Hot Cross Buns

Last year I vowed I would try to make my own hot cross buns in the future, as they are not available in Germany. The traditional English bun for Good Friday is one of my favourites – a spiced teacake, with juicy sultanas or raisins toasted and spread with plenty of butter. (The alternative to a crumpet for afternoon tea!) Since my Man of Many Talents is not particularly keen on raisins etc, I pondered on what I could substitute them with… Apparently several large UK stores sell them with chunks of Belgian chocolate, so chocolate chips it was! I made up the whole dough with the spices and then halved it, adding sultanas to one half and chocolate chips to the other. They were both delicious and there is no looking back; home made are definitely much better!

My recipe is based on one from the BBC Food website, but I made a few slight changes.

• 250ml (1 cup) milk
• 50g (3 1/2 tbsps) butter

• 500g (1 lb) strong flour
• 7g (1/4 oz) packet of instant dried yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 75g (1/3 cup) sugar
• 1 organic, free-range egg

• 2 tsps ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsps allspice
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• a little nutmeg
• a pinch of mace
• zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon

• 150g (5 oz) seedless sultanas OR 75g (2 1/2 oz) milk chocolate chips (I used half for each half of the dough)

For the crosses: 75g (2 1/2 oz) flour, 2 tsps sugar and 4 tbsps water (or a little more)

For the glaze: 2 tbsps apricot (or similar) jam, warmed

First bring the milk to the boil, remove from heat and stir in butter, until it has melted. Leave to cool. Then sift together the flour, salt, yeast and sugar. When the milk is hand warm, use a wooden spoon to stir it into the flour mixture with the beaten egg. With your hands, form into a dough and on a floured surface knead for 5-10 minutes. Place dough in a clean bowl and drizzle a little oil over it. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. (1-2 hours)

Punch down the dough, and knead in the mixed spices and orange/lemon zest. Now add the sultanas or chocolate chips and knead well. Divide the dough into 16 pieces and place on a baking tray lined with parchment. Cover with a tea towel again and leave to rise for another hour or so.

Meanwhile mix the flour, sugar and water for the crosses. The consistency required is a thick paste, but thin enough to pipe with a piping bag and a thin nozzle. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Once the buns have risen again, pipe the paste over the tops in a cross and bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately glaze with the warmed jam, using a pastry brush, then leave to cool a little.

They taste fabulous while still warm, with a little butter. But they were also delicious cold, and they are good toasted with butter the next day too!

(They also freeze well)

Creamy Carrot Soup and Tofu Croutons

If you’ve been yearning for spring foods and fresh flavours, but the weather’s still wintery (like here!), how about a light but warm and spicy soup? Sprinkle a little nutmeg on top, and then add some crispy tofu croutons to make this recipe even tastier!

Creamy Carrot Soup

Chop up 1 onion and sauté in a little olive oil. Add 3 cloves of crushed garlic, 3 carrots and 1 parsnip, also chopped. Season with salt and black pepper, 1/2 tsp ground coriander and 1/2 tsp ground ginger. Turn the heat down and put a lid on your pan. Leave to sweat for 10 minutes. Now add 250ml (1 cup) water, 75ml (1/3 cup) sweet sherry and 160ml (2/3 cup) coconut milk. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Puree with a hand blender and serve sprinkled with a little freshly ground nutmeg and some tofu croutons.

Tofu Croutons

Chop up half a block of firm tofu (about 100g/4oz) into very small squares – the size is entirely up to you and makes no difference at all. In a small dish mix 2 tsps cornflour with plenty of salt and black pepper, 1 tsp garlic granules, and 1-2 tsps of any herbs or spices you fancy. Coriander and ginger go well with this soup, dried Italian herbs go well with other soups… whatever! Coat the tofu with the cornflour/spice mixture. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and fry the croutons until they are nice and brown and start crisping up.

Serve warm with the soup. Great for snacking too!

Swedish Visiting Cake for Mother’s Day

HAPPY MOTHERING SUNDAY!

xxx

This for you Mum!

