Yeast buns with marzipan

This recipe was created as I wanted to prepare a yeast buns for a dessert. I had only few ingredients in my cupboard and now you may see the result of my experiment. Would you like to give it a try ?

Ingredients for 12 buns:

• 2,5 cups flour
• 1 tsp yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• about 20 g butter
• 2 tbsp sugar

Mix the yeast with water and sugar. Set aside.

Place the flour and salt into an electric mixer bowl. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix with yeast dough hook. Heat up the milk, add butter, sugar and stir well. Pour into electric mixer bowl. Knead until forms a ball (when it is too loose add more flour). Place to dough ball into a bowl, put into warm place and let it rise.

In a meantime prepare the filling.

Filling :

• 200g marzipan
• 1 - 2 tsp all spice

 Place the marzipan and spices into a blender and whizz until combined. Turn into 12 balls. 

Take the dough out of a bowl. Roll it, cut out of it the circles. Grease the muffin tin pan with butter. Place each circle into muffin tin nest. Then place a ball of filling inside. 

Place in a warm place to prove.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Bake the buns in preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes until golden. 

Baked bun set aside to cool down. Enjoy !

Recipe in Polish

Gingerbread and banana muffins

Today I would like to present gingerbread and banana muffins. They were really good, moist, dense, spicy .... in my opinion they were just perfect. I have decorated them with white frosting, the same which is used to decorate gingerbread cookies. For additional spice I have sprinkled them with chopped crystallized ginger. What is worth to mention those muffins are egg free and they contain some wholewheat flour. The recipe comes form this website. 

Ingredients for 12 - 16 muffins *:

• 130g wholewheat flour
• 175g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 and 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• pinch of nutmeg
• 90g Dark Muscovado sugar
• 3 bananas (about 275g mashed bananas)
• 145g black treacle
• 112g buttermilk
• 4 tbsp canola oil

* I have baked mine in muffin cases and cardboard molds.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

In a big bowl mix together the flours, baking powder, soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and nutmeg. Set aside.

With a fork mash the bananas. Add the sugar, black treacle, buttermilk, canola oil and mix until smooth. 

Pour the wet ingredients into a bowl with dry ones. Mix until all ingredients just combined. Spoon the batter into paper cases, about 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven for 20 - 30 minutes. Check with skewer. If skewer inserted in the middle of cake comes out clean the cake is ready. 

Transfer to the wire rack to cool down.

In a meantime prepare the frosting. 

Frosting:

• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• chopped crystallized ginger

Place the egg white and icing sugar in a bowl and stir with spoon until smooth and white. Drizzle over each cooled down muffin. Then sprinkle with chopped crystallized ginger. 

Gingerbread rolls with plum jam

This is lovely combination of flavours. Spicy, chewy dough filled with sweet and sour plum jam sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Yes, they were chewy and dense not as regular yeast dough would be. The sugar gave them a nice crunch. We all enjoy them, even children. For those who willing to try recipe below.

Ingredients for 12 rolls:

• 250g bread flour (or plain one)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 70g sugar
• 130ml warm milk
• 1 tsp dry yeast
• 20g melted butter
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• 30g dark chocolate chips
• jar of plum jam
• cinnamon sugar to sprinkle (2tbsp sugar + 1 tsp cinnamon)

Put the flour, yeast, sugar, cinnamon and allspice in an electric mixer bowl. Stir all ingredients together. 

Melt the butter. Warm up the milk. Pour warm milk into the dry ingredients mixture and start mixing with dough hook. Pour in the melted butter. Knead the dough for a while then add salt. Knead a few more minutes and add the chocolate chips. Continue kneading for 5 minutes. 

Then transfer the dough the bowl cover with cling film and leave it to rise in warm place for 1 hour.

Then with a rolling pin roll the dough into relatively thin rectangular. Spread with plum jam and roll along the longer side. Then with a sharp knife cut into 12 slices.  Place each slice in a muffin tin (you can slightly grease the tin before). 

Set aside in a warm place. Cover with kitchen towel and let the rolls prove.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix the sugar and cinnamon. 

Sprinkle the rolls with cinnamon sugar and insert into hot oven. Bake for 30  minutes. When ready remove form the oven, set aside to cool down and enjoy !

For recipe in Polish look there.

Pumpkin muffins

This is the last pumpkin muffin recipe in this pumpkin season. I didn't want to bake any pumpkin cakes but I had remaining of pumpkin pure and I found Anna Olson recipe which I wanted to try. Muffin were tender, springy in touch, moist and spicy.

Ingredients for 6 - 9 muffins:

• 65g wholewheat flour
• 50g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
•  1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 190g pumpkin pure
• 60g brown sugar
• 75g buttermilk
• 1 egg white
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp canola oil

Preheat the oven to 190C. Line muffin tin with paper cases.

In a big bowl combine the flours, baking powder, soda, salt, nutmeg, allspice and set aside.

In separate bowl stir together the pumpkin pure, sugar, buttermilk, egg white and canola oil. Pour this mixture into a bowl with dry ingredients. Combine all ingredients until just moist.

Spoon the batter into paper cases up to 3/4 full. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes. When baked transfer to a wire rack to cool down.

Enjoy !

Mini pumpkin pie

Flaky pastry, made of wholewheat flour  with spicy, creamy pumpkin filling. 

Ingredients for pastry:

• 125 ml unsalted, cold butter
• 290 ml whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp cold water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar

Cold butter cut into small chunks and set aside for 30 minutes.

Put the flour, sugar, salt into a  bowl and mix all ingredients. Add the butter and  mix it with your fingers until the dough is a rough, crumbly texture.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg, water and lemon juice or vinegar. Then add it to the dough all at once, mixing until the dough comes together. Shape the dough into a disc, wrap into a foil and put into a fridge to chill for at least one hour. I kept mine in fridge overnight.

Remove the dough from the fridge about half an hour before rolling.

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Dust a working surface with a flour. Remove the dough from the cling film. Break the dough with your fingers to make it workable then roll it until 3 milimiters thin. Cut 12 circles from the dough. The circles should be big enough to cover the bottom and sides of mini tart molds or ramekins. I used silicone mini tart mold. Place the dough circles into a molds and chill them in the fridge while preparing the filling.

Filling:

• 250 ml pumpkin pure
• 150 ml sweet condensed milk
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger powder
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 60 ml whipping cream
• 2 small eggs

To make the filling put the pumpkin pure, milk, spices, eggs and whipping cream in the electric mixer bowl and mix until smooth. Remove the dough form the fridge and pour the filling into each pastry shell. Bake into preheated oven for 20 - 30 minutes. Bake until the crust is nicely browned and the filling is set. Cool the pies down and enjoy !