Hot Cross Buns

If you read my blog regularly you will see that I love baking cakes, cupcakes and cookies. I've started to bake more with pastry recently which includes trying different types of pastry and I even had a go at hot water pastry but that's for another post. Bread baking is a different matter and I've tended to stray away from baking bread or dough.  

J has been asking for hot cross buns since before Easter. It's traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the UK and in many other countries. Unfortunately I didn't get round to baking it and Easter flew by in the blink of an eye.  A week after Easter and J was still asking for his hot cross buns so I decided to give it a go. 

I used a Paul Hollywood recipe from BBC Good Food and followed it exactly. As it's my first time baking hot cross buns I decided not to stray from the recipe. The dough needed to prove 3 times and by the time I finished baking this it was almost dinnertime! Luckily we had a busy day doing some home improvements and did not have a chance to have lunch so these were a welcome treat with a cup of tea. I also gave some to our lovely neighbours next door and to our new neighbours who moved in a few weeks ago. 

They were very impressed with the homemade hot cross buns and so were we. The buns were soft and fruity and tasted so much better than the shop bought ones. We had them warm from the oven with lashings of butter and they tasted heavenly. We also had them toasted the next day with some homemade marmalade (from a friend) and it tasted just as good. 

I'm sending this to Bready, Steady, Go! hosted by Jen from Jen's Food and Michelle from Utterly Scrummy Food For Families.  Both Jen and Michelle are keen bread bakers so they've decided to host this challenge together. I think it has a great challenge name which was chosen by one of Michelle's daughters. 

It's also going to Treat Petite hosted by Kat from The Baking Eplorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is Hello Spring. 

Food Year Link Up hosted by Charlotte from My Recipe Book. These are of course for Easter.

Finally to Let's Cook for Easter hosted by Nayna from Simply Food.

 bread flour with salt, yeast and sugar 

 the dough is soft and crumbly...

 ...but becomes smooth and glossy after kneading 

 adding in the fruit after allowing the dough to prove 

 looks delicious!

 I weighed each bun as suggested to ensure even cooking 

 The cross is made from a flour and water paste 

 The glaze gives it a really nice shine 

 Lashings of butter! 

Recipe from BBC Good Food 

Fruit, Nut and Seed Flapjacks

This week I've been busy baking breakfast food. I've already posted my banana, blueberry and apple muffins and I have another muffin recipe to share with you later. For a change, I decided to make some chunky flapjacks which are brilliant for breakfast on the go. I bought some packets of fruit, nut and seed mix from Aldi as healthier snacks during a recent road trip. However, we didn't get round to eating them so I thought I'd use them to make flapjacks. These are really crunchy and chunky and I loved the addition of the fruits, nuts and seeds.  

 adding the fruit, nut and seed mix 

 I used my individual loaf tray to get chunky flapjacks 

Makes 6 large, chunky flapjacks
150g butter
125g golden caster sugar
50g golden syrup
225g porridge oats
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
200g dried fruit, nut and seed mix

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a medium sized pan. 
• In a medium sized bowl, mix the oats, cinnamon and flour.
• Add the oat mixture to the butter mixture and stir.
• Add in the fruit, nut and seed mix and sitr well. 
• Spoon into the baking tray (you can use a shallow baking tin) and level the top with a spatula.
• Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown. 
• Cut into squares before serving (if you used a shallow baking tin). 

Mixed Fruit Muesli Slice

This month Random Recipes hosted by the dashing Dom from Belleau Kitchen is 40. So he's asked us to choose our 40th book and turn to page 40. I dutifully counted along my bookshelf and No 40 is....

The Australian Women's Weekly Little Squares & Slices. I've not actually made anything from this book yet so I was really pleased that I finally had a chance. With a little trepidation as you just never know what you'll get with random recipes, I turned to page 40 and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Tropical Muesli Slice. I did not have any dried tropical fruit so I used mixed dried fruit, dried cranberries and a handful of dried pineapple slices that I had leftover from something else. It's a really simple recipe but I still managed to burn mine as I left it in the oven for too long! Fortunately, it still tasted good and was devoured heartily at work this morning. Everyone actually quite liked the burnt bits and it was extremely more-ish. It's highly addictive and the recipe is so versatile as you can use any dried fruit/nut or chocolate. 

 oats, self raising flour, dried cranberries, dried pineapple slices, mixed dried fruit, brown sugar, honey, butter 

 slightly burnt but still delicious! 

125g butter
75g soft brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
135g rolled oats
75g self raising flour
250g mixed dried fruit including dried cranberries (alternatively you can use a tropical mix as suggested in the original recipe - 225g sliced, dried tropical fruit and 25g dessicated coconut)

• Preheat the oven to 160C.
• Melt butter, sugar and honey in a medium sized saucepan. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. 
• Press firmly into a square baking tray and bake for about 35-40 minutes until golden brown.
• Allow to cool completely before slicing

Cinnamon, Fruit & Nut Mix Cookies

These cookies are inspired by a pack of fruit and nut mix with cinnamon dusted milk chocolate almonds that I found in the shops. I decided to add in more cinnamon, some chopped chocolate as I had a bit leftover and leftover berry mix (raisins, sultanas and dried cranberries). I also used wholemeal flour and oats to make it seem healthier! They were absolutely delicious. I love the cinnamon which was strong but not overpowering and it was the perfect balance of fruit, nut and chocolate. 

