Hot Cross Buns

Oh, the smell of these when they come out of the oven, is like walking past the baking section in the supermarket, and they taste as good any shop bought!

Ingredients:

250ml Milk

60g Butter

500g Strong White Flour

1tsp Salt

4tsp Mixed Spice

1tsp Nutmeg

1x7g Sachet Instant Yeast

50g Light Brown Sugar

150g Mixed Dried Fruit

1 Medium Egg (beaten)

For the Cross:

3tbsp Strong Flour

2tbsp Cold Water

For the Glaze:

Apricot Jam

To Make:

Warm the milk with the butter till just melted.

Put flour into mixing bowl with dough hook attached.

Add salt, mixed spice, nutmeg, yeast, sugar and dried fruit and mix together making sure there are no clumps.

Make a well in middle and add egg and buttery milk and mix till all combined.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, cover with bowl and leave to rest for 5 mins.

Knead again for another 5 mins till dough feels elastic.

Cover with cling film and leave in warm place for about an hour, till double in size.

Turn out and knead again for a minute, then divide into 12 equal portions.

Round each ball and place on greased tray, cover with cling film, and leave to rise again for another hour,

For crosses, mix flour with a little of the water at a time, until you have a smooth thick paste, place into piping bag, snip off end, and pipe a cross over each bun.

Bake in oven Gas 6, until golden brown.

Heat apricot jam then put through sieve, and brush buns with apricot glaze as soon as they come out of oven.

Cool on wire rack,

Enjoy!

Apple and Blackberry Cobbler

Lovely hot dessert ideal for hungry families on a cold winters day.

4 large Bramley cooking apples
1lb blackberries
demerara sugar
1lb SR Flour
4oz margarine
milk
1tsp nutmeg

Peel and core apples, cut into large chunks and simmer in pan with a squeeze of lemon juice and aprox 2 oz sugar. Bring to boil then take off heat and strain.

Mix flour and margarine till resembles breadcrumbs, then mix in 2oz sugar, add milk till mixture combined.

Mix cooked apples and blackberries together gently and place in bottom of oven proof dish.
Sprinkle sugar all over mixture.

Divide cobbler mix into equal portions and roll gently into ball shapes and place on top of fruit mix.

Bake in middle of oven, temp gas 6 until cobblers are golden brown.

Serve hot with cream, ice-cream or custard.

Enjoy