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This is a great recipe for a dough which can be kept in the freezer. Just slice off what you need and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden at 180 degC.

Ingredients

225g butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
3 1/2 cups of flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Sift in dry ingredients. Mix well.

Roll into sausages and wrap in glad wrap. Chill and slice.

Bake at 180 degC until golden about 10-15 minutes.

Dough will late in the fridge for 2 weeks, or freeze dough to make it last longer.

These are a great lunch box filler.  They are nearly fat free, freeze well and are really tasty.  I found them on the recipezaar website here.

Ingredients

Overnight Hot Cross Buns

An Easter treat to be sure are Hot Cross Buns.  I prefer them to Easter Eggs, hot, steamy, slathered in butter and much to the eternal horror of my wife, with a little bit of Vegemite.  Hot Cross Buns are not too sweet and I think the fruit lends itself to a savoury application, rather than her preferred Raspberry Jam.

Last night, after flicking through the Ladies, A Plate cookbook which is a tome that I have dismissed after three failures, the decision was made to make up a batch.  The recipe gave two options for rising the dough and we took the option of rising in the fridge overnight.  This give a wonderful texture and seems to eliminate the yeasty flavour that can happen with other homemade breads.

Ingredients

300ml milk
30g active yeast
510g flour
55g brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoon mixed spice
55g butter
2 eggs
115g currants
115g mixed peel

For the crosses

2 tablespoons self-raising flour
1-2 tablespoons cold water

For the glaze

3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons milk

Making the Dough

Warm the milk slightly and sprinkle the yeast over and leave to soften for about 5 minutes.

Put the flour in a bowl, add sugar, salt and spices and mix with a whisk to combine.  Rub in the butter with your fingers.  Then pour in the milk and eggs and mix with the paddle attachment on your mixer then the dough hook.  Or use a wooden spoon.  Lastly add the currants and mixed peel.  The dough will be very sticky.

Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and a lid and leave in a warm place for about 2 hours until puffy or doubled.  Or leave in the fridge overngith, take it out in the morningm knead it slightly and leave it to return to room temperature for about an hour before cominuing on the with the recipe.

Turn out the dough onto a floured board.  Flour the top, knead a little and divide into 24 pieces.  Form each piece into a smooth ball and arrange them in rowsin a shallow greased tray about 1cm apart.  Cover with a cloth and allow to rise for about 45 minutes.

Once the buns are shaped, pre-heat the over to 200°C.

Making the crosses

Make a soft batter from the self-raising flour and cold water. Cut crosses in the tops of the buns and pipe the batter into them.  Bake for about 25 minutes, rotating the tin after 15 minutes.

Glazing

To glaze the buns and make them nice and sticky: when they are almost done, heat together the sugar and milk, stirring to form a syrupy glaze.  Remove the buns when they are browned and brush the tops with the syrup, twice.

This make 24 buns.

Any sort of marmalade can be used to make these muffins. Here I have used the Lemon Marmalade I made on the weekend from all Janets lovely lemons she gave me.

Ingredients

2 cups of flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
/14 cup sugar
1/2 cup of marmalade
2 eggs
1 cup milk
50 grams butter, melted

Method

Preheat oven to 200 deg C.

Sift together flour and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in the sugar. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

Beat together the marmalade, eggs and milk until well combined. Pour into the dry ingredients along with the melted butter. Stir to moisten but do not overmix which will cause toughness.

Three-quarter fill greased deep muffin tins or jumbo tins. Bake for 20 mins or 15 if using a normal sized muffin pan.

Ingredients
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoon cake flour, divided
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
120 grams semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup candied citron
1/4 cup candied orange peel
1/4 cup dried figs, finely diced
1/4 cup dried apricot
1/2 cup almonds, toasted
1/2 cup hazelnuts, roasted and skins removed

Method
Preheat oven to 180 C.

Toast the nuts and set aside.

In a  small bowl combine 1/2 cup cake flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, coriander, cloves, salt and nutmeg.  Set aside.

In another small bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of cake flour and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.  Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine honey and sugar.  Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, until mixture comes to a full boil.  Remove from the heat.  Stir in the chocolate and allow to melt.  Stir together.  Stir in candied fruit an almonds or hazelnuts.  Sift in flour mixture: stir until well blended.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  Smooth the top with a slightly wet palm of your hand.

