Vanilla Bean Scones

These really are the best scones I've ever made.

Vanilla Bean Scones

slightly adapted from here

For the Scones:

3 cups plain flour (I use "00")

2 tablespoons polenta

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

170g cool unsalted butter, diced

¾ cup buttermilk, plus extra fro brushing

¼ cup maple syrup

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

For the Glaze:

1 cup icing sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Make the Scones:

Preheat the oven to 190C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Set aside.

Put the flour, polenta, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and stir to combine. Use a pastry butter (or your fingers) to cut in (or rub in) the butter until you have a rough, crumbly mixture.

Put the buttermilk, maple syrup, egg and vanilla bean paste into a jug and whisk to combine. Pour into the dry ingredients and blend just until it comes together, but there are still dry pieces. Dump the mixture out into a work surface and bring the dough together with your hands, flattening and folding the dough a few times (this building flakiness). Make two discs from the dough and cut each into six scone wedges. Place them on the prepared tray and brush the tops with buttermilk. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes until they are light brown on top. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

Make the Glaze:

Whisk the glaze ingredients together until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled scones.  Leave to set for an hour before eating.

Danish Pastries

I love pastry.  I love the thought of pastry.  I love making pastry.  I love the feel of pastry.  I love working with pastry.  I love the smell of pastry.  I love seeing pastry separate into flaky layers and become golden brown on baking.  I love watching people eat the pastry I have made.  I love photographing pastry.  I love eating pastry... which is probably the reason I love all that comes before. I think I'm 80% pastry... the other 20% is pure butter.

NOTE: I made 3 jam filled pastries and 3 Nutella filled pastries.  I made the Nutella ones for my boys who are Nutella-mad and to find out if they worked.  They really did work, but the jam-filled ones are, and always will be, my favourite.

Danish Pastries

slightly adapted from here

Makes 6 (*see below)

For the Pastry:

60ml lukewarm water

125ml milk, at room temperature

1 large egg, at room temperature

350g baker's flour (bread flour)

7g (1 sachet) dried yeast

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

25g caster sugar

250g unsalted butter, cold cut into small dice

For the Filling:

Any jam or spread of your choice.  I used homemade blackberry jam and Nutella.

For the Egg Wash:

1 egg

2 tablespoon milk

For the Clear Glaze:

100g caster sugar

60ml water

For the Sugar Glaze:

100g icing sugar

1 - 2 tabelspoons warm water

Chocolate Drizzle:
50g dark chocolate, melted

Make the Dough:

Put the water, milk and egg into a bowl, mix and set it aside.

Put the flour, yeast, salt and sugar into a food processor and blitz to mix.  Add the butter and process until it becomes a rubble (you don't want it to be completely fine).

Tip the flour mixture into a mixing bowl, add the wet mixture and fold together until it becomes a sticky dough.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator and leave it to come to room temperature.  On a lightly floured board, roll it into a square about 50cm x 50cm.  Fold the square into thirds, like a business letter, turn it 90° so that the closed edge is on your left.  Roll it out again to a 50cm square, repeating the steps above three times.

*At this point you can cut the pastry in half and use one half for making the Danish Pastries below and freeze the other half for a day when you desperately need would like Danish pastries for breakfast, but can't be bothered with the whole pastry making palaver.

Make the Egg Wash:
Whisk the egg and milk together in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Make the Clear Glaze:
Put the caster sugar and water into a small saucepan.  Bring to boil and remove from heat once the sugar has dissolved.  Set aside.

For the Sugar Glaze:
Mix the icing sugar with enough warm water to make a drizzling consistency.  Set aside.

Make the Pastries:
Take said half of pastry (**see above) and roll it out to a big rectangle.  Cut it into 6 even squares. Fold opposing corners of each pastry square into the middle using a bit of the egg wash to seal them down and place them on a baking paper lined baking tray.

Dollop a tablespoonful of your chosen jam or spread into the middle of each square and brush the pastry with egg wash.  Leave to puff up for about 1½, or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly.

Brush with the clear glaze and leave to cool completely before drizzling with the sugar glaze (or chocolate drizzle).

