Easter isn’t Easter without Hot Cross Buns.  The smell of the fragrant spices and fruit as you bake/toast them is brilliant.  I wasn’t quite sure how Hot Cross Buns fitted in with the fasting during Lent, but Wikipedia came to my aid. 

Apparently Hot Cross Buns originated with the Saxons, with the cross dividing the bun into four, with each quarter representing one of the four phases of the moon.  Christians, who traditionally eat them on Good Friday, believe the cross is representative of the Crucifixion.  Due to their religious connotations, protestant England attempted to ban bakers from selling the buns.  However, due to their popularity, the ban was not successful and Queen Elizabeth  I passed a law which only permitted the sale of Hot Cross Buns at Easter and Christmas.

Hot cross buns belong on the list of things that you can easily buy, but taste so much better home made, along with mince pies, fresh bread and marmalade.  We used Nigella’s recipe, although with some minor tweaks (lots more spices for one thing, and half as many, but twice buns for another).  It would have been useful to have a piping bag for the crosses, but all things considered they were a triumph.   They had more fruit than the average shop bought bun and a delicious glaze on the top. Next time we will increase the fruit and spice content even more!

I took most of the cake to work and my colleagues were impressed.  One, who shall remain nameless, said that his wife had made banana bread at the weekend, but that it was nothing compared to mine! 

Although I had a recipe, I only loosely followed it.  Nigella’s recipe is available here.  

My modification of this recipe is descibed below:

• Preheat oven to 170°C;
• Place100g Sultanas into a saucepan with 75ml Whisky as I didn’t have the Bourbon or Rum Nigella suggested.  My hand “slipped” as I measured this out, so it was more like 150ml;
• Combined 175g Plain Flour, 2tsp Baking Powder, 1/2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda & 1/2tsp Salt in a bowl;
• Melt 125g Unsalted Butter;
• In a second bowl add the melted butter to 150g Sugar and beat in 2 Free Range Eggs, one at a time;
• Mash about 300g Very Ripe Bananas (thanks Emma) and add to butter, sugar and eggs.  N.b. the 300g should not include the peels;
• Add in the drained sultanas, 1stp Vanilla Extract and 60g Macadamia Nuts.  Nigella’s original recipe used Walnuts, but she’s not always right.  I think Macadamia Nuts are better;
• Add the flour mix to the banana mix, 1/3 at a time;
• Bake for 1-1 1/2 hrs in a buttered, paper lined tin.  Nigella said a loaf tin, but I didn’t have one so used a circular loaf tin;
• Take to work to share with friends.

Quince mince pies

When I told my mother about putting quince in mince meat she said ‘well that’s not very traditional’, I pointed out if we were having traditional mince pies they would have beef in them and that a little bit of seasonal exploration never did anyone any harm.  I am loving quinces at the moment, they must be one of the few fruit left that you really can only get for one month in a year.  The recipe is from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess, which has to be one of my favourite cook books of all time.

• 500g quinces (which is about two)
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 125g each sultanas, raisins and dried apricots
• 125g light muscovado sugar
• 125g vegtable sugar
• 1 teaspoon each ground cardomon, cloves and cinnamon
• 50g crystalised peel
• 50 ml brandy (Nigella suggests various other expensive sounding liqueurs, but I never think its worth it for one recipe)

Heat the overn to 150C, peal the quinces and cut them into wedges, coat them in butter and roast in the oven until tender.  When they are done leave them to cool, then cut into mince meat size chunks and put them into a bowl with all the other ingredients, give it a stir and stick the mixture into clean jars (or make it straight into little pies like I did).