Paul Hollywood Hot Cross Buns

Happy Easter!!! Today I made these golden doughy fruity Hot Cross, or 'crossed' as I thought they were called until a few moments ago, Buns!

Recipe taken from http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2066661/hot-cross-buns.


Ingredients:

300ml full-fat milk , plus 2 tbsp more

50g butter

500g strong bread flour

1 tsp salt

75g caster sugar

1 tbsp sunflower oil

7g sachet fast-action or easy-blend yeast

1 egg , beaten

75g sultanas

50g mixed peel

zest 1 orange

1 apple , peeled, cored and finely chopped

1 tsp ground cinnamon *

Bring the milk to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the butter. Leave to cool until it reaches hand temperature. Put the flour, salt, sugar and yeast (see Tip, below) into a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour in the warm milk and butter mixture, then add the egg. Using a wooden spoon, mix well, then bring everything together with your hands until you have a sticky dough.
Tip on to a lightly floured surface and knead by holding the dough with one hand and stretching it with the heal of the other hand, then folding it back on itself. Repeat for 5 mins until smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hr or until doubled in size and a finger pressed into it leaves a dent.

With the dough still in the bowl, tip in the sultanas, mixed peel, orange zest, apple and cinnamon. Knead into the dough, making sure everything is well distributed. Leave to rise for 1 hr more, or until doubled in size, again covered by some well-oiled cling film to stop the dough getting a crust.


Divide the dough into 15 even pieces (about 75g per piece - see Tip below). Roll each piece into a smooth ball on a lightly floured work surface. Arrange the buns on one or two baking trays lined with parchment, leaving enough space for the dough to expand. Cover (but don't wrap) with more oiled cling film, or a clean tea towel, then set aside to prove for 1 hr more.

Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Mix the flour with about 5 tbsp water to make the paste for the cross - add the water 1 tbsp at a time, so you add just enough for a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag with a small nozzle. Pipe a line along each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create crosses (see Tip below). Bake for 20 mins on the middle shelf of the oven, until golden brown.

Gently heat the apricot jam to melt, then sieve to get rid of any chunks. While the jam is still warm, brush over the top of the warm buns and leave to cool.

*I popped a tsp of All Spice in too for added flavour!

Homemade hot cross buns are on another level to shop bought ones! So doughy and fresh!

Easter Healthy Coconut Nests

                               

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!



 
Now don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with a few Easter Eggs and since doing lent I have been looking forward to that crack of a cold chocolate egg straight out the fridge with a hot cuppa. (Currently what I'm doing as I type.)But I just wanted to share these little treats for anyone who avoids dairy or wants a slightly healthier alternative.

These little chocolate nests are a great alternative to crispy cornflake cakes. Made with +70% cocoa dark chocolate and coconut flakes, they taste indulgent without any extra carbs or sugars.

Mellys Method

So simple it doesn't really need a 'method'.
Melt chocolate in microwave - give it 30 sec blasts, stirring in between so it doesn't catch.

Pour over shredded unsweetened coconut, mix together and pop a thin layer into paper cases.

Put in fridge for 30 minutes until set.

I decorated my little nests with some foil covered eggs.

                                         

Flour less Sugar Free Cookies

Flour less Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cookies

Doughy Cookies with no sugar or flour- it really doesn't get better than this! I think I need to stop making such big batches of cookies especially when it's my day off so I have nobody to share them with....... So onto to the recipe.....5 cookies earlier

Ingredients

 3 tbs Organic Crunchy Peanut Butter

1 tbs Melted Coconut Butter

1 Beaten Egg

1 tbs of Stevia

1 cup of oats or oat bran

3 tbs Raisins

1tsp Baking Powder

1tsp Baking Soda

Mellys Method

Put the oven on- 180C

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl

Pick up balls and mold into flat patties- these biscuits don't really rise much so mold into the shape and size you want your biccie to be!

Pop in the oven for 10-15 mins until golden.

Enjoy :-)

Rraw Energy Balls





Perfect easy snack in place of a sugary cereal bar or biscuit.

Veeeeerrry similar (practically the same) as http://www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk/nakd-fruit-and-nut-bars/nakd-cocoa-delight/ without the price tag :-)

I know these little balls of delight have been all over Pinterest- I can't remember where I first came across them so sorry for the stolen idea!

The flavour combinations are endless- let me know which ones you've tried!

