Cooking in Quarantine - Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding

So we all know what's going on in the world at the moment with COVID-19 so I'm not going to go over it, there's enough on the news channels so we don't need it on my blog. Stuck indoors with a lot of time on our hands I thought I would start to publish some of the recipes I've been showcasing recently on my Instagram stories and grid with the hashtag #QuaranDineWithMe.

 It's going to probably be mostly baking focused if I'm honest with what I post on here, I think we all need it. I've recently dropped a few baked bits off with family who we can't see for obvious reasons and I think I will continue this to spread the love, you know?

This first recipe I'm going to start off with is my recipe for Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding, a seasonal take on the classic Bread and Butter pudding. There's also loads of hot cross buns in the shops still and lots reduced in price, so why not? You can of course make your own hot cross buns, but I need to ration my flour for other baking so decided to just buy some in on this occasion. Tell no one. Even though I just told you.

Ingredients:
2tbsp salted butter (I know it's usually unsalted but I just think it works)
2 cups whole milk
1tsp vanilla extract or vanilla sugar if you're Scandinavian
1/2 cup caster sugar
pinch of salt
4 eggs, beaten
6 hot cross buns
50g chocolate chips (optional)

Method:
1. Grease your tin, I use a glass dish about 8 x 8 inches, no need to line.
2. Melt the butter and whisk together with the milk, vanilla, sugar and pinch of salt. Then add in the beaten eggs.
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (160 fan), gas mark 4 or 350f.
4. Cut the buns in half like you would if you were eating them and add them to the mix and leave to absorb the liquid for about 20 minutes. This will now resemble sick, do not panic, this is correct and delicious. Add the mixture to the dish and line up the buns in rows so they're kind of standing up.
5. Place the dish in the oven and bake until the custard sets and the edges go fabulous and golden, about 40 minutes. This can also be reheated later on if you want to make it ahead, takes about 20 minutes on the same heat.

You can of course now add a sauce or just cream if you'd like. I tend to get a jar of salted caramel, head that up and pour it oven. DONE.




Pin It Now!

Easter Hair!

This is my first hair post, it's just going to be a mini one. I wear my hair in victory rolls and pin curls a lot, and they've always got comments and a bit of attention which is great when it's nice. 

We were at work talking about Easter and one of the lovely ladies I work with jokingly said I should turn them into little nests with little chicks for the Easter period, so I thought 'You know what? I will!' Step down Easter bonnets!

And that's exactly what I did, I used some decorations we got from Poundland that were actual little nests with speckled eggs in and I bought some cute pastel chicks from Tesco. The nests came with feathers in so I ripped those out (didn't want to look crazy, right?), I then secured the chicks with hair grips in the nests.

 I put my hair up in victory rolls but had them more flat so that they could be used to hold the nests, which I secured in place with more grips, lots of grips! I did a little Easter egg hunt for the guys at work so I had to have hair to match, and considering I always do crazy things with my hair I don't really think too many people thought much of it.

Has anyone else done anything similar?

Pin It Now!

Easter Weekend - Visit From The Vikings

 

I love Easter, who doesn't? It has to be my favourite time of year, second to Christmas of course. The daffodils are out, everything comes in yellow....and you get a few cheeky days off too which always helps. This year we had Norwegian family visiting for my cousins 16th birthday which fell on Easter Sunday, this is who I made the One Direction cake for.

 

I managed to get an extra day off as my mum couldn't so I could spend an extra day with them. We've done so much this weekend this is mainly going to be a photo post. On Thursday I took them around St Ives, it's a typical English town with historic features that couldn't be more 'English' and almost villagey in areas. We did some shopping, exploring the old roads by the river and even managed to fit in some lunch at the River Tea Rooms, my favourite place.

 

Friday and Saturday were spent in Cambridge. They'd never seen Primark before, everything in Norway is so expensive compared to here so it was no surprise that my cousin and I spent 3 hours in there..THREE! And I have to say it was great, trying on mounds of clothes and laughing at the awful ones, then comes the scary count-up at the end and trying to get the total down which at one point did hit £145! We then hit Nandos which again you can't find in Norway, and mainly because One Direction eat there, ate a stupid amount but completely worth it. 

