Macadamia and Tropical Fruit Bundt Cake ~ #BundtBakers

If you are a fan of a lighter fruitcake then this is the cake for you.

Dundee Cake ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

"There's nothing better than cake but more cake." - Harry S. Truman

Hartford Election Cake ~ #BreadBakers

Honestly, these days I think there should be cake at every election.  

At least there would be something to look forward to.

Whole Wheat Stollen ~ #BreadBakers

Life is better with fresh baked bread, especially if that bread is Weihnachtsstollen/Christstollen.

Hawaiian Raincoast Crisps - #CreativeCookieExchange

This time of the year many people in the Northern Hemisphere are looking to get away from the dark and relentless winter.  It has been many years since I experienced a true winter, but I remember quite well the feeling of it being bitterly cold and needing to go somewhere that the sun was shining at full strength to thaw out for a while.  Not everyone has the luxury of being able to do this so maybe some tropical treats will hit the spot. This month the #CreativeCookieExchange is taking us all on a virtual tropical vacation via cookies. It is true that a taste of a food can transport us to another time, so why not a tropical island getaway?

Hot Cross Buns

After years of telling myself that I am going to try and make them and my irrational fear of yeast, I finally attempted Hot Cross Buns.  Why, oh why did I wait so long to attempt this?  They are one of the best things I have ever tasted and I am sure that they will become a regular fixture now that I have seen the light.

Crossed and ready to be made hot

I am pretty traditional with my preferences for Hot Cross Buns.  I have seen some in stores here that have lemon or raspberry crosses, and were so spice-less that I couldn't bring myself to buy them.  I know that in Australia you can buy chocolate buns (both milk and dark), fruitless buns, chocolate chip buns, and white chocolate and cranberry buns, and even gluten-free buns.  It has always been the original spicy fruit buns that are my favorite.  One of the best tastes ever is a lightly toasted hot cross bun with a drizzle of honey on top.

My search for a recipe led me in so many different directions. Apparently there isn't just one correct way to make a hot cross bun, there are thousands.  I finally settled on a combination of two recipes that had exactly what I was looking for - a recipe that made about a dozen buns and a recipe that had lots of spice to it.  This hybrid recipe was just right, and produced a fruity, spicy, dense hot cross bun.

Now I have finally made the plunge into the world of yeast breads I see many more attempts in the future.


Hot Cross Buns
Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients

• 310ml warmed milk
• 60g superfine sugar
• 14g dried yeast
• 650g bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice (or allspice)
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 60g butter, softened
• 375g of raisins/currants/golden raisins/mixed candied fruit (I used mixed fruit from Australia)
• 2 eggs
• 60g all-purpose flour
• 60ml water
• 2 tablespoons apricot jam, warmed in a pan (or microwave)

Instructions

1. In a saucepan warm the milk; whisk in the sugar and yeast until sugar has dissolved. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes or until it becomes frothy.
2. Mix the bread flour, salt and ground spices in a large bowl of a stand mixer. With your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until mixed and crumbly.
3. Stir in the raisins/sultanas, egg, and frothy yeast mixture until just combined.
4. Attach the dough hook and knead for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
5. Lightly oil another large, clean bowl, place the dough in and turn to coat the surface with oil.
6. Cover in clingwrap and leave in a warm, draught-free place for 45 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
7. When ready, remove the clingwrap and use your fist to punch down the dough. Transfer to a lightly floured board and give it a quick knead until smooth and divide into 12 rounds.
8. Place the buns into a greased 20 x 30cm (8x12-inch) baking tray, cover with clingwrap and leave in warm place to rise for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C (395℉).
9. Whisk together the all-purpose flour and water to a smooth paste. Pipe crosses on top of the buns and bake at 200°C (395℉) for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 180°C (350℉) bake for a further 15 minutes. Buns are ready when it sounds hollow when you tap the tops.
10. Brush with warmed apricot jam while the buns are still warm.

Recipe adapted by All That's Left Are The Crumbs from recipes by Citrus and Candy and Short Street Bakery ©.

Hawaii - The Saturday Farmers' Market

I love visiting Farmers' Markets. When I am lucky enough to travel I always try to find out where the local farmer's market is and add it to our plans.  It tells you so much about the neighborhood.  There is just something special about all of the incredibly hard workers who make up the market.  Besides the goods they are selling they all have a story to share.

