Feeling Hot & Cross today???

I never thought that I can bake bread again as I was never quite successful with them. I was pretty wrong and this time, my bread was soft and fluffy and it lasted for 3 days. Yummy indeed!!!

I came across this Hot Cross Buns from the Prima Flour website. Over there, they have some good recipes for different types of flour.
And of course, with their recipes, I was finally able to bake a soft and fluffy bread.

The dough was let to proof for about 1 hour, and it doubled up in size

After which they were divided into 50g each, and left to proof for another 1 hour.

Egg wash them and pipe the crossing.

And here we have, the "Hot Cross Buns".
Well, for mine, it's probably the PLAIN Hot Cross Buns as I had omitted the raisins, sultanas and lemon peel for fear that the girls will not eat them. Hmmm, but I guessed these buns ain't their favourite as they did not touch any of them. Whereas, for my friend and I, were couldn't wait to try them after they were taken out from the oven... Boy do I love the aroma of the freshly baked buns...:))

Recipe as adapted from Prima Flour

Ingredients:

(yields about 8 buns)

HOT CROSS BUNSPart (A)
200 g PrimaFlour Bread Flour
135 ml Milk
30 g Sugar
25 g Margarine
8 g Intant Yeast
¾ tsp Cinnamon Powder
½ tsp Salt

Part (B)
40 g Raisins
20 g Sultanas
10 g Lemon Peel

Method:

Using a dough hook, mix (A) at low speed for 2 mins, then at medium speed for 12-15 mins until dough is developed. Add (B) and mix at low speed for 1 min. Knead and leave to ferment for 1 hour at room temperature. Divide dough into 8 pieces (about 60g each) and shape into balls. Place onto lightly greased baking pan. Cover with plastic and leave at room temperature for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 200°. Egg wash and pipe a cross on each bun just before baking. Bake for 13-15 mins.

Crossing100 g PrimaFlour Plain Flour
165 g Margarine
65 g Sugar

1. Soften margarine and mix with sugar for 5 mins at low speed.
   
2. Add PrimaFlour Plain Flour and mix well.

■Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls■ Yummy Yum Yum ■

Yummy Yum Yum!!!

I am in for a big treat!!!!

These Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls were really FANTASTIC!!!

Being a bread-idiot as usual, I hadn't been much successful in baking 90% of the bread attempts. Do not ask me why, I am as ??? as you are... I have seen many people baked wonderful, soft & delicious bread, but just not me... Probably it is just me.. hahahaha....:-p

I came across these Pioneer Cinnamon Rolls some where, but I can't remembered exactly where, but for sure, I had landed in The Little Teochew, and then Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls.

However, these Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls were really great as no kneading was needed.. And that's is just what I wanted. Even though no kneading was needed, I still had a little hiccups of rolling the dough somehow.. OK OK, I know, it was REALLY just ME!!!
I was supposed to spray the rolls before baking them, so as they would not become too dry. However, I did not have the water sprayer, so ended up a little too dry on my cinnamon rolls.

These are the rolls before and after bake.

As you could see, I did not manage to roll up nicely, and end up a little "off" the "rolls" shapes.

After the make-over with the lemon icing, these rolls looked pretty good, weren't they??

These rolls had a very soft-like bread texture and I was really impressed with them...!!!

Warning!!!!

These Cinnamon Rolls ARE DANGEROUS as they are very additive. You just can't help popping in one roll after another.

Unfortunatley, only my helper and myself were enjoying these rolls.

The big boy & the 3 girls were hiding as far as they could from these rolls:-D

For Pionner Woman Cinnamon Rolls notes, please click HERE

Recipe

(Adapted version from The Little Teochew)

(with my own measurements in blue)
1 1/3 cup whole milk (315ml)
1/3 cup vegetable oil (75ml canola oil)
1/3 cup caster sugar (45g)
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast (instant yeast)
2 2/3 cups plain flour (+ 1/3 cup) (340g + 45g)
1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
100g unsalted butter - melted 

1/2 cup brown sugar (100g)
Adequate Cinnamon powder 

Sultanas, as desired

Method:1. Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan.
2. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool for about 30 mins.
3. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but not hot, sprinkle in dry yeast. Let this sit for a min.
4. Add 2 2/3 cups of flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.
5. Add 1/3 cup of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. At this point the dough will be quite sticky, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two. This will give you a firmer dough. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down.
6. When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Form a rough rectangle with the dough. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape.7. Drizzle melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon powder and sultanas.
8. Starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.
9. Cut the roll to approximately 1 inch thick and lay them in a greased baking tray. Leave a little space in between the rolls for them to rise.
10. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 mins or until they look bloated, then bake at a 180℃ pre-heated oven until light golden brown, about 20-25 mins.