 Saturday was a tourist day and we spent the day punting along the river Cam, walking around the old streets, seeing the Universities, the famous fudge shop, gold clock, man playing guitar in a bin (true story) and eating more food of course! In the evening we went out for Chinese and had the funniest evening ever, quite literally spent the whole evening in hysterics which was brilliant.

 

Easter Sunday came and I think I was more excited than the birthday girl and we didn't even let her have a lie-in! I love giving people presents and this was no exception. The family came over at various points, brothers and fiance/wife and my gorgeous niece so we could give them their eggs. Norwegian cardboard eggs filled with chocolates, my niece of course got the biggest (and pinkest). My little brother got one too which I sent down to him the week before. As not many in the house that day liked lamb we decided to have a big turkey dinner followed by the One Direction cake.

 I have to say I love my Easter 'egg', a giant chocolate cupcake!! How perfect...not eaten it all yet... My mum loved the Mozart chocolate balls (don't laugh), so I got her a load of those and even tried making her an actual egg from the moulds I got in Poundland, I think it's definitely much easier to just buy them! But it still looked cute. Keep posted for all of the Easter treats I made.

I love the cupcake headband my niece got...I got one too! Handmade by Norwegian designer Fam Irvoll. These will now be our new baking gear for whenever we're together
Hope you all had a lovely Easter!!

Nom! x

Pin It Now!

Baking Buys - Summer Is On The Way!

I haven't done a Baking Buys post in ages, and I'm sure I have loads of new bits to show you but I can't honestly remember so here are my most recent ones. I got a bit trigger happy with the camera...

My mum was in Norway recently to visit my nan so I was able to send a little shopping list with her, couldn't go too nuts though as she only had hand luggage but luckily I got the most important bits :D. Most people use vanilla extract from a bottle in baking but I don't think I have for years, In Norway you use vanilla sugar, but not as we know it here. It looks like icing sugar and is quite strong so a little goes a long way. So when you see me including it in my recipes it's mainly for my Norwegian readers as vanilla extract just isn't really used there. Don't use the vanilla sugar you sometimes get here (in Waitrose for instance) as it's actually just flavoured sugar so won't be strong enough to replace extract.

I also want to mention this gingerbread cutter. My nan there knows how much I love baking and has always set me up with important baking stuff or let me raid her endless cookbooks, and even now she saves all the recipe leaflets that comes with her magazines for me. So I thought it was really nice she sent her vintage gingerbread cutter over for me. Me and my mum have been looking for one for ourselves for years with no luck so I can't wait for a reason to use it soon - I'll find one!

When I can't get to Norway I order some from the Norwegian Seaman's Church in London - who are a great stockist for when we need a Norwegian food fix when the cupboards are bare! Another great item I asked for is pearl sugar. I've never seen it here so it's luxury for me. It's mainly used for sprinkling on top of bakes that go in the oven - the sugar doesn't melt away like normal sugar as the crystals are bigger, a bit like the biscuits you always get at Christmas. I use it a lot in my Kringle recipes - which reminds me, I must make one for Easter! I went through boxes of this stuff when making practice kringle for The Great British Bake Off audition, worth its weight in gold!

As I mentioned before Easter is around the corner (yay!), next to Christmas it is my favourite time of the year, days get longer, the air gets warmer and nearly everything comes in yellow. Not to mention the extreme amounts of chocolate that enters our house. And this year I am determined to make my own Easter eggs, I even picked up these moulds from Poundland! Amazing! One giant egg and a tray of smaller ones, perfect for a hunt...I may be a grown up but I shall still rummage around the house for chocolate eggs....oh yes I will...

This weekend has felt like the first weekend I have been able to enjoy the sun. On Saturday I went for a brief day visit to my family (pictures with niece and little brother below) in Southampton which was lovely. And on Sunday I spent the day with my mum in the Garden Centre drooling over the Easter bits including these cardboard eggs that everyone uses as Easter eggs in Norway and fill with chocolate. I also had another repeat red velvet cake pop order to make for the now newlywed couple I made the wedding cake pops for. I've forgotten how it feels to bake when the sun is beaming in so I just had to take pictures as it's normally pitch black when I get around the baking after work.

Could sunshine now be a new theme for summer? It was so glorious I even put my stand mixer away in favour of my lilac mixing bowl and my scary brown hand mixer as it just 'felt' sunnier when the bowl was lilac...also I really need to buy some proper tins and stop baking in my biscuit barrels! Pin It Now!