Hot Cross Buns
Preparation 15 Minutes
Cook 20 MIN + PROVING TIME 3 HRS Minutes
Serves 12
Method
In a small saucepan, heat the milk until just boiling. Pour ¼ cup of the hot milk into a small bowl. Set aside remaining milk.
Add 1 tsp of the caster sugar to the ¼ cup of milk. Sprinkle the yeast of the top and stir. Sit at room temperature until bubbly and doubled in size, approx. 10 min.
Meanwhile, add the butter to remaining reserved hot milk and stir to combine. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
In a large bowl, place flour, bicarb, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Make a well in the centre. Pour in the milk and butter mix. Stir. Then add the yeast mix. Stir to combine. Add the egg. Continue to stir until a sticky dough forms.
Tip onto a lightly floured clean surface, and knead until it becomes a smooth dough, about 5 mins.
Place the dough into a large oiled bowl. Cover with cling film, sprayed with oil and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size. Add the sultanas, mix again, and recover. Rest again in a warm place for another hour.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C. Grease and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll into balls on a lightly floured surface.
Arrange onto prepared tray, leaving a 2cm space between each ball. Spray with oil, cover and rest for 30-60 mins, or until dough has risen again.
For the paste:
In a small bowl, combine flour and icing sugar. Gradually add water, 1 tbspn at a time, until a paste forms.
Using a piping bag with a small nozzle (or a small snap lock bag with the corner snipped) fill with the paste and pipe along the centre of each row of rolls. Turn the tray and repeat this across the centre of the rolls to form a cross.
Bake on the middle rack in the oven for 20 mins or until golden.
Gently heat the jam to melt to a syrupy consistency. Brush the tops of the warm buns to glaze.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Ingredients
300ml milk
7g sachet instant yeast
½ cup caster sugar
50g unsalted butter, softened
500g plain flour
1 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt
1 cup Sunbeam sultanas
1 egg, lightly beaten
Cross paste:
80g plain flour
1 tbspn icing sugar
5-6 tbspn water
Glaze
3 tbspn apricot jam
Recipe Collection
Couscous Dried Fruit Salad
Rinse the couscous under cold, running water. Add to a saucepan with 750ml water, bring to a boil then reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 15 mins or until soft. Drain and rinse under running water and set aside to cool completely.
Whisk together olive oil and lemon juice, season and pour over the cooled couscous. Toss to coat.
Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Spoon into a presentation bowl to serve.
This salad can be served cold or at room temperature.
Moghrabieh can be substituted for Israeli (pearl) couscous. Simply follow the cooking instructions on the packet as they can vary.
Banana Coconut Bread
Preheat oven to 150°C and line a loaf pan with baking paper.
- Combine bananas, sultanas, vanilla, eggs, oil, cinnamon and baking powder in a food processer and process until combined.
- Add coconut meal and chia seeds, and stir with a wooden spoon.
- Pour into pan and sprinkle with flaked coconut. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Christmas Bark
Line a 25cm x 35cm with baking paper. Place chocolate into a medium heat proof bowl; stir over a medium saucepan of simmering water until smooth (don’t let water touch base of bowl). Stir in puffed rice and coconut.
Working quickly, spread chocolate mixture onto tray as thinly as possible; sprinkle with dried fruits, biscuit and nuts.
Refrigerate until set. Break bark into pieces to serve.
Walnut Cheese Log
Cheese to room temp.
In a bowl, mix cheese & alcohol in a processor with salt and pepper until smooth.
Mix chilli with herbs and nuts, then sprinkle on a 30cm piece of plastic wrap, leaving a 2cm border.
Spoon cheese along one end of herbs. Lift wrap and roll cheese away from you into a log, pressing gently to coat well in herbs, shape the mixture into a log, then wrap and refrigerate for about an hour, until the mixture is firm.
Serve with crackers
Sunbeam Fathers Day Nut Mix
Preheat oven to 160°C
Line a large rimmed tray with baking paper so the maple syrup doesn’t get stuck to the pan.
Pour the Sunbeam natural almonds, raw cashews and pepitas onto the tray and set it aside.
In a small bowl, combine the maple syrup, melted butter, salt, rosemary, and cayenne. Stir till blended.
Pour the mixture over the nuts on the prepared baking sheet. Stir well, until all of the nuts are lightly coated. Then spread the mixture in a single layer across the tray.
Bake in oven, stirring after the first 10 minutes and then every 5 minutes thereafter, until almost no maple syrup remains on the parchment paper and the nuts are golden, approx 20 minutes.
Remove tray from the oven and stir the nuts one more time, spreading them into an even layer & let them cool. Once cool store in a airtight jar and gift to dad on Fathers Day!
Almond Mandarin Cake
- Put the whole mandarins in a saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 45 minutes or until tender when tested with a skewer, topping up water as necessary. Drain, cool to room temperature, cut in half and remove any pips.
- Preheat oven to 160°C and line the base of a lightly greased 20cm springform cake pan with baking paper.
- Blend the cooled mandarins, eggs and sugar in a food processor until well combined. Add the almond meal, baking powder and orange blossom water (if using) and pulse until combined.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and sprinkle with almonds. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
