Cooking

Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Buns

These rich rolls are a traditional at Easter. At least they are in my house. The dough is rich and slightly sweet. The frosting on top adds to their sweetness.

Hot cross buns can be served at breakfast, brunch or even as a dinner roll. I have served them with coffee, after dinner. So I guess they can be a dessert, too. If you have leftover hot cross buns, you can use them to make bread pudding. I do!

Because the dough is rich, they are slow to rise. If they aren’t jumping out of the pan after an hour or so, don’t worry. They do rise quite a lot in the oven.

After they cool a bit- pipe on the icing in the crisscross pattern that gives these rolls their name.

Hot Cross Buns

 2/3 c. sugar

1 t. salt

2 packages active dry yeast

About 5 cups bread flour

1 ½ c. milk

½ c. butter

2 eggs

1 c. raisins

Icing

¾ c. powdered sugar

1 T. milk

In bowl combine sugar, salt, yeast and about 1 ½ c. flour. Heat together milk and butter until very warm. Beat milk mixture into to flour mixture and beat 2 minutes with electric mixer. Beat in 1 egg and 1 cup flour and beat 2 more minutes until batter thickens. Stir in raisins and enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top, cover with a towel and allow to rise in a draft free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Place dough on floured surface and divide into 15 equal pieces. Cover with towel and lest rest 15 minutes. Meanwhile grease a 9×13 inch pan. Form dough into smooth balls and place in prepared pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat remaining egg. Cut a cross in each bun and brush with the egg. Bake for 25 minutes or until buns are golden. Remove buns to wire rack to cool 15 minutes. Make frosting, place in decorating bag and pipe onto buns. Makes 15.

Easter Bread Wreath

Easter Bread Wreath

This Easter bread wreath, with eggs baked on top, is a fun bread to make for the holiday. It is a tradition in many families.

I hadn’t made one in a long time, and when I went to find my recipe, I couldn’t locate it. I decided to make a new recipe.

I wanted it to have a lot of flavor- something that would be fun served at a breakfast, brunch or with dinner, but not too sweet. I added spices and raisins, but I could see using other dried fruits.

I left it plain on top – but you could easily add a powdered sugar glaze. No, I did not hard cook the eggs first. They cook while the bread is baking. Saves a step, for sure.

I tested the bread out with friends. Almost half was eaten before dinner, so I am confident to say, that this recipe is a winner. The texture of the bread is really nice and the dough is richly spiced.

I added mace, but if you don’t have any mace, add a little more nutmeg or allspice. Mace is a spice I would encourage you to try sometime. So here is the recipe. Hope you like it as much as we did.

 Cinnamon Raisin Easter Wreath Bread

4½ -5 c. flour

1 pkt. yeast

½ c. brown sugar

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. salt

½ t. allspice

½ t. nutmeg

½ t. mace

1 c. warm water

½ c. butter, melted

2 eggs

½ c. raisins

5-6 uncooked eggs, dyed if you like

Combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, seasonings and salt in large bowl.  Heat together water and butter until warm and add to flour mixture. Beat 2-3 minutes. Beat eggs and reserve 1 tablespoon of the eggs for brushing the top of the bread later. Add remaining eggs and another cup of flour to the bowl. Beat 4 minutes. Add the raisins and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, but still soft. Place in oiled bowl turning to oil top. Note: I actually used my stand mixer, and just left the dough in the bowl to knead, and then covered it to rise. I was able to leave the dough a little sticky this way, using less flour. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. While dough is rising, prepare a pan. Grease a large baking sheet- or use a silicone baking mat. Grease a one cup oven-proof custard cup and place it upside down on the middle of the baking sheet. This will keep a “hole” in the middle of your wreath. If you don’t have a custard cup, you can use a metal one-cup measure instead. Punch dough down and divide in three pieces. Roll each piece into a 20-inch long rope. Braid the ropes together. Wrap the braid around the custard cup on the baking sheet and pinch ends together to keep the braid from coming apart. Cover and allow to rise until doubled (50-60 minutes). Just before baking, combine reserved egg with a little water and brush the wreath with the egg wash. Place 5 or 6 eggs on the top of the braid- being careful not to press down too hard.  Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 25 minutes. Cover bread with foil and bake 10-15 minutes longer, or until bread sounds hollow when tapped lightly. Here is the only tricky part. You have to remove the wreath, but not drop the glass custard cup in the middle. You can let the bread cool a few minutes before moving. I use a silicone baking sheet so I slide the whole thing off the baking sheet and onto a cooling rack. I use two large spatulas to lift the wreath up and leave the custard cup behind. If it doesn’t come right out, use a knife to loosen.  Lift the wreath up enough to slide the custard cup out. Let cool before serving- store leftovers in fridge, because of the eggs on top.   Makes 1.

