Hot Cross Buns

For the last 2 years that I have been cooking from this book I have forgotten about these each Easter, so this year decided to give them a go..

What I find a bit unusual about this recipe is that the cross is just marked on, it does suggest an alternative shortcrust pastry cross, but I thought they usually had a piped on cross.

Anyway I made up the dough and left to rise for about an hour..

It’s not the softest dough and was actually not easy to roll into nice round shapes..

I marked each one with a cross using the back of a knife..

Once left to prove for a while they did puff up into slightly more rounded bun shapes..

I had to re-mark them all with crosses and then was into the oven for about 20 minutes..

They didn’t really look like hot cross buns at this point, but after painting on the milk and sugar glaze they did look much better..

I really didn’t leave these for long before trying, had to have one warm with butter..

Well these are pretty great! They don’t really look very hot cross bun like but taste fab!

Would I make these again? Yes..

Czechoslovak Yeast Pastries

I had to do a bit of a history lesson before starting this recipe! Obviously as the time of this book (1948) Czechoslovakia was one state, but not sure how authentic this recipe is! I just thought it sounded great with a poppy seed filling..

First I mixed the butter and the flour and then it says to leave in a cool place, but because I knew I was going to have to roll it out later I put it into the fridge..

Then I made the dough and let that rise for about an hour..

Next I rolled out the dough and topped that with the butter mix, which was easy to roll after having been left in the fridge..

I did the rolling, folding combination a few times and left to rest each time..

While that was resting I made the filling, I didn’t quite have 5oz of poppy seeds so had to reduce the milk and sugar quantity slightly..

Once the dough had been through enough rolling and folding I rolled out and cut into squares and topped each one with a spoonful of the poppy mixture..

Then I folded in the corners to seal..

Each one was brushed with egg and then baked in the oven for about 15-20 minutes and by then they were looking lovely and golden, but a few had split open!

We left them to cool for a few minutes before trying and these are fantastic! The pastry is lovely and buttery yet quite light. The filling is good, it’s a strong flavour so probably not such a disaster that I didn’t have enough poppy seeds.

These were equally as good cold the next day!

Would I make these again? Yes, worth the effort..

Seville Orange Marmalade

I made this a good few weeks ago when I was walking through the supermarket and saw bags of Seville oranges on offer for 70p! I think this was late in January so is towards the very end of Seville orange season, but I did think 70p for the bag of oranges was going to be a bargain if I made a couple of jars of marmalade!

I only bought one bag of oranges and that weighed just over a pound so I had to adjust the rest of the ingredients to just under a half.

First I removed basically the insides of all the oranges and then sliced the peel as thinly as I could..

That was all put in a pan with the lemon juice and water, and then I had to tie the pips and other inner bits of the oranges in a dishcloth as I didn’t have any muslin. It was a pretty thin dishcloth so hoping it will work just as well!

After about an hour and a half I removed the dishcloth and just about burnt the skin off my hands trying to squeeze out as much as I could! I don’t think it had reduced by a half but the peel did feel soft and it had been the full amount of time..

I then added the sugar and boiled rapidly. I do have a sugar thermometer which is very useful as it has the setting point clearly marked!

I think it did take about 20 minutes to reach the right temperature and by then it was all looking a bit darker and stickier..

I sterilised a variety of jars and ended up with 3 pretty large jars of marmalade and a little left over than I just put into a ramekin..

I had this sitting in the cupboard for a few weeks before trying. I am very much a butter and marmalade person. I do love marmalade but when it goes on bread or toast I do want butter underneath! So this was properly tested on some warm homemade bread with butter..

Well all I can say is I wish I’d bought more of those 70p bags of oranges! This is delicious! It has set really well and the peel is lovely and soft. I have a feeling this is not going to last long..

Would I make this again? Yes!

Ratatouille Nicoise

This recipe features in the diets and calorie count chapter, but does sound a bit mixed up! I thought Nicoise only really referred to a salad that includes tuna, olives, eggs and anchovies, so not sure why that’s been tagged onto the title!

I had set out to buy the required veg but could not get my hands on a marrow, but the shop I was in had oversized courgettes so I had to use that instead..

So is basically a bit of chopping, and then first fried the onion and pepper before adding all the rest of the ingredients..

My pot was looking pretty full and was thinking I should’ve used a bigger one, but pretty sure after a bit of simmering this will reduce down…

…that’s exactly what happened and after the full half hour the volume had almost halved..

