {recipe} Swap I've done nothing but make cupcakes!

I think this is the last of the end of the year festive activities at work so the last of the festive cupcakes too?

...a short departure to the kitchen

I consider myself a slightly aspirational cook, not because I have the urge to make a soufflé never having boiled an egg... it is more to do with the idea that in my mind I make everything from scratch (which is generally possible) but time and tiredness generally result in the pasta we eat in our house being the dreid stuff from Woolworths rather than fresh from the pasta maker.

image here

In my mind the cupboards and freezer as so well stocked, should it be necessary, I could feed us good, tasty food for the week. In reality dinner ingredients are usually bought from Woolworths on the way home, and more often than not N does the cooking.

I started young, apricots from our tree circa 1988

In the last few weeks I have been musing more on preserves and the like. Perhaps it is the time of year that the Pick your Own farms are churning out the things I love, peaches, cherries and blueberries. BTW, if you live in Victoria have you seen this site. Very helpful, just make sure you scroll down the page awhile to get to the information.

But in the absence of the need for countless jars of jam (really, I very rarely eat the stuff, and never fast enough to finish a jar) I have tried to think about what would actually be useful for us to preserve. The best way I could think about it really was what non-perishable food we buy now. Canned tomatoes. End of list. I think.

From top to the bottom:
Good Home Preserving, Country Women's Association Preserves, Jam Jelly & Relish, Ball Blue Book, Jamie at Home

Certainly there is a fair bit of bacon, but I am not ready to start curing meat. And the vegies we eat don't come from a can - living in such a temprate climate as Australia fresh stuff really is avaliable most of the time. But still there is something in considering preserving. A feeling of capability perhaps?

Having said that if there was a jar of cherries in the cupboard you could bet I'd eat them. Maybe I would make more pies.

So while I have been considering these things I have started to make some bread using the techniques set out in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I have the other one too but I'm sticking with the basics for now so I don't have to hunt out exotic flour (considered to be anything not already in the cupboard).

For my forst effort from this cookbook I scorned the idea of starting with the basic recipe and went straight for the Brioche dough. We have had two batches of chocolate centre brioche and I also made a Lemon Curd and Blueberry Ring (with the Lemon Curd recipe from the book)

I have made up a batch of the basic bread dough but I'm yet to bake any so we'll see how that goes. For now I think it is going to spend some time chilling in the freezer with the balls of pizza dough.

A present and a party.

Last week the first daughter of some friends turned one, and as she is also the first child in our close group of friends she has, quite naturally, been spoilt rotten.

Her birthday party, at the weekend, was no exception.

While my friend is a great mum she is no crafter and no baker. In the very helpful words of her mother yesterday, she just doesn't have the patience for it! So, as soon as she announced she was pregnant she asked me if I would make her child's birthday cake and on the weekend I got to do that for the first time.

I love making novelty cakes and have been known to make children's birthday cakes in the past for adults! So during last week I sat down with my Woman's Weekly books to choose a cake.

For any overseas readers you may not be familiar with these Australian tradition books. The one with the train on the cover is now a collectors item and I was lucky enough to be given my copy by my mother when I moved out of home. In the past few years the original has been expanded and revised with the result being the other three pictured.

I made the Blocks cake form the Little Party Cakes book.



We also had a full array of party food, I made some Top Deck cupcakes, Strawberries and Cream cakes and these great icecream cones made from a meringue mix that is spread thinly on a cookie sheet, baked quickly and rolled into shape while still warm.




And didn't I promise presents?
I made this bed for my dog many years ago and slightly ignored the instructions in that I filled with with foam shapes suit to size rather than stuff it with poly fill as was recommended. I'm glad I spent the extra money at the time as it has lasted SO very well.

During a recent trip we took away my dog, Mollie, stayed with these friends. Their daughter thought the Mollie's bed made a great reading couch and Mollie was shooed off. As she got to sleep on a real bed I don't think she minded that much though.

So for her birthday she got a book nook couch of her very own.

Made with IKEA fabric, and again filled with cut to order foam shapes from the Foam Booth it should be robust enough to take the traffic of the next few years.

Happy Birthday!