Place eggs on top before baking

Cinnamon “Bunny” Bread

Cinnamon “Bunny” Bread

These slightly sweet bunny breads are a great addition to your Easter table. They can be used for breakfast or brunch. They could also be served with dinner, minus the candies!! The dough itself has plenty of cinnamon flavor and a slightly dense texture.

They are moist enough to eat just the way they are, or spread with butter. My favorite parts are the feet- which are a little crunchy. The recipe makes 6 bunnies. I chose to decorate mine with melted white chocolate and candies, but they are also pretty when left un-decorated. This would be a fun decorating activity for kids, too.

Cinnamon “Bunny” Breads

6-6½ c. flour

¾ c. sugar

2 pkts. Active dry yeast

1 T. cinnamon

1 t. salt

1 c. milk

½ c. water

¼ c. butter – half a stick

5 eggs – save one for brushing the breads

White chocolate and tiny candies for decorating

In mixing bowl place 2 cups of the flour with the other dry ingredients. Heat milk, water and butter together until very warm. Butter does have to melt completely. Place milk mixture in bowl with flour mixture and beat for 3 minutes. Add another cup of flour and beat another 2 minutes. Beat in 4 eggs and gradually add enough flour to make a soft dough. Place dough on a floured surface. Knead until smooth. Return dough to bowl and cover, allowing to rise until doubled, about an hour. Grease two large baking sheets, or cover in parchment or use a silicone liner. You will put 3 bunnies on each sheet.  Place dough on floured surface. Divide into 6 pieces. Each piece will be a bunny. To form a bunny, take about a third of one of the pieces of dough. Shape into a round and place on a greased baking sheet. This is the body. Use about ¼ cup of the dough to form the head. Flatten the head a little on one edge and tuck the flattened part under the body. Pinch off a tiny piece for the nose and place on the head. Divide the rest of the piece of dough into 6 pieces. Use 4 pieces to form the feet. Shape into balls and tuck one edge under the body, like you did with the head. Use the last two pieces for the ears. Roll each into a tube, shape a little to look like ears, and stick one edge under the head. Repeat with the rest of the dough pieces. You’ll end up with 6 bunnies. Cover with plastic wrap, then a towel, and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled, 30-60 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine remaining egg with a tablespoon of water and beat to combine. Remove the plastic wrap from the bunnies. Brush the bunnies with the egg mixture, covering completely. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped lightly. I switched the baking sheets in the oven after 10 minutes, so the bunnies bake evenly. Cool on rack. Once cool, decorate with melted chocolate, piped on to make whiskers. You can also use the melted chocolate to affix candies. Makes 6 bunnies.

ready to bake

ready to bake

Freshly baked
Right out of the oven

Honey Bunnies

Honey Bunny

If you are looking for a fun dish to serve for Easter, you might want to bake a batch of bunnies. These rolls can be served with Easter dinner, or with breakfast or brunch.

The honey-sweetened yeast dough is rolled into ropes, and then the ropes are formed into these bunny shapes. Once the rolls are baked, they are brushed with a mixture of warm honey and melted butter. This is a fun recipe to make with kids.

I make them every Easter. Sweet and so cute, they are sure to be a hit when you make them.

The dough is chilled before rolling, so you can mix up a batch in the evening- put in the fridge- then roll them out the next day. They are actually pretty easy to make.

You can add raisin “eyes”, if you like. It is an option.

Honey Bunnies

 4-5 c. flour

2 packages yeast

1 t. salt

2/3 c. evaporated milk

½ c. each water, honey and butter

2 eggs

Raisins, optional

Honey glaze

1/2 c. honey and 1/4 c. butter heated together until warm.

In bowl combine 1 c. flour, yeast and salt. Heat together milk, water, honey and butter until very warm and beat into the flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes on high speed. Beat in 1 cup flour and eggs. Beat 2 more minutes, until batter thickens. Stir in enough flour to make a stiff batter and chill, covered with plastic wrap for 2-24 hours.

