Iced Buns

I was thinking of the lovely Easter Breads my Aunt Thelma used to bake and send over to us when I was a girl.  They were so sweet and light . . .  slathered in icing with candied cherries on top.   They were just gorgeous.   I remembered these beautiful Iced Buns in the cookery book I was recently sent,  Tea & Cake by Lisa Faulkner.  They have been on my list of things to bake and so today I did just that and they turned out just lovely!



They were super easy to make too.   I often look at the iced buns in the shops and think they look really tasty.  I never buy them though because more often than not they are very disappointing.   I am not a yeast baker at heart.  I never quite get it right.

PINTEREST FAIL ALERT!



I saw these bunny buns on Pinterest a week or so ago.     They didn't look too bad sitting on the tray prior to rising and baking  . . .



Once baked however, any resemblence to a cute little bunny was gone.  Blah.  The ears were hard and dry, but the body parts were okay.



These buns worked perfectly!  Just look at how light and fluffy they are.   You would expect no less from a recipe by Paul Hollywood, who is a master bread baker here in the UK.  I love watching him in the Great British Bake Off, don't you?



These were everything you would expect an Iced Bun to be.  Light.  Fluffy.   Soft inside.  Just the right amount of sweet icing . . .  and that cute little cherry on top, it's just so adorable.  They remind me so much of my Aunt Thelma's Easter Breads.



You will really have to bake a batch of these for yourself and see just what I am talking about.  I know the recipe makes quite a few, but  . . . that really isn't a problem.  I took six of them over to our elderly friend Doreen.   Each Todd and myself  have had one and a half, and our landlord who dropped by to fix the door had one.  (He ooohed and aaaahed over it.)  And  . . .  a few hours later there are only seven left.  I dare say they will be gone by the end of tomorrow. Even un-iced the buns are gorgeous.

*Iced Buns*

makes about 16

Printable Recipe 

Soft and yeasty and delicious.  Topped with a glace icing and half a cherry.  Based on a recipe by Paul Hollywood, so you know it's good. 

40g of butter (3 TBS)

50g caster sugar (4 TBS)

150ml of milk (5 fluid ounces)

140ml of water (4.5 fluid ounces)

2 7g (1/4 ounce) packages of fast action dried yeast

500g strong white flour (3 1/2 cups plus 2 TBS bread flour)

2 tsp salt

2 medium free range eggs 

For the glaze and decoration:

200g sifted icing sugar (1 cup confectioners)

water (about 2 1/2 TBS)

7 glace cherries, halved 

 

Heat the butter, sugar, milk and water in a saucepan just to blood temperature. (38*C/100*F)  Whisk iin the yeast.   

Measure the flour and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.   Add the milk mixture and the eggs.  Mix for about 4 minutes on low speed.  Increase the speed and mix for a further 6 minutes.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a bit more.   Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover lightly with a clean tea towel and then place in a warm place for one hour to rise. 

 

Butter a large baking tray. 

Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces.  Shape into round buns.  Place onto the buttered baking sheet, leaving space between them as they will double in size.  Return to a warm place, lightly covered, and let rise for about 45 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/gas mark 7. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 7 minutess, then allow to cool completely.  They should be light and fluffy and not too dark. 

Once the buns are completely cooled, mix the icing sugar and water together to get a thick and sticky icing.   Dip the tops of the cooled buns into the icing and then place half a cherry on top. 

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Brown Batter Bread

 


When I was growing up in Canada, weekends  would often bring Baked Bean Suppers. These would be held at Church Halls, Volunteer Fire Dept Halls and Community Centers all through the beautiful Annapolis Valley where I lived. There were not too many people who could resist the temptation of a Baked Bean Supper, cooked by all the best cooks in the community.






These were fabulous social occasions and wonderful fund raisers.  People got to enjoy a really tasty and filling meal, catch up on all of the local gossip and help to raise funds for local needs all at the same time.  They have always been win/win/win situations!



Ther would always be plenty of delicious food on offer.  Oven Baked Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, Home Baked Beans, pickles and relishes, home baked brown bread, usually an apple pie or crisp for dessert and plenty of tea and coffee to go around.  Brown Bread and Beans . . .  a marriage made in heaven.

 

Brown Bread is one of those fabulous breads that goes wonderfully with the soups, stews and bakes of colder weather.  It's delicious and wholesome . . . and lightly sweetened with molasses and sugar . . . the molasses helping to give  it that characteristic golden color and beautiful flavor.



