Walnut & Cinnamon Sticky Buns

I realised today that I am over my yeast phobia, because on a whim I decided to make sticky buns. Actually I think it is less of a phobia and more of an aversion because with most yeasty things it takes forever before you get to enjoy them! My first thought was to do hot cross buns but Easter is still a month away and anyway I've been buying them since Christmas!

I've had my eye on Dorie's Pecan Sticky Buns for ages but being based on a brioche dough they need an overnight rest in the fridge. I whipped out my version in just a couple of hours. These are my own adaptation.

Walnut & Cinnamon Sticky Buns
Makes 16 buns

For the buns:
4 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cups milk
2 x 7g sachets of instant yeast
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/4 ts salt
100g butter, melted and cooled

For the glaze and filling:
125g butter
1/2 cup golden syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups walnuts
1 tbs cinnamon

For the buns:

Grease a square baking pan, approximately 10 x 10, generously with butter and set aside.

In a small heavy based saucepan combine the milk and sugar and stir over low heat until warm (I always aim for blood temperature) and the sugar is dissolved. Switch off the heat. Stir in the yeast and leave for around 10 minutes. It should become thick and foamy which means your milk was warm enough and your yeast is active (if it does nothing take my advice and just start over again with fresh ingredients).

Sift the flour and salt together into the bowl of your mixer. Add the melted butter and yeast mixture and give a quick stir to combine. Using a dough hook attachment work the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic, approximately 5-8 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for an hour or until it has doubled in size.

For the glaze and filling:

In a small saucepan combine the butter, golden syrup and brown sugar. Bring to the boil over medium heat, keeping a close eye and stirring occasionally.

Pour the mixture into your prepared baking pan, reserving around 4 tbs in the saucepan. Tilt the pan to coat the surface evenly. Sprinkle over the walnuts then set aside.

To the reserved mixture add the cinnamon and stir well to combine. This forms the filling of the buns. You will need to reheat the mix over low heat to make it a spreadable consistency when you are ready to assemble the buns.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Turn out the dough onto a floured board and roll out into a large square, approx 16 x 16. Spread the filling mixture over the top as evenly as possible. Starting with the edge nearest you, roll the dough up into a cylinder.

Cut the dough into 16 pieces and place cut side up into the baking pan on top of the glaze.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest for around 30 minutes or until they have doubled in size, rising up to the top of the pan.

Bake at 200 degrees celsius for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 180 and bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until the buns are golden brown.

Turn out onto a platter or bread board covered in baking paper as soon as possible after removing the buns from the oven. Be very careful as the glaze will be scalding hot.

Try to hold out for a few minutes at least before digging in as you will most definitely burn your fingers and your mouth. But it's totally worth it!

Delicious!!!

Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes

For the past couple of years Saturday has been just another working day for me. Working for yourself from home kind of means the days of the week are irrelevant anyway so I've never minded. Then for the past couple of weeks we've had birthing classes to go to which were a lot of fun but still an early start.

But now I am officially on maternity leave ... no clients, no classes, nothing to do but get ready for this baby who will be here in 6 weeks (!!!) And what better way to celebrate a Saturday morning than with pancakes!

I've been on an oats kick for the past month or so, having either porridge or bircher muesli every day without fail and although I wanted pancakes I wasn't ready to give up on my oats either. Lucky for me this recipe has been floating around for awhile, first at Joy the Baker, then at A Whisk and a Spoon.

They were the perfect start to the day. We also finally got out to the movies for the first time in about 6 months and saw Ghost Town. We liked!

Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes
Adapted from Sunset Magazine

1 1/2 rolled oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries or raspberries ( I used frozen)
butter or oil to grease the pan

1. In a bowl mix oats and buttermilk. Let stand at least 15 minutes, or up to 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk and vanilla. Stir in flour and oats mixture. Mix until evenly moistened, then fold in blueberries.

4. Place a nonstick griddle, or nonstick frying pan over medium heat. When hot, coat the pan with a few teaspoons of a light colored oil (you can eyeball the measurement).

