I never thought of making any Hot Cross Buns this year for Easter.

I mean, we don’t even celebrate Easter!

Talk about the power of food bloggers and Twitter… i got lured and seduced into it somehow. But that was also because i happened to free and at home since 2pm… otherwise, you know.. buns in time just before dinner?

No way!

If you know how to make bread, this buns ain’t a problem.

It’s chicken feet even! :P

The teeeeeny weeeeeeny ma fan part gotta be the piping… y’know, when everything’s done and you just wanna put your legs up finally, then you realized you need to get your butt butt up and mix the flour + water to do the whitish-yellowish cross…

Having fun with yeast is pretty thrilling…

First is when you see your yeast’s mixture bubbling after 5 minutes… it simply means, your yeast is not spoilt! *yay*

Then it’s onto proofing no. 1… just like the picture below left (above), initial dough doubling or sometimes, tripling! What a sight to behold…. Grin.

I’ll usually let out a small shriek without fail whenever i see this happens.

But.

I’ll let out a louder shriek without fail whenever i don’t see this happens!

Oh, proofing no.2 gets me excited too. It never fails to fill one’s life with happy air around him/her whenever one sees the gaps in between fills up nicely. Well, i don’t know about you but for a simpleton like me, a smile is always there… :)

However, the same cannot be said when i see my jeans is being filled up nicely the next day after all the carbs-loading though! >.<

The best part about bread making?

When the bread is being baked in the oven!

The aroma…..

AaaaaaaaaaaaaAaaaaaaahHHhhhh……~~

Indescribable. Period.

“Hot Cross Buns!

Hot Cross Buns!

Hot and yummy,

Hot Cross Buns!”

Verdict : the song above says it all! ;)

I totally dig the sweet glaze and the delicious raisins!Next time, i’ll up the quantity of the raisins for sure. And of course, as you would probably notice already.. what a runny flour mixture i have! Sniffs… Hence, my not-so-good-looking-buns-with-ugly-cross! Not to mention, i divided the dough using “agaration” method which resulted one bun bigger than the other. AIYO! :P

Hot Cross Buns

From Donna Hay’s Modern Classic 2

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

½ cup caster sugar

1 ½ cups (375ml) lukewarm milk

4 ¼ cups plain flour, sifted

2  teaspoons mixed spice (i used 1/2 tsp mixed spice + 1/2 tsp nutmeg)

2  teaspoons ground cinnamon (upped to 3 tsp)

¼ cup mixed candied peel, finely chopped (skipped!)

50g butter, melted

1 egg

1 1/2 cups mixed sultanas (i only used 3/4, will use 1 cup next time!)

Crosses

1/2 cup plain flour

1/3 cup water (i’d prob use just 1/4 cup next time)

Glaze : i used jam, strawberry jam.. because it’s the only jam i could find in the fridge ;)

Method

1. Place the yeast, two teaspoons of the sugar and milk in a jug or bowl and set aside for 5 minutes. The mixture will start to foam, indicating the yeast is active.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, spices, sultanas, mixed peel and remaining sugar. Add the butter, egg and milky yeast mixture. Mix using a butter knife until a sticky dough forms.
3. Knead the dough on a well floured surface for 8 minutes or until elastic. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and allow to stand in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll into balls.
4. Grease a 23cm (9 inch) square cake tin and line with non-stick baking paper. Place the dough balls in the tin, cover with a tea towel and set aside for 30 minutes or until they rise.
5. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). For the crosses, combine the flour and water and using a piping bag, pipe crosses on the buns. Bake for 35 minutes or until well browned and springy to touch.
6. Brush the glaze over the buns while they are hot.

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Hope you had a fantabulous Easter! :D

With so many egg whites left from pineapple tarts making, the most appropriate bakes to use them all up during this festive season would be the Gold Bar, or better known as Financiers. At least, that was what i thought! :P

Of course, the fact that i bought the mold few months ago and have not had the chance to use it yet was another reason too!

No cracks!! The way it is supposed to be :)

When i first read the instructions in the recipe, i thought i read it wrongly. Then i re-read and realized i wasn’t wrong at all. The egg whites require no whisking to stiff peaks! When i first baked these babies years ago, the recipe from Carole Bloom instructed me specifically to whisk my whites to stiff peaks! And Keiko Ishida doesn’t.

How odd!

For the fun of it, i experimented the same recipe, 2 ways.

Matcha ones with stiff peaks whites and the rum ones with slight beating whites.

My verdict?

I like the rum ones!

BUT.

The thing is, i filled the batter 50% full for my matcha ones and when i realized later that they didn’t rise that much, i filled the rum ones to almost brim touching!

