Finger buns

Before the issue of childhood obesity and before the day of the sugar police making their way into Australian schools, you could get some damn good stuff at the school canteen. Now granted, I do think it's a good idea to somewhat regulate what's offered at the school canteen and ensure that healthy food is a priority. But I can't help but wonder what kids in the future will look back on with nostalgia.

What I remember about my school canteen is the finger bun. Every week with my pocket money in tow I would have the pleasure of deciding on a treat. For me nothing could beat the finger bun. Sitting there all glazed up with the pretty pink icing, there was never really any competition.


From time to time, I'll see these at a cafe or bakery and just the sight of them reminds me of childhood. So when I was recently flicking through a new magazine and came across a recipe for finger buns, I knew I had to make them.


These do take a while to make but like most baking, the end is definitely worth the means. What you end up with are deliciously spiced and sweetly glazed buns. I served these for afternoon tea on the day I baked them to Mr Shady Pine and a friend who were working hard on a landscaping project at The Shady Pine. Four finger buns later, I gathered they enjoyed them! While I really loved having one with my coffee, what I really enjoyed was making these and seeing the end result. The school memories made it all the better.




Finger buns
Makes 12
Recipe adapted from Super Food Ideas magazine, March 2012 issue, Recipe by Kim Coverdale

Ingredients:
7g sachet yeast
1/3 cup raw caster sugar
½ cup milk, warm
2 ½ cups baker’s plain flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g butter, chopped
1 egg
½ cup sultanas
¼ cup warm water
Extra milk for brushing
Hundreds and thousands and desiccated coconut to decorate
Pink icing:
1 ½ cups icing sugar mixture
10g melted butter
2 Tbs hot water
Few drops of pink food colour

1. Place yeast, sugar and milk into a bowl and mix well. Rest for 10 minutes or until the mixture start to bubble.
2. In a large mixing bowl add the flour, spices and butter. Rub in butter until breadcrumbs are formed.
3. To the flour add the yeast mixture, ¼ cup warm water, egg, sultanas and vanilla. Mix well. Cover and leave to rest in a warm place for an hour or until the dough is doubled in size.
4. Preheat oven to 200C. Prepare two baking trays.
5. Remove the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface. Knead for 8-10 minutes. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and shape each into a log about 12-14cm long. Place logs onto baking trays. Cover and rest for another 15 minutes.
6. Brush the buns with milk and bake for 12 – 15 minutes until golden brown.
7. Place cooked buns on a cake rack to cool.
8. Place all the icing ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix well until a smooth icing is formed.
9. Spread icing over each finger bun and decorate using the hundreds and thousands and desiccated coconut.
10. Serve as is or cut in half lengthways and spread with butter.

Upside down plum cake (and Beerenberg giveaway winner)

With all the crazy rain we've had recently, Warragamba dam has certainly reached its storage capacity. After almost a decade of drought, you would think this a great thing. But we are a land of extremes and after dealing with times of drought the rains have come.

Many people, especially towns out west are cut in half by flood waters. But even the city didn't escape flooding and this past week saw a traffic nightmare throughout Sydney due to roads cut off by water.


While we live up fairly high, our main access road crosses the Hawkesbury River. This is our main road in and out. The only other option is to go further up the mountains crossing them and doing a loop that would take 2 to 3 hours. So on hearing the news last Friday that the bridge over the hawkesbury was due to be closed, both Mr Shady Pine and I dashed home from work not wanting to be cut off and be subjected to the alternate long drive home.


What I didn't expect was such a panic from people. I stopped in at our closest supermarket on my way home to get some extra supplies in case the bridge was closed for several days and was faced with mayhem. People were everywhere cleaning out the shelves. I felt like I was on the set of a disaster movie. So I grabbed the essentials and high tailed out of there as quick as I could.

In the end the bridge was only closed for a day as the flooding wasn't as severe as predicted. But while it was closed I did enjoy a sense of being cut off from the world for a little while. I pottered around the house. I thought about how we would get on if we were completely cut off for a long time. I figured from the supplies in our pantry, freezer and garden we would probably have enough food to feed us for a month easily.