5. Pour batter in 1/2 cup portions onto griddle and cook until pancakes are browned on the bottom and the edges begin to look dry, about 2 minutes. Turn with a spatula and cook another 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Coat pan with more oil as needed to coat remaining pancakes.

6. Serve the pancakes as cook or keep warm on a baking sheet, in a single layer in a warm oven (less than 100 degrees Celsius or they will dry out) for 15 minutes, or until you’re able to serve them.

7. Stack and serve with berries, maple syrup, ice cream - whatever takes your fancy!

This quantity will easily feed 4 people. We did find the batter a little runny. so next time I would use only 3/4 cup milk and double the baking powder to give them a little more lift.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Lemon Cup Custards

Wow there was a lot of tension in the ranks about this one! Personally, I love lemon, love custard and love eggs so had absolutely no problem with it. Thanks to Bridget of The Way The Cookie Crumbles for choosing such a simple, delightful recipe!

After reading about the lack of lemonyness, I let the milk simmer for about 10 minutes before bringing it up to the boil and then let it steep for over an hour. I baked them for just over 45 minutes because I wanted firm not jiggly custard. They got a little browner on top than I anticipated but I really liked the effect!

The taste test ...

Luscious, creamy and exactly what you want from a baked custard. I thought it was brilliant to get this effect from a custard which doesn't contain any cream. The lemon flavour was subtle but definitely there and really elevated an otherwise very plain dessert. I was originally planning on topping these with some stewed blueberries but in the end decided they didn't need it.

We will definitely be making these again and playing around with other flavour combinations.

You will find the recipe on The Way The Cookie Crumbles.

Belated Chocolate Armagnac Cake

So clearly my tastes are fickle at the moment. Not 5 days ago I swore I was totally over chocolate cake and couldn't face making another one.

My reasons for relenting were threefold, firstly everyone else's cakes looked so fudgy and fantastic that I was already regretting my decision by last Tuesday night, secondly N's mum was coming over for lunch and we wanted something drool-worthy for dessert and thirdly, well, I'm pregnant dammit and if I want chocolate cake I want it now!

I subbed cranberry juice for the alcohol and let the prunes steep overnight. I also used ground almonds because it was easier though I imagine walnuts and pecans would complement the Armagnac (or regular brandy or scotch) perfectly.

How did it go? Actually it was the first unmitigated Dorie disaster I've ever had. It was a breeze to whip up and I even floured the tin (which I never do) just to make sure it would all work out. I gave it 35 minutes in the oven by which time it was puffed almost to the top of the tin, cracking on top, coming away from the sides and looking done for all intents and purposes. A skewer came out clean and I even used my snazzy new digital thermometer to check the internal temp (I stopped looking when it reached about 75 deg C).

The problems started when I went to lift it from the cooling rack onto a plate and it started to separate in the middle. I then realised just how underdone it was when I plonked the glaze in the middle and it started to sink. Seriously. There was a crackly topped cake tsunami effect going on with the glaze getting lower and lower in the centre and the cake being pushed out towards the edges. I persevered and spread it out anyway.

By this stage I knew it was rubbish so I cut a piece anyway and yep, it was liquid in the middle. Not chocolate lava cake but actual liquid cake mixture exactly like when it went in the oven. Ewww!

So it went back in the oven, glaze and all, for another 40 MINUTES! before it actually started to firm up. No photos of that, it would put you all off your food.

I have no idea what is going on. I haven't had any problems like this with our oven before. If anything it tends to cook faster because it is a convection oven.

I imagine if it had worked as intended it would have been fantastic. What we ended up with was 'meh'. While I am curious to see what would happen next time I can't see myself making this again.

Particularly when after one bite I decided I really am over chocolate cake. *sigh*

Chocolate Overload

Can one ever have too much chocolate cake? I wouldn't have thought so but after this month's DB pick I'm definitely all chocolated out. I love the idea of this cake though, even the prunes (especially because of the prunes really because they go so well with chocolate!) so will make it sometime in the future. My Dad would love this, pity his birthday isn't until November...

Thanks to LyB of And then I do the dishes for this week's choice. And apologies for not making it!