I sprinkled some parsley on top and opted to leave out the toast triangles..

I served this with some steamed white fish and this was dinner..

So as a ratatouille this is nice, although could do with more tomatoes, but it’s nothing like a Nicoise! I did eat it all and did feel quite healthy after it…until I had a slice of cake!

Would I make this again? Yes!

Battenberg Cake

I love all things marzipan and have some left over from a cake that needs using up. I’ve eaten Battenberg a few times but never tried to bake myself before, so this is another recipe that I’m really looking forward to trying..

This is one of the few recipes that comes with a photo, and yet again is one I don’t really need a photo! There’s so many unusual receives in this book that I could’ve really used a photo!

I thought that Battenberg cakes tended to be a vanilla cake and then the other dyed pink, but I like the idea of chocolate/vanilla combination.

I don’t have a Swiss roll tin so just used an oblong baking tray and split that with the baking paper..

I made up the cake mix and split between the two sides..

These did not need 45 minutes to bake, they were ready in 30 minutes..

I left them to cool and then trimmed them to equal sizes and then made sure they fitted together before spreading with jam!

The recipe says to use raspberry jam but I decided to use apricot jam instead. That was warmed up and spread over the sides and tops of each piece of cake and then stuck back together..

I rolled out the marzipan and wasn’t until I had almost reached the right size I realised I hadn’t rolled it out in caster sugar, so hoping that doesn’t really matter!

I wrapped the marzipan around the cake, sealing it on the bottom, then trimmed the edges before crimping and marking the top..

My cake is slighty more oblong than the photo which is maybe due to either the tin or perhaps I should’ve trimmed the cakes a bit more, pretty sure all that doesn’t matter as it tastes amazing! The sponges are great and the marzipan is fab, possible one of my favourite cakes now!

Would I make this again? Definitely!

Bearnaise Sauce

I’m a bit of a creature of habit when it comes to my sauce choice when having steak; usually either a peppercorn sauce or a red wine sauce, so decided to branch out and try this..

I had made up some tarragon vinegar by putting some tarragon leaves in a bottle with some vinegar and leaving to infuse. I think the idea is to remove the tarragon at some point but I left it in and did end up pretty strong!

I put the vinegar, shallot and tarragon into a saucepan and let reduce..

That was then mixed with an egg yolk and put over a pan of boiling water..

It rally doesn’t take long to start thickening..

Then I whisked in the butter and some seasoning and it certainly does have a piquant flavour and it is pretty thick!

Obviously we had to have this with some steak and chips..

Well I have to say this is a fantastic sauce! It’s packed with flavour and maybe not for anyone that doesn’t like tarragon! Maybe my sauce is extra strong due to my over infused tarragon vinegar, but I like it that way!

Would I make this again? Yes definitely!

Ice-box Cookies

Not sure where this name comes from as these don’t actually go anywhere near a freezer! I just like the sound of all these ingredients and looking forward to trying these..

These need to be started the night before you actually want to eat them, which if you don’t read the recipe before starting is a bit disappointing!!

I didn’t have Barbados sugar, whatever that is, so I used a soft dark brown sugar and when that was mixed with the egg and sugar it did actually smell quite good!

Then I added the dry ingredients and the smell from the spices is great..

Finally I added the nuts and for this I opted to use walnuts..

Once all mixed together this was quite a wet dough, it very neatly poured onto the clingfilm that I was using to roll up it up in. I used the cling film to shape into a sausage and then tied the ends. Maybe this is why it needs so long in the fridge, to really firm up..

So the next day I removed from the fridge and sliced up. Due to the fact it was so soft when going into the fridge it has set with a flat bottom! So doesn’t actually slice into circles!

I had to make these in batches as I don’t have enough trays! The recipe says this makes 15-20 but I ended up with nearer 40. I put the unused dough back in the fridge while the cut ones were cooking. They did cook really quickly and the smell is amazing!

It was impossible to resist these, and we had to obviously sample them as soon as possible! They are delicious!! When still warm they are quite soft, almost chewy and taste amazing, the flavour from the spices with the dark brown sugar is great.

Once left to cool they really crisp up and are just as delicious. I made 40 of these and they did not last long at all! Considering the recipe says 15-20 I did wonder if I had sliced them too thin but I thought they were perfect!

Would I make these agin? Most definitely!