Walnut Espresso Cake with Candied Walnuts

 

This makes a killer special occasion cake... Monday afternoon is a special occasion, right?

Walnut Espresso Cake with Candied Walnuts

slightly adapted from here

For the Cake:

220g golden caster sugar

4 eggs separated, plus one extra egg white

Pinch of salt

150g walnuts, finely chopped

100g, plain flour

For the Candied Walnuts:

50g walnut halves

30g pure icing sugar

20ml walnut liqueur

For the Walnut Cream:

60g pure icing sugar, sifted

50g unsalted butter, softened

30ml walnut liqueur

For the Espresso Glaze:

200g, pure icing sugar

30ml espresso, cooled to room temperature

20ml walnut liqueur

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 17cm x 22cm cake pan with cooking oil spray and line it with baking paper.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the sugar and yolks for about 5 minutes, until it has doubled in volume and is pale and thick.  Add the chopped walnuts and sift the flour over the mixture.  Fold with a large metal spoon until combined.

Put the egg whites and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip to firm peaks.  Add the whipped egg whites to the walnut mixture in two batches, mixing gently but thoroughly.  

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes until light golden and springs back with lightly pressed in the middle. 

Cool in the pan, turn out, trim the edges and halve. Set aside.

Make the Candied Walnuts:

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix.  Spread onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for about 4 - 5 minutes, until golden and crystalised.  Allow them to cool and then roughly chop. Set aside.

Make the Walnut Cream:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip all of the ingredients together until pale and creamy.  Set aside.

Make the Espresso Glaze:

Sieve the icing sugar into a mixing bowl and add the espresso and liqueur.  Mix until the sugar has dissolved. 

To Assemble:

Spread one half of the cake with the walnut cream and top it with the other half.  Set aside to set for 30 minutes.

Pour the espresso glaze over the top and let it drip down the sides of the cake.  Scatter with the candied walnuts.  

Overnight Sourdough Buttermilk Waffles

My love of waffles began on my first trip to the US many years ago... it's still going strong.

Overnight Sourdough Buttermilk Waffles

slightly adapted from here

Makes about 12

For the Overnight Sponge:

250g cups baker's flour

30g caster sugar

450ml buttermilk

250g active sourdough starter

For the Batter:

Sponge 

2 large eggs

50ml unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Make the Sponge:

Put all the sponge ingredients into a bowl and stir to mix.  Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature overnight.

Make the Batter:

Preheat the waffle iron.

Put the egg in a small bowl and beat to break them up.  Add the oil and the sponge mixture.  Next, add the salt and baking soda a stir to combine.  The batter will become light and airy.

Lightly spray the waffle iron with some cooking oil and pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the middle. 

Cook according to the manufacturers instructions, or until golden-brown.

Blackberry Jam and Custard Doughnuts

My friend Christina of Christina's Cucina fame, recently posted a photo of her Perfect Yeast Doughnuts with a link to the recipe on her blog.  It was love at first sight for me and I knew I needed these gorgeous puffs of fried dough in my life and on my breakfast table STAT... and she's right, they really are perfect.

Below, you'll find the recipes for the jam and custard. You can get the recipe for the doughnuts by clicking on the link here.  I followed Christina's instructions to the letter and if you do the same you'll end up with the most delicious breakfast going around.

My version includes the addition of homemade blackberry jam and vanilla custard which was an idea inspired by this recipe.  

For the Custard:

1 cup cream

1/2 cup full cream milk

4 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup caster sugar

2 tablespoons cornflour

For the Blackberry Jam:

220g caster sugar

2 tablespoons water, plus extra if needed

100g fresh blackberries

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Make the Custard:

Put the cream and milk into a small saucepan over medium heat. When it reaches simmering point, remove it from the heat. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, vanilla, sugar and cornflour until combined. Whisk the hot milk mixture, very gradually, into the egg mixture.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, whisking continuously, until thickened. Remove from the heat and pour the custard into a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic has direct contact with the custard, this will stop a skin from forming, and chill in the refrigerator.