Place dough on lightly floured surface and divide into 15 equal pieces. Roll one piece of dough into a 20- inch rope. Cut rope into a 12- inch piece, a 5-inch piece and 3 one-inch pieces. Coil 12- inch piece to form body, five inch piece to form head and one inch pieces to form ears and tail. Place the body on greased cookie sheet and then place the head next to the body, making sure they are touching. Place ears and tail on the bunny, making sure they make good contact with the rest of the “bunny”. I tuck them under a little. Repeat with the remaining dough. Let rise, covered until doubled, about 25 minutes. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove to cooling rack and brush with honey glaze. Place raisins on each to make eyes, if you like. Brush with additional glaze before serving, if desired. Makes 15 bunnies.

Bunnies rising
Brushing baked bunnies with honey/butter glaze

Easter Cupcakes

Trio of Easter Cupcakes

These cupcakes would make a great dessert for Easter- or any time. They are also a fun dessert for kids to make.

I started out by making a double batch of my classic white cupcakes- recipe follows. To add a little color to the cupcakes, I divided the batter into three bowls and tinted each of them a different pastel color.

As I filled the pans, I just added a spoonful of each of the tinted batters in them. They came out really nice.

I made three different cupcakes: bunnies, chicks and nests.

I also made a double batch of white chocolate frosting. You could certainly make a vanilla buttercream, if you prefer.

Details on how to make each of them are listed below.

Classic White (Vanilla)  Cupcakes

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cupcakes are done when they springs back to the touch. Makes 12.

White Chocolate Frosting

6 oz. white chocolate – if using bars, chop before melting
1 stick (4 oz.) cold butter, cut into cubes
1-2 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla

Melt chocolate. I just melt mine in a microwave safe dish, but you can use a double boiler. Let chocolate cool down a little. Beat butter into the melted chocolate. Beat until smooth and then beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Whip until frosting is smooth and fluffy. I normally beat for 5 minutes or longer. If too thick, add a few drops of water or milk. For this recipe, I made a double batch of frosting.

Bunnies

extra white chocolate

food coloring- pink or red

chocolate chips

pastel ( pink) M&M’s

Make bunny ears by melting some white chocolate and putting it in a piping bag or bottle. On wax paper, make outline of the ears in white chocolate and allow to cool/harden. Place a drop or two of pink or red food coloring in a microwave safe bowl and add some white chocolate. Melt in microwave, being careful not to burn the chocolate and stir until it turns pink. Pipe the pink chocolate into the middle of the ears. Allow to harden before peeling off of the was paper. Using a star tip, pipe frosting on cupcake. I made three layers – to add height to the cupcake. place ears on cupcake and add chips/candy for eyes and mouth.

Chicks

Frosting tinted yellow and green

mini chocolate chips

fruit roll up

Using star tip, pipe the chick’s body onto the cupcake in yellow frosting. Pipe on head and wings. Pipe green frosting  around chick to form a nest. Use mini chips for eyes and cut fruit roll up for beak.

Nests

Frosting tinted green

egg shapes malted milk balls- or you could use jelly beans

Pipe green frosting on cupcakes to make nests. Add three, or more, candies in the middle for eggs.

Piping pink filling in ears

Piping pink filling in ears

rainbow cupcake

rainbow cupcake

bunnies

bunnies

Chick cupcake

Chick cupcake

The nest cupcake

The nest cupcake

Reuben Strata

Reuben Strata

If you need a new recipe for corned beef- I would suggest making this strata. It contains all the ingredients found in a traditional Reuben sandwich, but with a twist. These “Reubens” are baked, after being soaked in an egg custard.

The dish is assembled at least a few hours before baking, so you can make it the day before, or in the morning. Just pop in the oven about an hour before you want to serve it.

Strata just means layers. Ingredients are layered before pouring over an egg/milk mixture. These layers add flavor to the final dish. In this strata, layers include rye bread, Swiss cheese, corned beef, sauerkraut and thousand island dressing. Of course, you can play around with the ingredients you use. If you don’t like sauerkraut, you can leave it out- or only put in on some of the sandwiches. Strata can be served for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.

I used very thinly sliced corned beef from the deli. You can also use home-cooked corned beef. Just dice it or shred it up. If you have leftover corned beef from St. Patrick’s Day, this is a great recipe for using it. I also used homemade Thousand Island dressing, but use what you like. You can also serve extra dressing on the side.

