Home made Hot Cross Buns : Easter Egg Hunt

One thing I love to make is my own hot cross buns, fresh, spicy and warm from the oven.  They beat the stodgy store brought ones every time.  I made mine this morning while my baby bears waited to go for an Easter Egg hunt.  They were finished just in time to pop over to their cousins house for an Easter Egg hunt before the rain came.  Then we sat down with warm buns and a cup of tea while the kids bounced of the walls.

This years recipe was a winner - it may just make it's way into my treasured recipe box, only the best recipes make it there.

 Hot Cross Buns
12 large buns or 18 small

375ml Warm Milk (I used powdered milk)
45g Sugar
9g Instant Yeast
60g Butter, melted
1 Large Egg
20ml Oil
640g High Grade Bread Flour
1 1/2t Salt
1 1/2t Cinnamon
1 Large Apple, peeled, cored and finely diced
100g Sultanas
60g Glace Mixed Peel

Extra flour to crosses

Apricot Jam (optional)

Whisk milk, sugar and yeast together and leave to activate for 10 minutes.  Whisk in melted butter, egg and oil.  Tip in flour, salt and cinnamon and mix till it starts to come together.  Tip onto beach and start kneading.  The dough will be quite sticky and wet - don't chunk in more flour (dry dough makes dry rolls), just start kneading and stretching with mucky hands - it will form a smooth dough, trust me.  Keep kneading for 10 minutes till it smooth and both you and the dough have had a good workout.  Knead in the apple, sultanas and peel till evenly distributed.  Put dough into an oiled bowl covered with cling film.  Leave in warm place for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size (as the weather gets colder I heat oven to 50 Celsius, turn the oven off then put dough in there to rise).  Punch down and form into 12 rolls (about 75g each - but you can weigh your dough to be sure).  Space evenly apart on small tray (mine is 30 x 25cm), cover in oiled cling film and leave to rise for another 40 minutes till doubled in size.  Mix a quarter cup of flour with a few tablespoons of water to make a paste, pipe over risen rolls to make crosses (I mixed mine in a sandwhich bag and cut the corner off to pipe onto rolls).  Bake in preheated oven at 180C (fan bake) for 20-25 minuets.  As soon as they're cooked melt a quarter cup of apricot jam and brush over hot rolls.

My boys and their cousins finding eggs in the garden

Dividing the loot

Jalapenos in a Jar

Last summer was my first attempt at growing chillis, it was quite successful - even with my 1 year old picking quite a few tiny little chillis and flowers before they could mature.  This is our favourite way to have them now, you can bung them in a soup, salad, chilli, sandwiches, anything you want to add a little heat to.

This recipe is super quick and easy, and after a week or so in the fridge (if they last that long) they're even better.

Jalapenos in a Jar

6-12 Jalapenos, washed and sliced to 4mm
White vinegar (about 1 1/2 Cups)
1/2t Rubbed Oregano
1-2 Cloves Garlic, sliced
1T Sugar
1 Jam Jar

Fill your kettle and bring it to the boil.  While you wait for it to boil measure 3/4 of a jar full of vinegar.  Put measured vinegar, oregano, garlic and sugar into a saucepan.  To sterilise the jar fill it and the lid with hot water from the jug while you complete the next step.  Bring vinegar mixture the boil, once boiled for a minute or so add the sliced jalapenos and boil for a minute longer.  Remove from heat.  Carefully pout hot water out of the jar and lid.  Scoop the jalapeno and garlic slices from the pan into the jar and top up with the hot vinegar mixture.  Close the jar and leave to cool before storing in the fridge.

Blood, Sweat and Chicken Poop

After a few more hours of hard work this weekend my new border is slowly starting to look like I could start planting in it.  After the initial stage of putting in some edging and letting the chickens have a scratch around and deposit some poop, I've spent this weekend digging up, hoeing and raking the clumpy, root bound soil to a fine crumble.  I'm looking forward to sowing poppies, white allysium and wild flower seeds at Anzac weekend.  Plus a few herbs and winter lettuces.

Before

During - Can't wait till After shot - full of flowers and herbs

I keep changing my mind on what types of flowers I want.  I love cottage garden pinks, whites, blues and purples but love the contrast of blues and yellows - so I've got another flower bed planned for the other side of my garden!  The garden pictured above will be pinks, whites and splashes of red that come with my wild flowers, to admire from the bench under our cherry tree.  The other bed will have vibrant contrasts of oranges, blues and yellows.
In time I'll find what flowers and foliage types I like and mix well.  But in the mean time I'm just going to keep planting, learning and discovering.

 I've also turned my compost pile to find a huge barrow load of the best compost I've ever made - perfect for the huge crop of broad beans I've got planned for winter.

I was excited to find my Grape Hyacinths have come up too - despite the beating that the chicken gave them over summer.  Well, back to the garden, I've got to finish up my raking, plants some carrots, beets and lettuces so we have something to eat in winter.

Curried Pumpkin Soup - with Soda Bread and Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

With Pappa Bear recovering from a nasty virus, and starting to gain an appetite, a big hot soup was in order.  In a little over half an hour we were slurping up sweet and spicy soup and crusty soda bread, perfect for a rainy Autumn afternoon.

Curried Pumpkin Soup

2T Oil
2T Curry Powder
2 Onions, diced
500-700g Pumpkin, 2cm cubes (I used 1/3 or a large Crown Pumpkin)
Salt and Pepper
1-2C Milk

1 Soda Bread - recipe here...

To serve - Spiced pumpkin seeds (see bottom of recipe)

Start off by putting the soda bread in the oven.
In a 4L pot heat oil over a med-low heat.  Add curry powder and onion and cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.  If the curry powder starts to catch just add a splash of water to the pan, no need for more oil.  Add pumpkin, dash of salt and pepper and add enough water to just cover, bring to a simmer.  Cover and continue to simmer for 20 minutes or so till pumpkin is tender.  Remove from heat and mash or whiz with wand blender till smooth.  The soup will be a thick puree at this stage so stir in enough milk to thin down to thick creamy soup.

Serve up with hot crusty soda bread, butter and spiced pumpkin seeds.

Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
For extra HEAT put a tablespoon of oil over medium heat, add a teaspoon of chilli flakes and sizzle for half a minute.  Add in handful pumpkin seeds and cook until they pop - serve seeds and oil on the side to sprinkle over hot soup.

Feijoa Jam - Easy Peasy!

After collecting roughly 8 kilos of Fiejoas in 2 days from our monster tree it was time to make jam.  Looking over a few recipes and trying to remember what I made last year, my sister-in-law and I just made it up as we went.  The result was golden, delicious jam - what else could come from fiejoas!  Next time I plan on adding ginger - a favourite combination of mine.

Fiejoas anyone?

Feijoa Jam
Makes 4 medium jars

1kg Feijoas, roughly peeled, ends removed and quartered
3/4C Water
2C White Sugar
1t Citric Acid (or juice of one lemon)

Gently simmer feijoas with water, mashing every now and then, till pulpy.  Stir in sugar and citric acid and boil for 5-10 minutes until at setting point (put a drop on a frozen saucer, sit for a minute and if the surface wrinkles when touched it's done).

Pack into sterilized jars.  Easy!

To sterilize jars put clean jars into at 120C oven for 20 minutes and boil the lids in water for 15.  My lids are getting a bit on the old and warped side so I used cellophane tops - you can get these from the supermarket for about $2.

If you double the recipe, don't quite double the water, start with another half measure and add more if you need to.

Golden and Delicious