More Easter Hot Bun Goodness

Batch No. 2, fresh out of the oven.

Did the sugar/water glaze, this time - works quite well.

The buns are very tasty - I used a recipe out of a 1973 cookbook from my mum's collection, except I put in about 5 times as much spice as they suggested (I like my hot cross buns to have flavour!)

As you can see from the photos, I still didn't use a big enough pan. So, next time, I'm going to (a) make the buns individually a bit smaller, and (b) use two pans, so they're not so squished together.

They also had an issue with splitting/cracking on one edge - seems there was a lot of oven spring in these buns. If I leave them to rise a bit more before cooking (which I can do if they're spread out a bit more in two pans), maybe they wont do that so much. Or maybe they'll just have more room to expand without being forced upwards.

Anyway, will give that a go in a week or so.

It's Easter time!

And you all know what that means!



Ok, so I should have used a bigger pan to cook them in... they do look a bit, um, squished together...

Doesn't change the taste, though!

Here they are with a glaze added - just some melted jam (used plum, because we had some in the fridge) brushed over the top.



Personally, I think I prefer a bit more spice in my hot cross buns. Maybe next batch I'll use 4 or 5 teaspoons of mixed spice, instead of only 3...

Oh, and the taste?

Absolutely freakin' delicious!

Had to resist the temptation to eat the whole lot in one go, still warm from the oven...

Another baking update

Here's my efforts for the Christmas bake-off at work the other day.

I wasn't too upset with the results, considering (a) I've never made cinnamon & fruit scrolls before, and (b) I didn't actually use a recipe...

Tip for younger players: while freshly-ground cinnamon has an absolutely amazing aroma, and tastes bloody fantastic too, it takes a metric crapload of time to grind cinnamon by hand in a mortar&pestle... get yourself a spice grinder (or a really clean coffee grinder set to "espresso" mode")

I confess, though - I did get some advice from an older brother. He spent a year or two working in a bakery before starting his apprenticeship, has been a chef now for about, oh, twenty years or so...

Just to make things perfectly clear...

It's strictly amateur night when it comes to me & cooking. I've had some moderate success with the breads, and I've cooked up some nice meals in the past.

But tonight, for example, is a good indicator of why I'm not planning on giving up the day job. Dinner was corned beef fritters. Good stuff! Just throw some flour, egg, & milk together with some diced corn beef, and bobs your uncle!

Except if helps if (a) you get the proportions right, and (b) you use self-raising flour instead of plain flour. :-D

Lets just say they weren't my best work. Still edible and tasty, just not as delicious as corned beef fritters normally are!

Ah, well. Maybe next time...

I wont inflict a photo on you. Yes, they looked that bad...