Banana Macadamia Chocolate Chips Cake, A Healthier Choice (Vegetarian-No egg, No Dairy)

Nope... I am not a vegetarian, in case you wondered why these days I kept baking vegan cakes....hehehe...

It is going to be a good long 15 days for the Chinese Lunar New Year and the last day will ends on the 24th Feb, 初十五。And I am sure by then, everyone of us would have gained a little more weight than usual due to the goodies and the delicious delicacy during these periods... I am probably 1 of them too... Oops... kekeke....

So today, I will like to share this great recipe from Alex Goh's, Fabulous Cake Business.

His Eggless Banana Cake, he claimed that this cake is moist and dense, and moreover, his cake recipes never failed any....

 I had to try this recipe, also partly because I liked to use up my 2 over riped bananas... LOL...

I had baked it in a 7" inch round cake pan and 3 regular sized muffins. I personally felt that it will be better if you could baked them in muffins as it will take shorter time in baking and it is more easily consumed... In fact, Nat had taken 2 of the muffins after I had baked them, I was glad as she told me that she loved these muffins as they were so yummy...♡♡♡

Well, she was right... Straight after I had taken the pictures of the cake, I had taken a bite of it... Yes, it was indeed, moist and dense, with the macadamia nuts and chocolate chips in the cake....ooooh.... it was just plain awesome... Though I had cut down about 50g of the sugar, the cake tasted well because of the sweetness of the overripped bananas. My friend had also tried one and he said they were fabulous!!!

A very light, moist and dense cake is what I had gotten here...☆

So, what are you waiting for... Start now and eat a little healthy today...♡

Recipe as adapted from Alex Goh's, Fabulous Cake Business

(With slight modification to change this cake to a Vegan Cake)

Ingredients:

(A)

160g Banana, mashed

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp baking soda (omitted)

(B)

180g butter (replaced with 180ml canola oil)

170g sugar (I cut down to 125g)

(C)

160g milk

1/8 tsp banana flavour (omitted)

(D)

250g plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

(E)

15g plain flour

150g raisins

(For (E), I had totally omitted all & changed to my preferred choices, 75g chopped macadamia and 50g chocolate chips)

Method:

1. Mix (A) until well blended & set aside. Soak the black raisins in (E) in water for about 10mins & squeeze it dry. Toss them with flour.

2. Beat (B) at medium speed until light and creamy. Gradually add (C) and beat until light and smooth. Mix until well combined.

3. Add in (D) in a few batches & mix until well blended.

4. Pour batter into a 7" cake pan and bake in a preheated oven of 180C for about 50-60mins or until a skewer stick comes out clean.

(As I had replaced butter with canola oil, I had mixed the milk, sugar and oil in a big mixing bowl. Mix well to get the sugar a little dissolved. Add in the flour and combined well.)

Let's go vegetarian today.... Apple Raisins Cake

Let's go vegetarian today...!!!

This Apple Raisins Cake was a great treat... 

Reason being it was healthy, dairy-free & eggless...

Instead of using margarine, I had replaced it with canola oil.

Though it was eggless, no dairy, this cake turned out very well. It was so soft and crumbly. I had also reduced a small amount of the sugar and I think it was still a little sweet, probably because of the sweetness from the apples and the raisins. I had also topped the cake with some chocolate chips... Yummy!!!

This cake was getting a great responses from family and friends and they liked it as much as I did♡

♧So are you ready to go on vegetarian for this cake too?♧

Recipe as adapted from Eggless Cakes & Cookies by Jamie Jong,

Eggless Cranberry Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

(with slight modifications)

250g margarine(250ml canola oil)

180g sugar(150g)

180ml water

340g self raising flour

100g dried cranberries(150g diced apples)

100g chopped walnuts(100g raisins)

Method:

1. Cream margarine and sugar till light and creamy. Add in water gradually, beat well.

2. Fold in sieved flour, cranberries and chopped walnuts, mix well.

3. Pour mixture into a greased and lined 7" cake mould.

4. Baked in a preheated oven of 160C for 1 1/4 hr.

(As I had replaced with margarine with oil, I had mixed the sugar, water and oil. Mix well. Add in the sieved flour into the liquid mixture, mix well until well blended.

Sprinkle the diced apples and raisins with some flour to prevent them from sinking to tje bottom of the cake. Mix into the batter and mix well.

Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for about 60mins or until a skewer stick comes out clean.)

Have fun! Happy Vegan Day♡