I've never been really good at baking yeast breads myself . . . I don't think I have the kneading power to make it really light and fluffy.  My ex husband used to bake all our bread and our kitchen table would dance across the kitchen floor under his ministrations . . . and his bread was lovely.

I can make batter bread though, which is a lot easier and takes no needing.  This recipe for Brown Bread is a Batter Bread.  You simply mix all the ingredients in a bowl, let it rise, stir it down, pop it into two bread pans, let it rise again and then bake it.

Your reward??  A delicious, nicely textured, wholesome bread that your family will love.  And it is perfect with Baked Beans of any kind . . . stews and soups too.



 *Brown Batter Bread*
Makes 2 loaves
Printable Recipe


A beautiful golden colored bread with a delicious, slightly sweet flavor, and fine crumb.  Perfect with soups, stews or baked beans!

2 tsp granulated sugar
125ml of warm water (1/2 cup)
8g of active dry yeast (1/4 oz packet)
300ml of milk (1 1/4 cups)
60ml of molasses (1/4 cup)
50g of granulated sugar (1/4 cup)
115g of butter (1/2 cup)
2 tsp salt
2 large free range eggs, at room temperature
325g of whole wheat flour (2 1/2 cups)
300g of plain flour (3 cups)
2 tsp softened butter to brush on top of baked bread

Stir the first amount of sugar into the warm water in a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over top, and let stand for 10 minutes.  Stir to dissolve the yeast.

Scald the milk in a saucepan.  Remove from the stove and stir in the molasses, sugar, butter and salt.  Allow the butter to melt, then cool the mixture down to lukewarm. (To scald milk place it in a saucepan and heat just until bubbles appear at the edges.)  Stir in the yeast mixture.  Pour into a large bowl and then beat in the eggs.  Gradually beat in both flours.  Cover with a greased piece of cling film and a clean tea towel.  Let stand in a warm place for about 1 1/4 hours until doubled in size.  Stir the batter down and then divide the batter between 2 well greased loaf tins.  cover with the greased cling film and the tea towel again and let rise for 1 hour longer, until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/gas mark 5.  Bake the loaves for 30 to 35 minutes, or until they sound hollow on the bottom when turned out of the pan.  Turn out onto racks to cool, brushing the warm tops with the second amount of butter.  Once cold, store tightly covered.


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Blueberry Cake with a Brown Sugar Sauce

Do you know how much I love blueberries?   If you've been reading my blog for any time at all now, you will know it is an awful lot.   We have our own bushes in the garden . . .  a good half dozen now, and they are great producers . . .  but of course they aren't producing this time of year.  I do have quite a few frozen however, which is never a bad thing!  ☺


 

I used some of them today to make an old favourite of mine . . . blueberry cake with a brown sugar sauce.  It's a very old recipe and very old fashioned.   I love these types of recipes.  There is nothing fancy or artificial here.  This is the same type of recipe that your grandmother would have cooked for the family.

This dessert is composed of a fabulously moist white cake . . . stogged full of lovely sweet blueberries . . . served warm and topped with a wonderfully simple brown sugar sauce.    

Desserts don't have to be complicated to taste good. They just have to taste good.   This is simple. It's just cake and sauce.  

But what a cake . . . and what a sauce!  A picture speaks a thousand words they say . . . so what are these photos saying to you??? 

Well, what are you waiting for . . . grab some blueberries and get baking! 


 

*Blueberry Cake with a Brown Sugar Sauce*

Makes one 9-inch square cake

Printable Recipe  

Best served warm with the delicious sauce spooned over top.   Deliciously different.

For the cake:

55g white vegetable shortening (1/4 cup)

145g granulated sugar (3/4 cup)

1 large free range egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

280g plain flour (2 cups)

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

225ml of milk (1 cup)

1 cup of blueberries

For the sauce:

200g soft light brown sugar (1 cup packed)

1 1/2 TBS flour

pinch salt

225ml boiling water (1 cup)

1 TBS butter

1/2 tsp vanilla  

  

Preheat the oven to 165*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.  Butter a nine inch square baking pan.  Dust lightly with flour, shaking out any excess.  Set aside.

Cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.   Beat in the egg and vanilla.   Whisk together the dry ingredients.   Add alternately to the creamed mixture with the milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.  Mix until smooth.  Stir in the blueberries.  Pour into the prepared baking pan.   Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

While the cake is baking make the sauce.