Ingredients

1 cup of currents or dates (my fave) or prunes or apricots or any dried fruit

half a cup of nuts- walnuts or pecans or almonds

1 tsp 100% cocoa powder

optional

1 tbs oats
or
1 tsb oatbran

If you're Gluten intolerant you can leave the oats out!

Mellys Method

errrrrmmmmm put all the ingredients in a blender and mix..........

Mold into balls or bars

You can roll them in coconut or chopped almonds or something similar

Then pop them into the fridge

Enjoy with a cup of tea or glass of milk :-) Perfect healthy fig biscuit and I am very partial to a figgy biccie

Gluten Free No Sugar Blueberry Muffins

        Gluten & Sugar Free Blueberry Muffins

 

 

Perfect breakfast treat, so much more satisfying than regular cheap factory produced muffins. I made these last Sunday morning and I'm ashamed to say I ate 3 in one go..... :-s woops!

 

Ingredients

 

4tbs Organic Peanut Butter (No added sugar)

 

Unsweetened Apple Sauce (I peeled and chopped 3 apples- added 4 tbs water and put on the stove until soft- it took about an hour- but I'm pretty sure that's because my stove is useless so probably wouldn't take you as long!)

 

1 cup of Gluten Free Oats

 

2 Egg whites

 

1tsp Baking Soda

 

1tsp of Baking Powder

 

1tsp Cinnamon

 

Half a pack of blueberries

 

2 tbs Raisins or Currents

 

 

Mellys Method

 

Heat up the oven to about 160C

 

Whip up the egg whites (not too much just for about a minute with a fork)

 

Then basically add all the other ingredients and mix- add the blueberries last as they can break up and go abit mushy.

 

Pop in muffin cases- fill they quite full as they don't really rise

 

Bake for around 10-15 mins until tops are golden and crunchy

 

Put the kettle on :-)

 

Enjoy hot or cold!

 

 

 

 

 

Lemon & Lime Dairy Free Cupcakes

Lemon and Lime Lactose Free Cupcakes

These zingy little bad boys are the perfect pick me up (especially on this snowy I repeat SNOWY first day of spring.........).

Made with wholemeal flour, less sugar and no dairy these little rays of sunshine are really quite heavenly. The wholemeal flour is denser than normal flour, but the moistness from the citrus stops then becoming heavy. I based the recipe on a regular sponge recipe with a few additions, please feel free to adapt the recipe to suit you and your kitchen cupboards ;-p

                                                                   

                                                                   Ingredients

400g Dairy Free butter (I used Tesco's Vitalite as it was rated the best on this blog :-)  http://www.icedgembakes.co.uk/special-diet-blog/product-reviews/which-dairy-free-margarine-is-the-best

200g Raw Cane Sugar

5tbs Stevia

(You can also use honey or agave to sweeten)

4 medium free range eggs

395g Wholemeal Self Raising Flour

1 tsp Baking powder

1tsp Xanthum Gum

Zest and juice of 1 Lemon and Lime

Pinch of Salt

                                                                     Mellys Method



First things first I like to get my eggs and butter (or marg) out the fridge and leave at room temp for at least 2 hours - this stops the mixture curdling and creates an even bake.

Pop the oven on- 160C

Then add marg and sugar (and stevia) together in a large bowl (larger the better to really get the air in) I do all my mixing by hand -as I don't have a fancy mixer and I like to fool myself into believing that it's a good workout for my arms, therefore I can eat two cakes :-)

Then add the eggs, I normally try and add a little at a time, but usually fail and whack the whole lot in and beat like mad :-s

Add the zest and juices at this stage. A great tip Mary Berry taught me (not personally, on her tv show) is to pop the lemon in the microwave for 30 secs, then cut and squeeze, you get double the amount of juice and don't end up with half of it in your eye ;-p

                                

Fold in the flour, baking powder, salt and Xanthum gum using a metal spoon rather than a wooden one-the metal cuts through the mixture better. Xanthum gum is usually used in gluten free baking, it holds the cake batter together giving it a better texture- if you haven't got any it's perfectly fine to leave it out!

Place in muffin or cake cases and pop into the oven for around 15-20 minutes.

Once nice and golden remove from oven.

To make a crunchy glaze zest and juice a lemon and a lime and mix with 2 tbs of granulated sugar, pour over the slightly warm cakes.

Enjoy :-)