Sift reserve cinnamon flour mixture over the top.

Place cake in center of middle oven rack.   Bake 30 minutes or until panforte just starts to simmer around the edge of the pan.  Remove from the oven to cool completely on a wire rack.

Loosen pan by running a small knife around perimeter.  Invert on to wire rack, letting excess cinnamon flour fall away.  Use knife to peel away parchment paper.  Invert panforte again and transfer onto a wire rack.  Dust the top with icing sugar.

When cool, it can be wrapped in several layers of plastic wrap for a couple of weeks, or frozen for up to six months.  Serve at room temperature.  Before serving, dust slightly with additional icing sugar.  Cut into small wedges to serve.

Last month the Daring Bakers Challenge was on Pizzas and I had a terrible month.  I did some experimentation with toppings on a bought base but could not quite get them to gel.  With work and family commitments, the month came and went and I still had not produced anything decent.

So along comes this months challenge and a perfect opportunity to make this cake for a birthday.  I now understand where the Daring Bakers Challenge moniker comes from.  This cake was certainly a challenge so here are a couple of tips that I learnt on my first try.

1. The caramel syrup is what we in New Zealand would call a toffee syrup.  Caramel here has cream and or butter added to the toffee.

2.  Toffee syrup means that you need to add at least all the water to the toffee and get it too dissolve again.  I did not understand this point – being stuck in the whole caramel definition- so I thinned it with cream and made a caramel.  This did make for a very wet mix.

3. The instructions also say to place on a cookie sheet and place in the oven, however I think this really slowed down the cooking process on the bottom and the cake did not cook properly.  It also took about an extra half hour which I think was due solely to the sheet pan being in the way.

4. The mix itself is lovely and I believe that I will try again but pair it with orange zest, caradmon, nutmeg, chilli, apple.  In fact a spicy apple filling with cinnamon and possibly nutmeg would work really well.

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C.

Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder.

Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1 cup water (for “stopping” the caramelization process)

In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted

4-6 tablespoons heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup

Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner’s sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner’s sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.

To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light

(recipes above courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon)

(Optional) GOLDEN VANILLA BEAN CARAMELS

- makes eighty-one 1-inch caramels -

Ingredients

1 cup golden syrup

2 cups sugar

3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons pure ground vanilla beans, purchased or ground in a coffee or spice grinders, or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened

Equipment

A 9-inch square baking pan

Candy thermometer

Procedure

Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil. Combine the golden syrup, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. (Meanwhile, rinse the spatula or spoon before using it again later.) Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered (without stirring) until the mixture reaches 305°F. Meanwhile, combine the cream and ground vanilla beans (not the extract) in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot.

When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F, turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream; it will bubble up and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F. Then cook, stirring constantly, to 260°f for soft, chewy caramels or 265°F; for firmer chewy caramels.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, if using it. Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight until firm.

Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner. Cut the caramels with an oiled knife.  Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane.

Variations

Fleur de Sel Caramels: Extra salt, in the form of fleur de sel or another coarse flaked salt, brings out the flavor of the caramel and offers a little ying to the yang. Add an extra scant 1/4 teaspoon of coarse sea salt to the recipe. Or, to keep the salt crunchy, let the caramel cool and firm. Then sprinkle with two pinches of flaky salt and press it in. Invert, remove the pan liner, sprinkle with more salt. Then cut and wrap the caramels in wax paper or cellophane.

Nutmeg and Vanilla Bean Caramels: Add 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg to the cream before you heat it.

Cardamom Caramels: Omit the vanilla. Add 1/2 teaspoon slightly crushed cardamom seeds (from about 15 cardamom pods) to the cream before heating it. Strain the cream when you add it to the caramel; discard the seeds.

Caramel Sauce: Stop cooking any caramel recipe or variation when it reaches 225°F or, for a sauce that thickens like hot fudge over ice cream, 228°F. Pour it into a sauceboat to serve or into a heatproof jar for storage. The sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for ages and reheated gently in the microwave or a saucepan just until hot and flowing before use. You can stir in rum or brandy to taste. If the sauce is too thick or stiff to serve over ice cream, it can always be thinned with a little water or cream. Or, if you like a sauce that thickens more over ice cream, simmer it for a few minutes longer.

