Hot Cross Buns

As much as I like chocolate, my favourite thing about Easter is Hot Cross Buns.  Bought ones are okay, but homemade ones are almost addictive.  It is funny that I love them so much, but don’t ever make them at any other time of the year.  It would be easy enough to make them minus the crosses, but then they just don’t have the same appeal when they aren’t Hot Cross Buns. 

When we were kids my Mum would make them every Easter and they were a real treat come Good Friday and then we would eat them throughout Easter.  We’ve now got a bit relaxed on when we are allowed to eat them and pretty much have them over the weeks leading up to Easter, hot from the oven with lots of butter for breakfast.  I always have a base first and then finish with a top, my favourite part, maybe that has something to do with the crosses. 

Our family has pretty much used the same recipe since we were kids, but have made a few adjustments over the years using ideas from other Hot Cross Bun recipes I have seen in various magazines and now I think we have the perfect recipe.

Try making these yourself and then see if you can resist having a fresh one straight from the oven slathered with butter.

Hot Cross Buns

1 ¼ cups milk (310ml)

Zest of 1 orange

3 cardamon pods, bashed

¼ cup sugar (50g)

1 ½ tablespoons dried yeast (11g)

4 ½ cups white bread flour (690g)

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cloves (you could use 2 whole cloves instead when heating the milk)

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

125g butter

2 eggs

180g mixed fruit

80g citrus peel

40g chopped glace cherries

Crosses

½ cup plain flour

1 tablespoon melted butter or oil

5-6 tablespoons water

Glaze

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons sugar

1. Place milk, orange zest, and cardamom pods (and whole cloves, if using) into a small saucepan and heat to scalding point.  Remove from heat, strain, add the sugar and cool to lukewarm.
2. Sprinkle on the yeast and mix briefly with a fork then leave in a warm place for about 10 minutes until frothy.
3. Sift together the flour, salt and spices.  Place half in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
4. Add the yeast mixture, melted butter and beaten eggs and beat well with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Add the mixed fruit, citrus peel and glace cherries (or any combination of fruit you prefer) and work in the remaining flour to form a soft dough.
5. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and still soft.
6. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a cloth and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
7. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly.
8. Divide into 18 even sized pieces.  Shape into balls and place slightly apart on a greased (or lined) baking tray.  Cover and leave to rise again until double, about 20 minutes.
9. Make the dough for the crosses by mixing the flour, butter (or oil) and enough water for the mixture to be piped.
10. Pipe crosses on each risen bun.
11. Bake at 200⁰C (180⁰C fan bake) for 15-20 minutes, remove and brush the milk and sugar mixture over the buns to glaze.  Return to the oven and bake for a further 5 minutes until golden brown.  Enjoy!

Marshmallow Easter Eggs

I absolutely adore Marshmallow Easter Eggs, their soft, fluffy centres and the thin, crisp coating of chocolate on the outside.  They are definitely something I miss when away from New Zealand at Easter.  A few years back the Foodtown magazine published a recipe for Marshmallow Easter Eggs and since then I’ve used it many times to make them for myself and as gifts for others.

The recipe generally works well, but having used it with a number of my students they always discover many ways for to trip things up.  It really does come down to accurate measuring and accurate timing, so follow the recipe carefully and you’ll have your own Marshmallow Easter Eggs to enjoy!

Marshmallow Easter Eggs

Moulding

Flour

1 egg

Marshmallow

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon (7g) powdered gelatine (or 4 sheets of leaf gelatine)

1 cup granulated sugar (200g)

⅓ cup extra water

Food colouring

Coating

375g cooking chocolate

Spread flour evenly in a baking/roasting dish about 2cm deep.  Press the egg down into the flour about halfway to make about 14 oval-shaped hollows, leaving a 2cm gap between each hollow.

 If using powdered gelatine, place the ¼ cup water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatine over and set aside to swell.  If using the leaf gelatine, place the 4 leaves in a bowl and cover with plenty of water and leave to soften for about 5 minutes.

Place the sugar and ⅓ cup water (plus the ¼ cup water, if using leaf gelatine) in a small saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Add the gelatine (squeeze out excess water from leaf gelatine) and stir until dissolved.

Bring to the boil and boil steadily for 10 minutes (if using a thermometer it reaches 110⁰C), be careful that it doesn’t overflow or cook at too high temperature, it will burn.

Remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes before beating.

 Pour the marshmallow into a heatproof bowl and beat with an electric beater on high speed for 2-3 minutes, until a thick, creamy consistency that is still pourable.  Add food colouring towards the end of beating, if using.  Be careful not to overbeat or it will go hard.

Transfer mixture to a jug and pour the marshmallow into the hollows in the flour, bringing to almost to the top.

Place marshmallow in the fridge to set, about 30 minutes, or out of fridge for about 5-7 hours or overnight.

Line a baking tray with tin foil.

Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water.  You can also melt the chocolate in the microwave, but be careful not to burn it.  If you use regular eating chocolate, add 50g of vegetable shortening to the chocolate while melting, it makes it a lot easier to coat the marshmallow.

Using a fork, gently remove marshmallow from the flour, brushing off any excess flour, dip into the melted chocolate until they are evenly coated.  Place on prepared tray to set.

Eggs can be left as halves or joined to make whole eggs.  Enjoy either way!

Ginger Crunch

Having recently moved to the UK again I always get nostalgic for New Zealand treats and goodies.  Another teacher at school kept having a Butterscotch Slice that looked very similar to Ginger Crunch but, unfortunately for me, wasn’t Ginger Crunch.  Ginger Crunch is one of those brilliant New Zealand baking recipes that provide a link to home.

Prior to coming back to the UK I ensured that I copied some of my favourite recipes from New Zealand and included Ginger Crunch.  I’m pretty sure that it originally came from the Edmonds Cook Book, but made it into my Mum’s favourite recipe book and then into a couple of mine, so it probably doesn’t match the current edition.

We also used to have a microwave version of Ginger Crunch, from the Eighty’s when everyone was learning to make everything in the microwave.  I have no idea where that recipe ended up, but the traditional recipe is probably the best, just made with a few adaptions.

This recipe worked brilliantly and my housemate is secretly addicted to it also, which is good for me or I could have easily eaten the whole tin full myself.

Ginger Crunch

2 cups flour (300g)

1 cup sugar (230g)

250g butter

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons baking powder

Icing

110g butter

4 teaspoons vanilla essence

2 teaspoons ground ginger

160g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180⁰C fanbake (200⁰C).
Sift flour, ginger and baking powder into bowl, add sugar and then rub in butter until well combined (you shouldn’t see any lumps of butter).  Press mixture into a 31x17cm brownie tin.
Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden.
While the base is baking prepare the icing by melting butter, vanilla essence and ground ginger in a saucepan over a low-medium heat.
Add icing sugar and stir well over low-medium heat until smooth (it will look odd initially, but as it cooks it combines to a smooth pourable icing).
Pour icing over base while both are still hot.
Cut when cool and enjoy!