Make the Blackberry Jam:

Put the sugar into a medium size saucepan, add 2 tablespoons of water and place it over a low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high, stop stirring and cook for a few minutes until the mixture resembles light honey, swirling the pan from time to time. Remove from the heat and aside.

Put the berries and vanilla bean paste into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Pass through a fine mesh sieve, discard the seeds. Add the berry puree to the caramel and stir. If the caramel has set a little, pop the saucepan back on a low heat and stir until it has melted again. You can add a few more tablespoons of water to thin the caramel if needed. Cool completely.

Pipe the fillings into the Doughnuts:

Spoon both the fillings into separate piping bags fitted with plain tips.  Poke a hole in the side of each doughnut with a skewer, then pipe equal amounts of custard and jam into each.

Cinnamon Buckwheat Crumpets with Orange Curd and Strawberries

The instant I bite into a crumpet I'm transported back to my childhood.  I can see my 7 year old self sitting at our enormous kitchen table, in our huge kitchen with the wood-fired stove.  My two older brothers sitting opposite me, my little sister sitting next to me and my baby sister in her high chair. Mum and Dad sitting at either ends of the table passing trays of toasted crumpets and condiments (usually salted butter and honey) and pouring coffee for themselves and milk for us. There were no acai smooth bowls back then.

Cinnamon Buckwheat Crumpets with Orange Curd and Strawberries

adapted from here

Makes 18 crumpets

For the Crumpets:

110g buckwheat

100g spelt flour

1 teaspoon dark muscovado sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1¼ teaspoons dried yeast

175ml lukewarm milk

225ml buttermilk

60g unsalted butter

For the Curd:

220g caster sugar

180ml fresh orange juice

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

70g unsalted butter, softened

Pinch sea salt

To Serve:

Fresh strawberries, sliced

Make the Crumpets:

Combine the buckwheat and spelt flours in a bowl and add the sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, make a sponge by mixing the yeast and milk together and adding ½ cup of the dry mixture.  Set this sponge mixture aside for 30 minutes. 

Whisk the sponge into the remaining dry mixture along with the buttermilk.  Whisk until you have a smooth batter.  Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size and bubbly.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Spread about 40g of the butter over the base of a rimmed baking tray.  Place some egg rings or cookie cutters on the baking tray and heat in the oven for 3 minutes, until the butter starts to melt.  Remove the tray from the oven, brush the rings with the remaining butter, and pour heaped tablespoons of the batter into the rings.  Bake for 14 minutes or until risen and cooked through.  Use a butter knife to release the crumpets from the rings.  Continue with the remaining batter.  Keep the crumpets warm.

Make the Curd:

Put the sugar, orange juice eggs, egg yolks and vanilla into a heat-proof bowl and whisk to combine.

Put the bowl over a pan of simmering water, don't let the pan touch the water, and continue whisking. The mixture will start to become foamy, then it will start to thicken. Remove from the heat, whisk in the butter and salt.  Pour into a sterilised jar and set aside to cool.  Refrigerate to set.

To Serve:

Spread the warm crumpets with generous dollops of orange curd and strew with sliced strawberries. If you have any leftover for the next day, toast them and repeat with the whole orange curd - fresh strawberry thang... or go old school and drizzle with honey like in the good old days. :P

Peanut Butter and Vanilla Granola

Peanut butter and vanilla are magic together and are some of my favourite flavours... Along with chocolate and coffee, but that's a whole other story. 

Peanut Butter and Vanilla Granola

slightly adapted from here

2 cups traditional rolled oats
½ cup peanut butter (I use Mayver's Dark Roasted Peanut Butter.)
¼ cup honey (I use Beechworth Honey - Outback Honey because that's where my mother in law is from... and because it's delicious.) You can also use maple syrup if you want to keep this vegan.
¼ cup coconut oil
4 teaspoons vanilla extract (I use homemade.)
Pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Line a large rimmed baking tray with baking paper.

Put all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir to thoroughly coat the oats.

Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking tray, right to the edges to that it's about 1cm thick.  Bake for 10 minutes, give it a stir and bake for a further 8 - 10 mintues, or until golden.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray.

Once cool, break the granola up and store in an airtight jar.