Hot Cross Buns

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 20 April 1935, Page 12

Hot Cross Buns

Traditional Easter Fare

You will need a large stock of. “goodies” to satisfy those ravenous Easter holiday appetites. Try your hand at these excellent recipes and the delicious home-made flavour of your cakes and buns will win you glowing praise. Hot Cross Buns.—The following recipe makes a. batch of good, spicy fruit buns: Take 21b flour, -jib butter, quarter teaspoonfnl mixed spice, pinch ginger, pinch cinnamon, 3oz currants, 3oz stoneless raisins, breakfastcupful ( milk, 6oz sugar, good pinch salt and half teacupful yeast. Well mix together the sugar and flour, and the fruit, cleaned and. freed from stalks, the mixed spice, ginger, cinnamon and salt. When thoroughly mixed, make a hollow in the centre of the dry ingredients, and pour into it the yeast, to which has been added the milk, made lukewarm. Mix the surrounding flour with the liquid to a thin * paste, sprinkle it with dry flour and set the bowl in a warm place near the fire to rise. When it has risen well, add the butter, previously melted and, if necessary, add more milk to form the mixture into rather soft dough. Let this rise for half an hour, then form the dough into buns. They will need about fifteen minutes in a fairly hot oven. Mark with a cross and, when they are almost dona, brush them over with a. mixture of liquid, butter and milk. Easter Cakes. —The traditional Easter cake, a plain' round biscuit with currants, is made in the following way: Take 6oz flour, 4oz butter, 3oz caster sugar, one egg, 2oz currants. Rub butter into flour until it is quite evenly mixed, stir in sugar and currants (previously cleaned and stalked), then mix to a dough with a. well-beaten egg. Knead until quite smooth, roll out thinly, .cut into rounds and bake in a moderate oven about ten minutes. Instead of currants, stoneless raisins, carraway seeds, spice, ginger or cinnaman may be used. Alternatively the biscuits can bo made plain and iced in various ways, either singly or put together in pairs. with lemon cheese or jam between. Simnel Cake.— I This is the traditional fare for Easter Sunday, but it tastes very good any day with its tasty covering of almond icing. You will need jib self-raising flour, one teaspoonful mixed spice, cinnamon and ground ginger in equal quantities, 4oz fresh butter, 4 nr- caster sugar, half lemon, 4oz each of raisins, sultanas, currants and candied peel, salt, 2oz sweet almonds, two eggs and some almond paste. . ~ To make the cake mixture, add a good pinch of salt to the flour and sift it. Then prepare the fruit; stone the raisins and cut them in halves, clean the currants and sultanas. Slice the peel evenly. Blanch the almonds and cut them' into fine shreds. Grate the yellow part of the lemon rind and strain the juice. Beat the butter until it is a soft cream,. add the caster sugar and beat for five minutes, add the spices and grated lemon rind while you are beating. Whisk the eggs well, then beat them gradually into the sugar and butter, add a little egg at' a time and beat briskly until you have a smooth mixture. ■ Continue beating while you add the flour. Then the fruit, almonds and lemon juice. Turn half the mixture into the prepared tin, put. some of the almond paste on it, then the remainder cf the cake mixture and bake in a moderate oven for two hours. When cold, spread the remainder of the almond paste on the top and decorate with a border of balls of the paste. Brown in a quick oven or under a gas grill.