Whisk the sugar, flour and salt together in a saucepan.  Add the boiling water, whisking constantly.  Continue to whisk, cooking over low hear until thickened nicely.   Whisk in the butter and vanilla.   Serve warm and spooned over squares of the warm blueberry cake

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Coconut Caramel Slices

Do you love coconut as much as I do?   Buttery coconut cakes?   Macaroons?   Do you love Caramel?  As much as I do?  If you do then this is YOUR bake.  You really must bake these delicious squares.




Picture this . . .  a buttery, short textured. . .  coconut filled base . . . baked for a while until just beginning to get golden brown . . .



Topped with rich, sweet and toffee flavoured Dulce de Leche.  Oh . . .  Dulce de Leche is one of my weaknesses.  I could eat it with a spoon and forget all about the cake . . .

 

Topped with a macaroon like shredded coconut and oat topping  . . .  and then baked again  . . .  until all of that caramel goodness melds together with that buttery coconut base and that lovely oaty/coconutty topping gets all golden and scrumptiously addictive looking . . .



The hardest part is waiting until they are cool enough to cut into slices and remove from the pan.  (DO butter it VERY well, or the sides will stick and you don't want to lose any of that scrumminess.)

SOOO Good.   Trust me on this.  It's impossible to eat just one.  Impossible.

*Coconut Caramel Slices*

Makes 20

Printable Recipe 

 A delicious coconut cake base topped with dulce de leche and a coconut/oat topping.  Scrumptious! 

For the base:

150g of self raising flour, sifted (1 cup plus 1 TBS)

40g of dessicated coconut (1/2 cup)

90g of soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)

140g of butter, melted (10 TBS) 

To top:

1 (380g) tin of Dulce de Lech caramel, softened (1 generous cup)

80g of butter, melted (5 1/2 TBS)

75g of shredded coconut (1 cup)

90g of rolled oats (1 cup)

115g of golden syrup (1/3 cup)  

 

Preheat the oven to 1890*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Line a 9 inch square pan with some baking paper.  Set aside.

Sift the flour into a bowl.   Whisk together with the coconut and brown sugar.   Stir in the melted butter until thoroughly combined.  Press this mixture into the prepared baking tin.  Bake in the heated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.  Allow to cool for ten minutes. 

Mix the shredded coconut, oats, golden syrup and melted butter for the topping together well.

Spread the tin of Dulce de Lech over top of the baked base.   Sprinkle the coconut/oat topping over all.  Bake for a further 20 to 25 minutes or until golden.   Cool completely before cutting into squares to serve.



My Dulce De Leche of choice comes from Merchant Gourmet. (I love LOVE all of their products.)  It's rich and smooth without being overly sweet.  I could just sit and eat it with a spoon.  I really could. And best of all it's free from artificial colourings, flavourings and preservatives.  This is the best.  Truly.

And so are these squares.  Buy some Dulce De Leche and bake them today.

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Rhubarb Clafoutis

Well, folks, what with having an early spring and such a lovely March, quite a bit of the rhubarb in our garden is ready to begin harvesting now. Not bundles and bundles of it, but enough for me to indulge in a few rhubarb treats.








I love rhubarb season. I love rhubarb!! When I was a child, during rhubarb season, my mother used to give us each a stick of rhubarb and a small bowl of sugar. We would sit there sticking the end of the rhubarb into the sugar and biting it off on the sugared end. Oh boy. Was that ever mouth puckering good! You got the super sour tang of the rhubarb and a blast of sweet from the sugar. It was like a natural, "chemical free" pixie stick!



The other week I made a rhubarb pie and it was sooooo good. This weekend I decided to make a Rhubarb Clafoutis. Traditionally made with cherries, this is a French Dessert. It's like a batter pudding made with eggs, ground almonds, a bit of flour, sugar, fruit and cream. Technically a clafoutis made with fruit other than cherries it called a Flaugnarde, but why split hairs . . . this is a clafoutis.



Rich and sweet . . . with tender pieces of honey roasted rhubarb and lovely flecks of vanilla seeds througout, this is a fantastically scrummy dessert.



Of course Todd had to have his with some cream drizzled over top, and why not . . .


A little bit of an indulgence once in a while is a good thing. (So is the smell of your fingers after playing with the vanilla seeds. There's no calories in smell right??? Ok . . . so I did have an eensy peensy taste.)




*Rhubarb Clafoutis*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Tender Spring Rhubarb is showcased in a very tasty dessert. The pinker rhubarb looks very nice done this way.