I also baked. With lots of stranded neighbours I figured I would have a cake on standby for any visits. I had exactly 4 plums in the fruit bowl and this recipe called for 4-5. This cake is a really lovely balance between the fruity plums and cake batter. Also, because the plums are spread out on the bottom of the cake tin with sugar, they turn really jammy, sticky and delicious when the cake is turned out.

I am also pleased to announce that Sarah from From my Vegie Patch to Plate is the winner of the Beerenberg giveaway draw....congratulations Sarah!



Upside down plum cake
Adapted from cake recipe here

Ingredients:
4 plums
1 cup plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarb soda
60g butter
¾ cup sugar (preferably raw caster sugar)
½ cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Line the base of a 23cm round cake tin with baking paper.
3. Sprinkle 2 Tbs of sugar on the base. Arrange the plums in a circular pattern on top of the sugar and covering the base of the tin.
4. In a mixing bowl, mix the butter, vanilla, sugar and egg with a mixer until the sugar has dissolved.
5. To the butter mixture, add the flour, baking powder, bicarb and milk and mix well with a wooden spoon to make a smooth batter.
6. Spoon the cake batter over the top of the plums ensuring the batter is well spread out.
7. Bake for 25 minutes. The cake will be cooked when a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
8. Allow the cake to cook for 5 minutes in the tin before turning it out.
9. This cake is best served warm with a dollop of cream if desired.

Sticky buns

It's been raining. A lot. I'm not one to complain about the rain. Well not most of the time anyway. I love the sound of it dancing on the roof as I'm pottering about inside. More importantly, at The Shady Pine tank water is our only water source so the arrival of rain signifies the topping up of the water tank.

All good things, except it had been raining non stop for days and weeks. The water tank was in over flow and even the promise of long untimed showers were not enough to get me out of a funk. I was getting restless and the sound of the rain, which I usually find peaceful was starting to get annoying.


Even Coco the cat had had enough of being inside. The answer for her was to put herself to bed and sleep it off. When I went to find her, all I could see was this tail and a paw hanging out on the side of the bed. Hard life!

I had to do something to distract myself. So I dragged out my recipe file looking for something new to bake. I came across a recipe for pecan honey sticky buns which was part of an article for rainy day bakes so thought it was only fitting.

Having neither pecans or honey in stock, I figured walnuts and maple syrup would have to do. The making of the dough was really quite easy as all the ingredients came together in a food processer. The longest part of the recipe was leaving the dough once shaped in little balls to rest for an hour to rise. Then it was into a moderate oven for half an hour to bake.

Once out of the oven, you let the buns cool down a little before turning them out. This was the best part as the still warm maple syrup slowly oozed out over the buns leaving a golden brown nutty topping. It was hard to resist scooping the maple covered walnuts left stuck to the bottom of the pan so these bits were quickly scraped off and eaten. This was all the confirmation I needed that maple syrup and walnuts were an unbeatable combination!

With a bit of baking, a sticky bun and cup of coffee for afternoon tea, I forgot about the rain for a while.

Maple and walnut sticky buns
Adapted from recipe for Sticky honey pecan buns (August 2007 Super Food Ideas, Recipe by Julie Jensen)
Makes 12

Ingredients:
50gm butter
1/3 cup maple syrup
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup walnuts, chopped
½ cup milk
50gm butter, chopped
1 tsp sugar
8g instant dry yeast
2 ½ cups plain flour
¼ cup caster sugar

1. Grease 22cm cake tin and line base with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. In a small pot over low heat, melt 50gm butter, maple syrup and brown sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour this mixture over the base on the cake tin. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over the top.
3. Heat the milk, butter and sugar in small pot until butter is melted. Add dry yeast to this mixture and stir well.
4. Using a food processor, add milk mixture, flour, eggs, caster sugar and process until a ball of dough forms.
5. Knead the dough for a few minutes until it becomes elastic.
6. Divide the dough into 12 even portions and shape into balls. Place the balls of dough on top of the maple and walnut syrup. Cover and leave in a warm spot to rise for 1 hour.
7. Bake buns for 25-30 minutes until golden and they sound hollow when tapped.
8. Allow the buns to cool for 10 minutes in the tin. Turn out onto a wire rack. (Make sure to soak the cake tin straight away to avoid that sticky syrup from remaining a permanent fixture).