I'm sending this to the Biscuit Barrel Challenge hosted by Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... who has chosen the theme "Spices" The recipe contains quite a bit of cinnamon which is perfect for this time of the year. 

I'm also sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. I used up my leftover chocolate and berry mix. 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

225g butter
220g dark brown sugar
180g wholemeal flour
250g oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
2.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 eggs
150g fruit & nut mix with cinnamon dusted milk chocolate almonds
70g chocolate, chopped
100g berry mix (raisins, sultanas, dried cranberries)

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line 2 baking trays.
• Cream the butter and sugar for a few minutes.
• Add in egss one at at time a mix well.
• Mix in flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon and oats.
• Finally stir in the fruit, nuts, chocolate and berry mix. 
• Using a small ice cream scoop, place round balls of dough spaced apart on a baking tray.
• Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
• Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• The cookies will harden as they cool. 

Tiffin or refrigerator cake

I've been baking mostly healthy treats this month but I did promise a few naughty treats as well. This is so easy to make but oh so naughty. It's a refrigerator cake or tiffin and it's a really simple no bake recipe which you can easily prepare in advance. I used digestive biscuits, rich tea biscuits, marhsmallows and mixed fruit and nut. I gave these away as gifts and they were very well received.

I'm entering this to Dead Easy Desserts hosted by Sarah from Maison Cupcake as these take less than 30 minutes to make excluding chilling time.

150g milk chocolate
150g dark chocolate
100g butter
150g golden syrup
100g mixed fruit and nut
140g digestive biscuits, lightly crushed
140g rich tea biscuits, lightly crushed
100g mini marshmallows
50g raisins or dried cranberries

*note you can use any combination of fillings that you like - fruits, nuts, seeds, biscuits, honeycomb. Just ensure there is enough chocolate mixture to cover the filling

• Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the other ingredients.
• Pour into a square tin and level with a palette knife.
• Allow to set in the fridge for a few hours or preferably overnight.
• Cut into squares and enjoy. 

Nectarine and Summer Berry Tart

It's Random Recipe time again and after showcasing our cookbook collections, this month Dom from Belleau Kitchen has asked that we start at the very beginning ie select a book at random and open it to a random page.  Luckily I had a little tidy up for last month's challenge so all my books were in 1 place (well 3 if you count bookshelf, table and floor but that's not the point!) Anyway, I counted up my books (which is increasing every month!) and used a random number generator which gave me... 

 Hurrah! I actually picked this for a random recipe challenge previously but have not baked from it since so I was really pleased to have this book. 

I opened the book to a random page and this is what I got.... 

 page 48-49 - the recipe on the cover!!! Yay!! 

This is a lovely and simple recipe. I was slightly worried as I've never made my own pastry before (yes it's true!) but it was surprisingly easy and tasted delicious! I added more fruit that stated in the recipe which is probably why you can see more fruit than sponge dough but I personally prefer it that way. This tart was amazing!! I loved all the fresh fruit and the pastry was delicious. Definitely a keeper! 

Serendipity is one of my favourite words in the English language. I think I am using it correctly here in saying that serendipity has a part to play as I can enter this recipe into multiple blog challenges this month, the most ever for 1 recipe - yay! (If you are a regular reader, you will know how much I LOVE entering blogging challenges)

So as mentioned this is for Random Recipes which is hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen. I love this challenge as it encourages me to use my books more and it also challenges me at times, testing my limits (and patience), most notably when I picked the Macaron book but let's not mention the M word again ;) 

This month's Tea Time Treats which is hosted by Kate from What Kate Baked and co-hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage has the theme of picnic pies. Kate says that all tarts, pies and flans, sweet or savoury are welcome so I think this lovely tart will be perfect. 

As this is made with seasonal fruits I am also entering it to Simple and in Season hosted by Ren from Fabulicious Food.

Next up is Made with love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior. The idea is to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients which is exactly what this recipe is. I made the pastry and dough from scratch and used fresh fruits. 

As berries are summer fruits, it would also fit nicely with Calendar Cakes hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes and co-hosted by Laura from Laura Loves Cakes. The theme is British Summertime and this definitely feels like it! 

This month's One Ingredient challenge which is hosted by Nazima from Working London Mummy and co-hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food has the theme of peaches and nectarines. 

A new challenge I discovered this month which is perfect for this recipe as it's called Let's cook with fruits event hosted by simply food.  There's plenty of fruit here so I think it will fit in well.

Finally my own AlphaBakes challenge which I co-host with Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter is T which is perfect for tart. The deadline is 25th August so if you haven't entered this month then hurry up!

 Look at all that delicious fresh fruit! 

 First time making pastry! (sweet shortcrust pastry)

 Fill with sponge dough 

 top with fresh fruits 

 fresh from the oven 

 yum! 

Recipe is from Popina Book of Baking, page 48-49