My local Farmers' Market is The Saturday Farmers' Market at the Kapiolani Community College, just a few minutes drive from Waikiki.  It is co-sponsored by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation and the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Kapiolani Community College. It is the largest Farmers' Market in Hawaii and the only one featuring all Hawaii grown and produced foods and flowers.  Vendors selling their goods at this market have extremely strict guidelines to follow regarding the origin of their goods. Some of the guidelines include:

• Fruits, vegetables, and flowers must be grown in Hawaii. 
• All ready to eat, processed and value added food products must be made in Hawaii in a certified commercial kitchen and Hawaii grown ingredients should be incorporated into the product whenever possible (the greater the percentage of Hawaii grown ingredients used in ready to eat food products may determine a vendor’s participation in the markets).
• All beverages sold  need to be bottled or produced in Hawaii.  This applies to soft drinks, bottled water, tea, coffee and other items sold in the market. 
 

There are some wonderful vendors at this market.  Most of them are there every week, although sometimes a new one comes in to fill in a spot for someone who is sick.  Each week there is a Tip Sheet produced so that you can check out exactly who will be at the market on Saturday.  You can also follow the market on Twitter @HNLFarmers for market updates, specials & pictures.



I saw so many things that I wanted to buy.  Dean Okimoto's Nalo Farms has some of the best greens.  Nalo Farms supplies approximately 130 restaurants with over 3,000 pounds of their tasty greens each and every week, including Roy's.  I always stop by the Hawaiian Fudge Sauce stand. Seriously, you will think that you died and went to heaven after tasting the samples.  It is very hard to walk away with just one jar of fudge sauce.  I recommend you buy a few because this stuff is good right off the spoon, so you might need another jar for your ice cream. I tried some samples from Honomu Jams and Jellies - Passionfruit Butter, Passionfruit Ginger Jam, Tahitian Lime Ginger Jelly, Sugar Free Waimea Strawberry (made with blue agave).  They were all excellent and the taste of the fruit really shines through. I found it hard to choose, so I picked two, and will go back in a few weeks to try a few more.




After visiting the market I drove down the road to Diamond Head Market Grill.  Their blueberry scones are legendary and on the weekends they also have banana scones (Fri-Sun).  These scones are different from your average scone.  They are so moist and cake-like, and have a very light vanilla glaze on top.  They also have a wide range of prepared foods that make this the perfect place to stop before you head out for a day at the beach, or you can enjoy one their breakfast or lunch plates.  They may not have a view but their food more than makes up for it.  And if you do need a view the beaches of Waikiki are a few minutes down the road, and so is the beautiful Kapiolani Park.

Fantastic Fruit and Nut Bars

I don't know about everyone else but I have bookmarked over 50 recipes that I want to try since the beginning of the year.  There are so many talented cooks and bakers out there that make everything they make look so good.  One recipe that caught my eye was by Kate at Diethood.com for Fruit and Nut Bars.  As soon as I saw them I knew exactly what I was going to make for my husbands triathlon training group this weekend.  His group really pushes their bike rides on Saturdays and they need to refuel when they get back, so the least I can do is to have something tasty waiting for them to enjoy.

These bars had exactly the mix I was looking for - great taste and relatively healthy.  Since I am trying to use up ingredients I already had I did make a few substitutions to the recipe.  I used pecans rather than walnuts, and I added dried blueberries to the other dried fruits already listed, while reducing the amount of dates to compensate for this addition.  I think it would be great with all kinds of dried fruits.  My mix also seemed a little wet after I added the egg so I added more flour.

Make sure that you watch them towards the end of their baking time.  Some ovens run a little hot so they may not need the full 40 minutes, and can easily burn if you don't keep an eye on them.  I was conscious of this because I baked them in a 11 inch x 7 inch pan.  I think next time I might double the recipe so that I get bigger bars, mine seemed a little flat but I am sure this is because of the pan size.



Considering that the container that they were in came back empty, except for a few crumbs, I would say these were a resounding success. I think next time I might try the substitution of a banana for the egg.

Fantastic Fruit and Nut Bars

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 1/2 cups dried blueberries
• 1/2 cup dates, chopped
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, cut into pieces
• 1 large egg OR substitute with 1 (one) mashed banana
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Line an entire 8 x 8 inch baking pan with aluminum foil.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. Stir in the brown sugar, pecans, and dried fruit. Use your fingers to make sure that all the fruit and nuts have been coated with the flour mixture.
5. If you are using the banana substitute, mash the banana with a fork real well then add in the vanilla extract. Blend it all together and mix it into the fruit and nut mixture, OR in a separate bowl, with a wire whisk beat the egg and vanilla until light colored and thick, add the egg mixture to the fruit and nut mixture and mix until all the fruit and nut pieces are coated with the batter.
6. Spread into the prepared pan, pressing to even it out.
7. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the batter has pulled away from the sides of the pan.
8. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
9. When cooled, lift the bars from the pan by the edges of the aluminum foil.

 Makes 16, 2-inch squares.