Reuben Strata

12 slices rye bread

6 slices Swiss cheese

12 oz. thinned sliced corned beef- or 2 cups chopped corned beef

1 c. sauerkraut, squeezed dry

½ c. Thousand Island dressing*

3 eggs

2 c. milk

½ t. salt

½ t. hot pepper sauce, or to taste

Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish. Place six slices of bread on bottom of the dish. You might have to trim the bread to fit. Top each slice of bread with a slice of cheese. Top cheese with the corned beef and sauerkraut. You can use a little more or less sauerkraut, depending on your taste.  Spoon about a tablespoon of the dressing over each “sandwich”. Top with remaining six slices of bread, trimmed to fit pan, if needed. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over sandwiches. Cover dish and let stand in the fridge, several hours or overnight. Bake, uncovered, in a 350-degree oven for 40-45 minutes, or until puffed and set. Let sit a few minutes before serving. Serves 6.

*Homemade Thousand Island Dressing is just equal parts of sweet pickle relish, ketchup and mayo. You can make your own pretty easily.

Strata, before baking
Right out of the oven

Joe’s Soda Bread Ice Cream

Soda Bread Ice Cream

This ice cream happened because friend saw a recipe for an ice cream made with brown bread. He thought it might be fun to make it with Irish soda bread, for St. Patrick’s Day. It worked out really well. When I first added the bread to the ice cream, I tasted it and thought it was good, but needed something more. I had already made the butterscotch sauce to serve with it, so I added a little and the end result was a really fun and different ice cream. The ice cream actually tasted a lot like butter pecan. I served it to a friend the other night and she loved it.

This would be a fun dessert for St. Patrick’s day, or any day really, and it was super easy to make. Thanks, Joe, for the inspiration.

So here is the recipe. I have also included the recipes for the bread and the butterscotch sauce, although, you can buy them already made.

Joe’s Soda Bread Ice Cream

1 ½ qts. Vanilla ice cream

4 cups crumbled soda bread*

½ cup butterscotch sauce**

Soften ice cream and fold in the soda bread and butterscotch sauce. Return to freezer to firm up before serving.

* You can just buy a soda bread or use the recipe below

** I made my own butterscotch sauce, then had extra for serving. Feel free to just buy a jar if you don’t want to make your own. Serve some sauce, warmed with the ice cream to drizzle over.  

Irish Soda Bread

2 c. flour

½ t. each baking powder and baking soda

¼ t. salt

2 T. butter

¾ c. raisins, currants or golden raisins, optional, I used golden raisins

2 t. caraway seeds

1 egg, beaten

1 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dust a baking sheet with a little flour. Combine dry ingredients in bowl and cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Add raisins and caraway seeds. Combine egg and milk and set 2 tablespoons of this mixture aside. Add remaining milk mixture to flour mixture and combine just until dough forms into a ball. Place on baking sheet, brush with reserved egg mixture and cut a crisscross on top of loaf. Bake about 25 minutes or until bread sounds hollow. Makes 1.

Butterscotch Sauce

6 T. butter

½ c. half and half

½ c. brown sugar

1 t. molasses*

½ -1 teaspoon salt

1 t. vanilla

Melt butter in a heavy bottomed pan. Add remaining ingredients, except vanilla, to the pan. Stir to mix well, then bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Sauce will thicken as it cools. Store in fridge and warm a little before using. Makes about a cup of sauce. Keeps for weeks in the fridge, but you’ll eat it long before that.

*The addition of a little molasses was because my original recipe called for dark brown sugar. I only had light brown sugar. I liked the flavor that extra molasses added to the finished sauce. Feel free to omit the extra molasses, or add a pinch more, depending on how dark you want your finished sauce.

Colcannon

Colcannon

Colcannon is perhaps the ultimate comfort food. This traditional Irish dish is made with potatoes, kale, green onions, parsley and butter. There are variations made with cabbage or Brussels sprouts. All of those versions are pretty good. This is a great side dish for your St. Patrick’s Day dinner. It’s pretty, too.

I have made colcannon with Brussels sprouts, chives and even used ramps one time. For the version I made last night I used kale. I wonder why I don’t colcannon more often. It is so good- and simple to make.

Here is the version I made last night.