Additional Information

Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon (http://eggbeater.typepad.com/), as published on Bay Area Bites (http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/).

Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich, Artisan Press, Copyright 2007, ISBN: 978-1579652111

I was watching the Market Kitchen and Chef Paul Merritt made an amazing dessert.  Tart Tartin is basically a caramel lining on the bottom of a dish, topped with quartered apples (or pears or apricots or peaches) then pastry and baked in the oven.

Following is the easiest recipe to prepare I think I have ever come across.

Ingredients

50 grams or so of butter
caster sugar to cover
3 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Trim the pastry to fit inside the frypan by turning it over.  Allow to soften slightly on the bench while assembling the dish.

Slice the butter into thin slices and lay on the bottom of a cold frypan.  Cover with the castor sugar then the apples.  Place the pastry sheet on top.

Place over a medium heat on the stove for about 12-15 minutes or until the juice that bubbles up around the edge of teh pastry has started to form a caramel.

Place in the oven for 12 minutes.

Invert on a plate and serve cut into wedges.

Small, delicate looking but with a firm structure, Blinis are perfect for finger food.  The blini is like a cross between the lightness of a piklet and the firmness of a waffle.  It is a bland sort of a construction that does not get in the way of the flavours of the topping such as Salmon, Caviar and Cream Cheese or Smoked Fish Dip and Chives.

They are best fresh but you can make them up to a day in advance and keep them in an airight box in the fridge, but top at the last minute to stop them going soggy.

Ingredients

75 grams plain floour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
full fat milk
30 grams of butter for frying

Method

 In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs and drizzle in enough of the milk to make a thick batter.  It must be able to slid but not pour of a teaspoon.

Melt the butter over a low heat in the frying pan and drop the batter in a teaspoon full at a time.  After about 4 minutes, bubbles will begin to form on the top of the blini so turn them over.

When cooked, remov to a wire rack to cool.

These are best done in a non-stick pan.  Wipe it clean with a paper towel after every batch so that the butter does not burn and taint the mix.

That sums up this brownie.  Oh My God!  Capitals, exclamation marks, absolutely justified.

I challenge you to make this.

Ingredients

250 grams butter, melted
400 grams dark chocolate
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups plain flour
250 gram block of Caramello Cocolate, chopped
extra 200 grams dark chocolate, chopped
cocoa powder to dust

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C.  Grease a 19 x 30cm laminton pan.  Line base and sides with baking paper, extending about 2cm above the pan edges.  Place butter and chocolate in a large saucepan.  Stir over a low heat until the chocolate has melted.  Remove from the heat and stir in the sugars.  Cool at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Gradually beat in eggs usiing a wooden spoon or spatula.  Stir in the flour until well combined and then the Caramello and extra chocolate.  Spoon the mixture into a prepared pan, smooth the top over.  Cook for 30 minutes and then remove from the oven (the top should feel a little soft to the touch and the inside should still be moist)

Serve warm cut into squares or at room temperature.  Dust with cocoa powder.

Alternatively, crumble 1/4 of the brownie into softened vanilla icecream and stir to combine.    Freeze overnight.

If you are a kiwi, a true blue New Zealander, then a brown bear shouting “dum-dee-do” has to be indelibly etched on your childhood memories.  The Dum-dee-do bear is the mascot of the Griffins Biscuit brand and one of the childhood favourites of mine were the Shrewsbury Biscuits.  The all important hole in the middle of the upper biscuit was just large enough to admit a small finger to try and scoop out the jam.

These days the thought of buying biscuits laden with all sorts of chemicals is somewhat repugnant but these home made gems are just the best thing with a cup of tea.  This recipe is reprinted from the every reliable Edmonds cookbook 1976 edition.

Ingredients

125 grams flour
125 grams sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
225 grams flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Raspberry jam

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Cream butter and sugar, add the egg and lemon rind and beat well. Add the flour, sifted, and the baking powder.  Knead the dough, roll it out flat and cut into rounds, making a small home in the centre of every alternate biscuit.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.  When cold, put together with Raspberry jam as the glue.

Dunk in a mug of tea.