So, i can’t really judge, can i? ^.^

Most importantly, both tasted just as good… despite the difference, aesthetically.

p.s : amount of sugar has been adjusted according to my personal preference. :)

Recipe (adapted from Keiko Ishida’s Okashi)

Pastry flour        50g [i used plain flour]
Corn flour          5g
Baking powder  1/2 tsp
Egg White          130g
Castor Sugar      130g 80-90g
Ground almonds 50g
Salt                    pinch
Unsalted butter  130g
Green tea powder 10g

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 220C.
2. Sift flour,corn flour, baking powder and green tea powder together.
3. In a mixing bowl, lightly beat egg white with sugar and salt. Add ground almond, and flour mixture in stages.
4. In a heavy saucepan, heat butter until brown and fragrant. Once browned, transfer butter to a different bowl and cool down immediately using ice water.
5. Add browned butter gradually to flour batter and mix well to incorporate butter into flour batter.
6. Pour batter into molds and bake at 220C (i turned it down to 150C instead) for 15mins.

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As of the many years before this, CNY photo with the boys on the Day 1!

So why in the world were we squatting down instead of standing?

Well, heeee.. because the wind was too strong!!!

I couldn’t get the hair out of the way for a decent photo! :pPpppP

As usual, pineapple tart is a must during CNY.

Otherwise, i won’t be able to get into the festive mood. Grin.

Pineapple jam is made from scratch, right from picking the ideal fruit to shaping it into small balls. It’s quite fun y’know.. despite what others might say. Yes, it’s all about hard work but at the end of the day, knowing and seeing how much your friends and family love the jam, it’s all worth it. Best of all, i have full control over the amount of sugar added into it!

Oh, strangely.. i didn’t have the need to add any sugar in the jam at all this year. Amazing huh?

It really got me scratching my head. Hahaaa.. because i got 3 very GREEN pineapples and just 1 very ripe pineapple. It shouldn’t be that sweet… it should be more sourish than sweet!

Oh well, it’s all good i guess. Sugar saved and the taste is well balanced off! :D

Kitchen disaster.. something a lot of bakers cannot avoid… and i’m not excluded!

My 5 minutes helper -_-

Tarties waiting to be crowned

And finally….

Pineapple tarts done!

My open face pineapple tarts…

It’s quite hard to please everyone when it comes to pineapple tarts.

In my very small circle alone, there are already so many requests…

I like mine more brown please.

Should add more milk powder.

A little crispier is good.

Oh, next time give me less pineapple ok?

Can i just have the tarts without the jam next time? Heeeeeeeee!

Jam too little lahhhh…

LOL.

Of course, there are some who love it just the way it is too :)

I’m thinking… if, i’m making next year.. i’ll try out another recipe. For the tart that is. I might not wanna do open face ones again. Something new for a change yeah?

Apart from pineapple tarts, i wanted to bake many other cookies as well. Alas, time is not what i could afford these days. So instead of some tedious cookies baking, i opted for something extremely easy for my second cookie.

Of course… being easy to make is not the only reason ……

It is also ..

Because i have cornflakes.

Because mil likes it.

And because it is sold for a daylight robbery price at $18.80 a tub at Takashimaya! :P

新年快樂!

Just pictures with short notes!

Otherwise, i will never be able to post this up.. these days’ schedule is really kinda tight :(

Cookies done on the final week before CNY:

(psstt : kinda like baking gallery ah coz i like weird styling. definitely not your usual yummy food styling. i’m weird in that way. heh. fortunately, not all photos though *wink* )

Remember this entry?

If u had guessed it was pineapple jam in cooking, u’re spot on!

I love these round tarts!

Definitely my choice of tart if i can only make 1 type. For peeps who love the pineapple jam alot and alot and care not for the melt in your mouth tart.. (provided that the baker wraps the jam with as little dough as possible lah) ;)

Ironically, i like the tart more than the jam but i still prefer this kind of pattern rather than the flower one. Somehow, it tastes much yummier!

This flower type was something i made last year.

Less time consuming needless to say but not as good as the round type in my opinion :)

eee, white balance is so off here due to bad lighting :(

And then, i made some more cookies. This time, it was something i came up with myself. Don’t think u’d seen this anywhere yet!

It’s green tea cookies with cheese :P

Sounds weird aye?

But let me assure you, it’s not.

However, i only managed to experiment 1 trial round and that was it, as shown here in the photo. Due to my tight schedule, i couldn’t do trial round no.2 though i’ve jotted down what to add more and what to cut down.. unfortunately.

Nevertheless, trial round no.1 was good enough for me to give-away as CNY gifts which i did. All of it in fact coz they filled up 2 small tubs nicely :)

That is all for my cookies-making this year.

Too rush.. too little time… too last minute… = no variety :(