400g rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 2 inch lengths (3/4 ld)
1 vanilla pod
25g of butter (scant 2 TBS)
1 TBS runny honey (Acacia is nice)
50g of ground almonds (generous 1/2 cup)
2 TBS plain flour (all purpose)
100g caster sugar (1/2 cup fine white sugar)
2 medium free range eggs
2 medium free range egg yolks
250ml of double cream (a generous cup of heavy cream, a scant 9 fluid ounces)
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Arrange the rhubarb in a single layer in a shallow 1 litre baking dish. Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds with the back of a knife. Dot the seeds over the rhubarb pieces. Dot with the butter as well and then drizzle the honey over top. Bake for 15 minutes in the heated oven, until tender.

Beat together the almonds, flour, sugar, eggs, egg yolks and cream, until you have a smooth mixture. Remove the roasted rhubarb from the oven. Pour the egg mixture over top. Bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes until puffed and golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately. Delicious!

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Glazed Gammon and Farmer's Choice

Farmer’s Choice are an online butchers, green grocers and deli that deliver completely free range, British meats and produce to homes across the UK.  As a guest author on their page today I am offering up a delicious recipe just in time for Easter. 

 

Glazed Gammon is a simple recipe which results in a delicious roast for your Easter Dinner that you can serve either hot or warm.   Besides being delicious on the day, it also affords you some pretty tasty lefotvers that you can enjoy in sandwiches, casseroles, fried along with some eggs, eggs.  Not only is it delicious but it's really simple to make and of course you can purchase almost all of your ingredients from the people at Farmer's Choice.   

 You will find this and many other recipes on the Farmer's Choice site.   All the convenience of online grocery shopping with the added pleasure of supporting your local farmers.  Quality ingredients at a good price, British sourced and home grown.  You can't get much better than that!

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Pot Roasted Pork Loin with Leeks

If you are looking for something a little bit special for the weekend, or maybe even for Easter (albeit not a traditional Easter Roast) look no further.  This Pot Roasted Pork Loin will fit the bill perfectly.   Simple enough that just about anyone will be able to easily throw it together, and yet at the same time special enough that people will think you put a whole lot of effort into it.  Nobody would guess that you hadn't spent all day in kitchen!



Pork is quite an economical meat these days and the loin is a cut which is quite low in fat and delicious.   You do have to take care not to let it dry out . . .  because it is such a lean meat, however,  I have found that pot roasting it helps to keep it sweet and succulent.



What makes this even tastier is the sauce which results from it being braised in a mix of softened leeks, water and white wine, although you could just use chicken stock if you wanted to.  Leeks are softened in a mix of water with just a touch of butter first.

 


The pork is rubbed in a mix of herbs and seasonings and then browned all over . . . after which you nestle it down into those softened leeks with a bit of white wine and slowly braise it over low heat . . . until the pork is tender and cooked through  . . .  and those pan juices have melded into a rich sauce.

 

If the juices are too thin, you can simply reduce them down . . . they are so delicious spooned over those tender slices of meat.   On the side I like to serve some simple mashed potatoes, or even boiled new potatoes  . . .  and a vegetable . . .  in this case a mix of peas, beans and broccoli.   Pork isn't something we eat very often . . .  we tend to stick more to chicken or fish, but when we do have it I want it to be special, and this is very special indeed.  Delicious!

*Pot Roasted Pork Loin with Leeks*

Serves 6

Printable Recipe 

This simple and easy pot roasted Pork Loin is delicious.  Tender pork with a lucious leek sauce.   I like to serve this with some boiled new potatoes and a vegetable. 

4 large fresh leeks, trimmed and cleaned

120ml of water (1/2 cup)

2 TBS butter, divided

salt and black pepper to taste

dried thyme, parsley and garlic powder to taste

1 (2 pound) boneless pork loin roast

120ml of dry white wine (1/2 cup) 

 

Slice the leeks into 1/2 inch slices.  Heat the 1 TBS of the butter in a deep stove top casserole/dutch oven.  (I use my Le Creuset casserole dish)  Add the water and the leeks, along with some seasoning.  Cook over medium heat until the leeks are well wilted.  Pour this mixture into a bowl and set aside.

Mix together about 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/2 tsp dried parsley, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper.  Rub this all over the pork.  


Heat the remaining TBS of butter in the pan.  Once it begins to sizzle add the roast.  Brown well on all sides.  Add the wine to the casserole and stir scraping up any brown bits.  Return the leeks and nestle the roast in amongst the mixture.  Cover tightly and cook on low for about 2 hours, or until the pork is cooked through and tender.  Remove the pork from the pan and set aside.   Bring the pan juices to the boil and reduce until you have a lovely thick sauce.   

  

Serve the pork cut into slices, along with some of the pan sauce spooned over top.   Delicious.

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