Tuesday 31 March 2015

Hot Cross Scones




So I was looking at my blog and lamenting the fact that I hadn’t written up any recent baking exploits. I then realised I hadn’t really experimented that much and had been baking things I’ve baked before. This isn’t a bad thing – it’s very comforting to know the outcome and not stress about things. I saw the Hot Cross Bun bread and, with Easter coming up, thought it might be nice to make Hot Cross Buns. Then I remembered that they take a while, what with the rising of the dough etc etc. What to do? 

Hot Cross Scones of course! They don’t need rising, there is no yeast, and scones are super quick to make. I had some peel left over from Christmas so away I went. They have been a success which I can safely say after devouring the one I took a picture of. Well it was already spread with butter. I went with butter as the ‘serve’ but I guess jam and cream would work. Try it.  

I use a small cutter when making scones as I find a large scone off putting. These are very light so you can eat four and feel ok about it, in a way you couldn’t if you attempted to eat two large ones. Not sure how that works but it does.

Ingredients
100g cold butter, cubed
450g plain flour
2 tbsp baking powder
2 heaped tsp mixed spice
4 tbsp caster sugar
100g sultanas
50g mixed peel
2 large eggs, beaten
100ml whole milk
4tbsp plain flour
  1. Preheat oven to 220°/GM7.
  2. Mix the flour, baking powder and mixed spice and rub in the butter. Use tip of fingers – you know you’re doing it right if the palms of your hands stay clean. (I’m sure you could bung it in a food processor). You want it to go breakcrumby.
  3. Add the sultanas, peel and sugar mixing in.
  4. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs (keeping a little back to glaze the tops). Add about half the milk and then mix together. Start with a palette knife and then get your hands in. Add more milk if the dough needs it. You’ll probably not need it all.
  5. When it’s all come together turn out on a floured surface and knead until smooth. This is an important part so make sure you do it for 2 or 3 minutes.
  6. Roll the dough out until it’s about 2.5cm thick. Cut out with a 5cm cutter, rerolling when you run out of space (you can use a larger one). You should get 20-28 scones from it.
  7. Place on a baking tray – non-stick is best – but if not grease the tray. Brush the tops with the remaining egg.
  8. Take the 4 tbsp of flour and mix with about 5-6 tbsp of cold water to make a batter. I had mine fairly runny but it can be a bit thick. You need it to make the cross on top so put in a piping bag or something with a nozzle (I found some great squeezy bottles in Tiger) and pipe crosses on top. I did them all at once when they were on the tray – see below picture for the mess I made.
  9. Cook for about 12-15 minutes (give it another couple if you think they need it). Make sure you eat one while hot just to live up to the name!

Monday 30 March 2015

Triple Chocolate Muffins



This is super easy a delivers a ridiculous chocolate kick. It’s a twist on a Hummingbird Bakery recipe but I added more chocolate and thought to hell with frosting. It’s Monday night and I have Hot Cross Scones to make – more about those in another post. So here we go. 

Ingredients
80g soft butter (I mean it – let that stuff get warmed up)
280g caster sugar
200g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
40g cocoa powder
240ml whole milk
2 large eggs
50g milk chocolate cut into chunks
50g white chocolate cut into chunks
  1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/GM 5.
  2. Put the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder in a bowl and mix until like fine sand. I was almost tempted to use a food processor but you need to mix the next bit and who wants that much washing up.
  3. Whisk the eggs into the milk and add ¾ of it to the flour mixture. Then mix until smooth. Add the last bit and do the same. Then fold in the chunks.
  4. Divide the mixture into 12 large muffin cases. Mine had high sides so if you have the regular sized ones maybe go for making 16 or stick with 12 and let the muffins fall over the top of the cases. That always looks generous when giving someone a muffin.
  5. Bake for 20- 25 minutes if making 12 – if more than  17-20.
Told you it was easy!