A shame my Mum won’t get a slice of this. I just hope it’s a sunny day for her instead.

~~~

When this cake came out of the oven it looked flat. Oh. Then the middle sank a little and it looked even flatter… Oh dear. Did I forget the baking powder? No! This is how it’s meant to be: no raising agents are used! And despite my initial doubts, after the first bite I was so glad I tried it. The consistency is dense, a little like a brownie, with that almost chewy texture. Its delicious almond and vanilla aroma fills the house with cosiness, and I admit that I rather fell for this little cake.

My recipe is an adapted version of the one I found on this website: http://dessertfirstgirl.com

The original recipe included almond extract, which I’m not keen on. Leaving it out and adding more vanilla and a hint of warm spices worked very well.

Swedish Visiting Cake

Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease and flour a 23cm (9 inch) baking tin (loose-bottomed if you have one – I didn’t).

Whisk 200g sugar and 25g vanilla sugar (1 cup altogether) with 2 eggs until creamy. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract. Fold in 125g (1 cup) sifted flour, a pinch of salt, 1/4 tsp cardamom and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Melt 110g (1 stick) butter and stir it into the batter. Pour into the baking tin and sprinkle with about 50g (2 oz) almond slices and 1 tbsp vanilla sugar.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Leave to cool before removing from the tin, or serve warm – directly from the tin.

This recipe serves 6-8 and is delicious with a cup of coffee. Bake it for your Mum, or invite someone over, or take it with you next time you visit a friend… they’ll love you for it! 

Spinach and Gnocchi Bake (with Nutmeg)

Spinach, whether fresh or frozen, is full of goodness and flavour. And with some black pepper and nutmeg added to it, it tastes even better. I’ve been making this dish for around 18 years now, and it has changed over the years… less cheese, more spinach, and more pepper and nutmeg!

I finally got round to measuring the ingredients, so that I could post it here…

Spinach and Gnocchi Bake

Sauté 1 onion in a little olive oil until soft. Add 1 tbsp tomato puree, 100g (1/2 cup) (low-fat) cream cheese, salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper and a good twist of nutmeg (1/2-1 tsp ground nutmeg). Stir and add 400g chopped spinach. (I use frozen quite often).

Preheat your grill (broiler) and warm up an oven-proof dish. Cook 500g potato gnocchi as directed on the packet. As soon as your spinach has wilted/defrosted and cooked through, mix in the well-drained gnocchi and transfer the mixture to the warm baking dish. Sprinkle a mix of 40g (1/2 cup) parmesan cheese and 15g (1 tbsp) wholemeal breadcrumbs on top and grill until golden brown and bubbling.

Enjoy!

Nutmeg

I had a little nut tree,
Nothing would it bear
But a silver nutmeg
And a golden pear

Nutmeg is a fragrant, slightly sweet spice that has been used for hundreds of years in Britain and Western Europe, and was among those spices viciously fought over in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is in fact said that the Dutch made an exchange with England in the 1660s, trading Manhattan for the last nutmeg-producing island under British control, along with a sugar-producing territory in South America…

Myristica fragrans

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Nutmeg and Mace both come from the nutmeg tree; nutmeg is the seed, while mace is the dried “lacy” reddish covering (the aril) of the seed. The word originates from the Old French “nois mugede” and medieval Latin “nux muscata”.

The fruit of the nutmeg tree looks like an apricot, and when ripe it splits to reveal the red aril encasing the shiny seed, or “nut”. The mace is removed and dried, as are the nutmegs – traditionally in the sun. The process is labour-intensive, since they need turning regularly for several weeks. At the end of the drying, the hard seed coat is split open to extract the kernels – what we know as nutmegs – which have shrunk and are loose in the shell.

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

The nutmeg tree is indigenous to the Spice Islands in Indonesia and the Caribbean. However, the Arabs who traded this spice in Venice did not reveal where it originated for many years, and were able to demand high prices for it. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Portuguese, and later the Dutch, became major traders in this and other spices, such as cloves. Wars were fought, and warehouses of nutmeg were burnt to keep prices artificially high; barely comprehensible to us in present times, yet simple spices which we take for granted nowadays played such a great role in the building of colonies and empires, and in our trading and shipping history.

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

~

The king of Spain’s daughter
Came to visit me
All for the sake of
My little nut tree

It is said that the King of Spain’s daughter referred to here was Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife. So the rhyme goes back to the early 16th century.

~

Did you know “to nutmeg” is actually a verb?  I had no idea….

It means either: to flavour with nutmeg, as in She decided the eggnog was lacking in flavor, so she decided to nutmeg it heavily.

Or: in soccer, to play the ball between the legs of the opponent

~

I danced o’er the water,
I danced o’er the sea,
And all the birds in the air,
Couldn’t catch me.

~

I have never used mace, but apparently it has a similar but superior flavour to nutmeg. For as long as I remember I have put a little nutmeg, freshly grated, in milk puddings, egg dishes, or with carrots and spinach. More recently I have used it in a zucchini cake, and in a curry! The uses are thus varied. I have also heard that consuming large quantities of it can lead to intoxication and hallucinations! (Read here)

Do you use nutmeg? And if so, what dishes do you add it to?

I’ll post a recipe I use it in very soon!