Sweet Things - any way you like them....

Golly, is all I can say! I can't believe it has been so long since my last post. Quinces are all ready gone for another year....I often wonder if I would love quinces as much if I could have them all year round. I wonder? and Winter is here....again! and we are enrolling our big little guy into kindy for next year so finding his birth certificate proved to be a bit more of a challenge then expected.....but it was eventually found.....with last years enrolment form! and I lost my voice for a few days too......Life is never dull here!

I've adjusted the following recipe from one I found in a Country Style magazine. The original was a savoury version but I have much more of a sweet tooth (as I'm sure you're all aware) so I re-jigged the recipe accordingly. I'm sure you could use all sorts of fillings if you like. I've tried milo and cream cheese; diced fig, ricotta and honey and I've also tried diced pear and honey too. Use whatever you have in the pantry I say. Make things easy for yourself and just see what happens! have fun!

ingredients

2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons caster sugar
40g butter, chopped
up to 1 cup of milk

fillings of your choice

How to make your sweet things

Pre-heat oven to 180C fan forced and grab a few biscuit trays and line them with baking paper.

Place flour, baking powder and caster sugar in a bowl. Rub in the butter until it resembles bread crumbs. Make a well and pour in the milk, slowly, (Don't add all the milk right away it depends on the flour) Use a flat blade knife to bring it together. Turn onto a floured bench and knead until smooth. Sprinkle some more flour onto the bench and roll out with a rolling pin into a rectangle with a 1cm thickness. Now you need to get your fillings ready. I normally cut into 2 rectangles so I have 2 different fillings. When adding your fillings just remember to cover the whole rectangle otherwise you might miss out on the flavours!

Once you've added your fillings you need to roll your rectangle (kind of like a swiss roll I guess - the long part gets folded over. Now cut into approx 1.5cm slices and lay each sweet thing onto your tray, leaving a small space around them. You should get at least 30 or so. Pop your trays in the oven and bake for 30 to 35mins or until golden brown. (just be careful when using honey it tends to brown the bases quickly)

Slightly Tweaked Scones....

I was all ready to put up a Scroll recipe this week but then I got distracted (as I do) and here I am throwing around this old chestnut......This recipe first appeared on the blog on the 24th April last year. It's hard to believe that I am already a year old. The very first recipe along with the first dodgy photo appeared on the 6th April 2010.....hopefully my pics are a tiny bit better now!

I really wanted scones for breakfast. I don't know why or where I pulled that idea from but there I was on Sunday morning thinking I had everything and d'oh, no buttermilk. Then I spied 2 little tubs of Vanilla yogurt, just looking at me.....So here's the same recipe but instead of the buttermilk I've used 2 x 200g tubs of Jalna yogurt in Vanilla flavour. The result: YUM!

ingredients
3 and 1/2 cups Self raising flour
2 tablespoons caster sugar
pinch of salt
60g chopped butter
2 x 200g Jalna yogurt tubs

how to make your slightly tweaked scones

Pre-heat oven to 200C (fan forced). Place baking paper over a tray, set aside. Place 3 and 1/2 cups Self raising flour, 2 tablespoons caster sugar and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Combine. Add 60g chopped butter and rub through with your fingers until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the mix and add your 2 tubs of jalna yogurt. Using a flat blade knife, stir until dough almost comes together. Place on a floured surface (or another piece of baking paper on the bench). Give it a really good knead until dough comes together then using a rolling pin, roll out to a 3cm thickness. Then cut out rounds and place on your tray. Cook for approximately 18 - 20 mins, until golden brown on top and they sound hollow when tapped. Makes approximately 12.

I made a simple caramel sauce with equal amounts of butter and brown sugar and then added some chopped figs.........perfect start to Sunday!

honeybuns...

Years ago while I was working full time at an Art Centre a friend suggested I should sell my cakes because they thought they were that good. (a very nice friend indeed!) It was a fairly involved process: working out which cakes I would make; photographing them; creating a catalogue, etc,etc. The easy part was the name! I was flicking through a magazine and read an article about a girl who while at Uni was making cakes part time and walking around to offices and selling her treats for morning tea. She was in England and she called herself, "Honeybuns". Well, I thought that was the cutest name ever and figured she wouldn't mind if I borrowed it seeing as she was half-way across the world! So I started selling my sweet treats at markets and even sold them to the students where I worked as, honeybuns. Funnily enough the boss never actually found out I was doing this. I figured it would most likely be frowned upon so I never said anything and as for the students well, they were getting their sweet fix, they weren't about to jeopardise that.....fun times!

But strangely enough this recipe actually emerged from SBS Tv and not from honeybuns. There's been a series about a guy in Tasmania who touches on all things food such as making his own cured meats and rearing his own chickens...looking at organic ways of living. In this particular episode he got hold of some organic Tasmanian honey and made some honey biscuits. Well, hubby and I thought they looked heavenly as hubby turned to me and said,"Why don't you make something like that?"....ahh men, they have a way with words!

I'm including a couple of versions of my recipe as I have been playing around with it a bit; trying out different honeys and flour,etc. I'm really happy with the result and I hope you like them too!

ingredients

2 cups self raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey of your choice ( I used Golden Nectar Organic Real Leatherwood Honey by R.Stephens 25 Pioneer Drive, Mole Creek, Tasmania)
130g unsalted butter, melted

how to make your honeybuns

Pre-heat oven to 200C fanforced and line 2 trays with baking paper.
sift the flour, bicarb and the brown sugar and mix together well.
add melted butter and add honey and mix with a spoon until mix comes together.
Roll into smallish balls (I get about 22 balls from this mix) and space them out well on your trays (I put 3 to a row)You can also squash them with a fork or leave them as is. Pop the trays in the oven and bake for 10 mins.
Take them out, cool them on the trays for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

OR

ingredients
1 cup Lighthouse Cake, biscuit and pastry with cream of tartar Self raising flour
30g caster sugar
75g unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup honey (I used Lavender honey by Bees in Bowties)

how to make your honeybuns

Pre-heat oven to 200C fanforced and line 1 tray with baking paper.
sift the flour and the caster sugar and mix together well.
add melted butter and honey and mix with a spoon until mix comes together.
Roll into smallish balls (I get about 9 balls from this mix) and space them out well on your tray. You can also squash them with a fork or leave them as is. Pop the tray in the oven and bake for 10 mins.
Take them out, cool them on the trays for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

A little note:The flavour of the honey really influences the flavour of this biscuit. You may like a more mild flavour or a really strong flavour....have a play around!

enjoy!