Easter rosemary biscuits
Makes 24 average-sized biscuits.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
- 500g plain flour
- 180g caster sugar
- 250g butter, diced
- 2 eggs
- drop of milk, if required
- 1tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped finely
- zest of one lemon
To decorate:
- pack of ready-made sugarpaste or Royal icing
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
- Sift the flour and sugar together into a mixing bowl.
- Add the butter and rub together with the flour mix using your fingertips until you have a sand-like texture and the mix resembles breadcrumbs.
- Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, rosemary and lemon zest. Bring the mix together as a dough. If it feels a touch dry, then add a teaspoon of milk at a time as needed.
- Squash the dough down to about 1†thickness, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
- Remove from the fridge and roll out to ½cm thick.
- Cut out shapes using your chosen cutters and place the biscuits on a baking tray.
- Put back in the fridge for 15 minutes to chill the biscuit dough.
- Remove from the fridge and put straight into the oven for 8-10 minutes.
- Decorate as desired with sugarpaste or royal icing. If using royal icing, you can alter the flavour by adding a few drops of lemon juice or rose extract.
Choc-orange hot cross buns
This recipe involves making your own candied peel and it really is worth the effort; in fact it sounds far more effort than it actually is.
Ingredients:
For the candied peel:
- peel of two oranges
- 120ml water
- 120g caster sugar
For the buns:
- 250g plain flour
- 30g granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 120ml milk
- 15g live yeast or 1/2 tsp dried yeast
- 1 egg
- 60g softened butter
- 50g currants
- 50g dark chocolate chips
- 1½ tsp mixed spice
- ½ tsp cinnamon
For the cross:
- 150g flour
- water as needed
Method:
For the the candied peel:
- Using a potato peeler, remove the peel from the oranges, try to avoid including any pith as this will be bitter.
- Cut the peel into thin strips and drop into boiling water for two minutes.
- Drain the peel into a sieve and immediately run under cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Repeat this blanching another one or two times; when the peel has lost it’s bitterness it is done.
- Place 120ml water into a small saucepan along with the 120g caster sugar.
- Stir gently and bring to a simmer. Once the sugar has dissolved drop the blanched peel into the syrup and gently stir.
- Continue simmering for 2-3 minutes, remove from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes.
- Drain the peel, retaining the syrup. Spread the peel out on a plate to dry a little.
For the buns:
- Sift the flour, salt and granulated sugar into a bowl and make a well in the centre.
- Heat the milk very gently to lukewarm, remove from the heat.
- Drop the live yeast into it and leave for a couple of minutes. Pour the beaten egg into the well, followed by the milk mixture. Mix until a dough forms. (If you are using dried yeast you can simply add this into the well without the need to add it to the milk first.)
- Knead lightly in the bowl until smooth.
- Add the softened butter a little at a time, then add the peel, currants and chocolate chips.
- Set the dough aside to rise until it has doubled in volume. Place a damp tea-towel over the bowl and place your bowl somewhere warm, such as the airing cupboard, to prove.
- Once risen, knead the dough very lightly.
- Shape into 12-16 balls and arrange them on a baking tray. Cover with clingfilm and place back in the warm area to double in size.
To Make the Cross:
- Meanwhile, create the cross by putting the 150g flour into a bowl and adding enough water to make a thick paste.
- Fill a piping bag with the mixture and cut off the end to give a ¼cm hole and pipe a cross on each bun.
To bake the buns:
- Bake the buns for 20-25 minutes at 200C/400F/Gas 6.
To finish:
- Remove the buns from the oven and place on a cooling rack over a tray. Brush the reserved orange syrup over the buns for glaze, shine and a super, orangey flavour.
Easter Madeira cake
Makes one 6″ cake
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 135g softened butter
- 135g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 110g plain flour
- 35g self-raising flour
- 2 tsp milk
- 120ml water
- 120g caster sugar
- few drops of rose extract
For the decoration:
- 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 250g icing sugar, sieved
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 50g raspberry jam
Method:
For the cake:
- Grease a six-inch cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
- Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the beaten eggs slowly. Once the eggs are fully incorporated, fold in the flours by hand using a spatula.
- Turn out the batter into the prepared tin and bake on 160C/315F/Gas 2-3 for one hour.
- A skewer inserted into the middle of the cake coming out clean will signify the cake is cooked.
- Whilst the cake is in the oven, place the water and sugar together in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
- Once the sugar has dissolved, set aside to cool. Once cooled, add the rose extract and stir it in.
- Once the cake has cooled, cut the uneven top so it’s flat. Cut the cake to form two layers and invert so the bottom becomes the top.
- Brush the cooled rose syrup onto the top of each sponge to keep the cake moist.
For the icing:
- Mix together the icing sugar and softened butter and beat for two minutes until light and fluffy and pale in colour.
- Spread a layer of jam and a layer of buttercream on the bottom sponge and sandwich the two halves of cake together.
- Using a palette knife, cover the cake with the remaining buttercream.
- Serve as is or decorate further with sugarpaste.
