Honey Soaked Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients:

• 1 package of dry yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons
• 1/4 cup warm water, plus 1 tablespoons of water
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup of butter
• 3 tablespoons of honey, plus more for glazing
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup craisins
• 4 cups of flour, plus more for kneading
• 1 cup confectioner sugar
• 1/2 lemon, juice and zest
• pure vanilla extract

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees (eventually)


Directions:

Grease and flour a 13x9 pan and set aside.

Combine dry yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and a touch of honey.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  [I add sweetener to see the yeast feed a bit and ensure its viability.  I have learned that this is not necessary, but the foam created is rather comforting for a nervous bread maker.]

Warm over low the milk, butter, salt and 2 tablespoons of honey until the butter has melted. Do not let it come to a boil!  I recommend letting the butter, salt, and honey melt first, before adding the milk.  Remove front the stove when you see steam rise from the milk.

Pour the mixture into a large bowl.  Add in the yeast water.  Then whisk cinnamon, nutmeg, and eggs into the mixture. Add 2/3 cup craisins.  Finally, add the flour, one cup at a time, stirring with a four until the previous cup disappears into the dough before adding the next one.

Knead on a lightly floured surface for five minutes until the dough is smooth and resilient.  Create a smooth surface of your finished dough ball by stretching and tucking the ends beneath the ball.  For the kneading process, add additional flour until the dough is no longer wet or too sticky to handle.  The dough will become heavier and more elastic, wanting to return to its shape as you stretch, fold over, and push down your dough ball.

Place in a greased bowl, cover with a towel dampened with hot water,  and let rise until the dough ball is doubled.  Since this is a honey sweetened bread dough, this will take approximately three hours.  Then, punch down the dough and divide into 24 balls.  Place the bun balls into the baking pan and let rise until doubled again, rewarming the towel with fresh hot water.  Allow for a minimum of an hour and a half, but the second doubling make take the same amount of time as the first.

With a sharp knife, cut crosses into each bun.  Place in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and brush the tops with honey.  It is helpful to warm the honey before doing so.  Return to the oven and cook 5-7 minutes more.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Whilst cooling, sift a cup of powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl.  In a prep bowl, put one teaspoon honey, one teaspoon water, and fill another teaspoon approximately 3/4 lemon juice and 1/4 pure vanilla extract.  Put in a dash more water.  Zest and then mince the lemon peel.  Add to the prep bowl.  Warm in the microwave for a few seconds to help melt the honey so that you can stir everything together.  Then, slowly whisk the mixture into the powdered sugar until you have a glaze.

Once the buns are cooled, cross the tops with a thick line of glaze.

Myrtle's Note:  Rising will take forever, but the end result is worth it.  My first batch of these was with yeast fed with a pinch of sugar.  However, I put the bit of honey because I like the idea of the dough being solely created from honey.  I also used scissors to make the cuts, but they are not nearly as pretty as those made with a knife.  Because I read that hot cross buns, a Good Friday treat, are meant to be given away.  For now, I do not have a photo since the ones I kept are the poorest looking in the batch!!

Yield:  24

Source:  http://www.homesicktexan.com/2009/04/honey-soaked-hot-cross-buns.html

Roasted Butternut Squash and Goat Milk Cheese Pasta

Ingredients:  

• 2 Butternut Squash
• olive oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/8 cup flour
• 2 cups hot milk
• 6 ounces goat's milk cheese
• 1 tablespoon Gourmet Gardens® Minced Garlic
• Sea salt
• McCormack Peppercorn Medley®
• Ground thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 16 ounces (dry) shell pasta

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Directions:

Cut two butternut squashes in half length-wise.  Scoop out seeds and stringy flesh and discard.  Place all four halves on metal pan.  Generously cover exposed flesh with olive oil, using your fingertips to work it into the flesh.  Generously salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with thyme.  Roast for 55-60 minutes, until fork tender.  The top will be browned.

Scoop out the flesh of one butternut squash (both halves) and purée.   You will need 1/2 cup for this recipe.  You can freeze the rest in 1/2 cup portions for making this or other recipes at a later date.

Score the other butternut squash (both halves) down to the peel in a grid, so that you create one inch cubes. Separate the cubes from the peel.  You may end up with a bit of light colored inner peel on the bottom of the cube that you will want to trim away.  

Bring a large pot of water to boil, adding a bit of salt and olive oil to the water.  Boil the shell pasta 12 minutes (or according to the package directions).

Start the sauce at the same time as you add the pasta to the boiling water.  In a large (5 quart) sauteuse pan, melt butter and garlic and let it simmer.  As it is simmering, heat up your milk.

Add flour, slowly, stirring constantly.  Allow mixture to turn golden brown, stirring constantly.  It should look a little bit foamy.  

Slowly, stirring constantly, add the milk to the mixture.  Allow to simmer strongly, still stirring.  Whilst it is simmering, add in nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon thyme,  1 teaspoon sea salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper.  The sauce will reduce and thicken. 

Once it has thickened, stir in the goat milk cheese.  It will eventually melt and disappear into the sauce as you continue to stir.  Then add 1/2 cup puréed roasted butternut squash to the sauce and stir thoroughly.

Finally, drain the pasta after it finishes cooking.  Then add drained pasta and cubed roasted butternut squash to the sauce and toss.  Serve warm.  

Myrtle's Note:  This will freeze well.  When re-heating, add a bit of milk or heavy whipping cream to the bowl before you put it in the microwave.  

Yield:  6-8 

Source:  Myrtle's head!

Lemony Lemon Brownies

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons lemon zest
• 4-6 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Directions:

Butter an 8x8 pan and set aside.  Zest approximately three large lemons, mince the zest, and set aside.  Juice all the lemons and set aside.

Beat the flour, sugar, salt, and softened butter until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, 2 tablespoons of lemon zest, and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice until combined.  Pour it into the flour mixture and beat for 2 minutes at medium speed until smooth and creamy.

Pour into baking dish and bake for 23-25 minutes.  The top will look very un-cooked, but the edges will be golden brown and pulled away from the pan.  Do not over bake or the bars will be dry.  Allow to cool completely before glazing. 

Filter the powdered sugar and whisk with up to 4 table spoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon lemon zest.  Spread the glaze over the brownies with a rubber spatula and let glaze set.

Cut into bars and serve.

Myrtle's Note:  Once I tackle the glaze, I am going to revise this, but I wanted to capture the recipe now, before I forget that I made them.  Below, the photo has a glaze in which I added about 1.5 extra cups of powdered sugar.  I made it with a mixer, but I forgot to sift the powdered sugar.  A friend suggested that perhaps it would be better to start adding the lemon juice one tablespoon at a time.  As you can see, mine turned out opaque and tasted a bit like powdered sugar.  The photo on the original recipe shows a clear glaze.  SIGH.  Even with a less than tasty glaze, the brownies were rather tasty.  They give the impression of a lemon bar without the shortbread factor.

Yield: 12 bars


Source:  http://www.bestyummyrecipes.com/lemony-lemon-brownies/