Colcannon

1 1/2 lbs. potatoes

1/4 lb. kale, or a bit more

3/4 c. finely chopped green onions or chives

1/2 c. chopped parsley

4 oz. butter

salt and fresh ground pepper

Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks. Boil in salted water until very tender. Meanwhile, trim the stems out of the kale and blanch in boiling water for a few minutes. Remove kale and drain. Rinse with cold water to cool down. Squeeze out excess water and chop the kale finely. Set aside. Once the potatoes are tender, drain well and place in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and mash the potatoes until pretty smooth. A few lumps are not a problem. Stir in the kale, green onions and parsley. Mix well, adding salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4.

Pi Day Blueberry Pie

Blueberry Pie

March 14th is sometimes referred to as Pi day. It’s a math nerd kind of thing, 3.14 being the value of pi and March 14 is 3/14.

I was explaining it to a friend last night.  My friend’s response was that ANY day was Pie Day!!

I had some  blueberries in the freezer and decided maybe today was Pie Day after all.

You could certainly use fresh berries for this pie, but frozen was what I had. Also, since it is a quiet day today, baking a pie seemed like a nice way to spend the morning. My friend is home from work today. I think she will be happy when I  invite her over to have some “Pi” Day blueberry pie. It is time to put on a pot of coffee, and make a call.

Blueberry Pie

Pastry for 2 crust pie- recipe- The crust recipe I used is at the bottom of the page

2 ½ T. cornstarch

1 c. sugar

3 c. fresh or frozen blueberries

1 T. lemon juice

1 T. butter

1 T. sugar, for sprinkling

Roll out half of the crust and place in 8 or 9-inch pie pan. You can roll out the top crust ahead of time, or even cut into strips for a lattice top. Cover remaining crust to keep it from drying out. In medium bowl mix cornstarch and sugar. Toss in berries and then sprinkle in the lemon juice. Allow to stand 15 minutes. If berries were frozen be sure they are not clumped together. Spoon mixture into prepared crust and dot with the butter. Top with the second crust or place strips on in a lattice design. If using a whole crust cut in decorative slits for ventilation. I used a tiny heart-shaped cutter for my pie. Moisten then crimp edges and shape decoratively or use a fork to seal. Place pie in lower half of hot oven. Bake in a preheated 425-degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and bake an additional 40-50 minutes or until crust is brown and juices begin to bubble through the slits. Cool a little before serving.

Flaky Pie Crust

2 c. flour

1 t. salt

3/4 c. butter, chilled – you can use coconut oil, lard or shortening

1 T. cider vinegar

4-5 T. cold water

Combine flour and salt and cut in butter. Toss in vinegar and water 1 tablespoon at a time until dough holds together. Use a fork to toss the ingredients together and as soon as the mixture holds together stop adding water. Makes 2. Chill well before using.

Key Lime Pie for Pi Day

Key Lime Pie

Since March 14th is celebrated by some of us math nerds as Pi Day- 3.14 , I decided to make a Key Lime Pie!! I figure any way I can get more Vitamin C is a good thing, right? 

I had decided to go with a classic version: graham crust, creamy filling and a little meringue to top it off.  The pie itself is simple and fast to make, although it does need time to chill. I think it took more time to juice all those tiny limes, than it did to make the actual pie. 

One of the traditional ingredients in key lime pie is sweetened condensed milk. You can, if needed, make your own sweetened condensed milk, instead of using store bought. I’ve included the recipe at the bottom of this post.

Key Lime Pie

Crust:
1 ¼ c. graham cracker crumbs
⅓ c. melted butter
¼ c. brown sugar
Filling:
2 cans sweetened condensed milk*
1 c. key lime juice
Topping:
2 eggs whites
½ t. cream of tartar
2 T. sugar

In medium bowl, combine crust ingredients and toss until mixed well. Press crust into the bottom and sides of a pie pan. I use a 9-inch deep dish pan. Bake crust in a preheated 375 degree oven for 10 minutes. Cool. Reduce oven to 325 degrees. Combine filling ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir until well mixed. It will look sort of soupy, but as you stir, the filling becomes pretty thick- like pudding. Pour into crust. Prepare topping. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Slowly add the sugar, while still beating the eggs whites, until stiff peaks form. Spread or pipe the egg whites over the filling. Bake pie 25-28 minutes- or until meringue topping is golden brown. Chill at least 6 hours before serving. Serves 6-8.

* You can make your own sweetened condensed milk, if you prefer. Here is the recipe.

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 c. dry non-fat milk
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. boiling water
3 T. butter, melted and hot

Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Can be stored in the fridge and used within 3 days. This is the same as 1 (14 oz.) can.

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