I hope you’ve all had a lovely Easter!
We’ve had a really enjoyable few days – pottering around the house, playing in the kitchen, and spending time with family and friends.
On Saturday, we had brunch with our friend Kathryn and her gorgeous sons. Naturally, with four teenage males in the house, we went a little overboard with food. It’s worth noting that it was almost all gone by 11.30am…
The Sunrise mocktail pictured above was made with equal parts of pineapple juice and lemonade (Sprite or 7-Up, to our US friends), with a little Grenadine poured in carefully at the end. The heavier syrup sinks to the bottom, creating the coloured layers. Based on a Tequila Sunrise, it was festive without the alcoholic punch.
Brunch included bacon and eggs, a blackberry and rhubarb crumble, an antipasto platter, and a baked bread, egg and prosciutto slice.
The antipasto plate included my first attempt at baked ricotta. A small tub of leftover fresh ricotta was drained until quite dry, and then turned into an ovenproof dish. I drizzled the top with lemon-infused olive oil and sprinkled with a little salt, cracked pepper and dried Italian herbs, before baking in a 160C (with fan) oven for about 30 minutes. It set firm and was quite delicious.
I also cooked a large pot of mograbieh and served it with pitta bread…
…and baked a batch of sourdough hot cross buns.
I’d planned to be lazy and make a giant one again, but Small Man complained – he wanted proper hot cross buns this year!
I posted my recipe for yeasted hot cross buns a couple of years ago, and the sourdough ones are made in a similar way, although the proving times were lengthened accordingly.
The ingredients for the sourdough version are as follows…
- 200g sourdough starter (166% hydration, ie. fed at a ratio of one cup of water to one cup of flour)
- 160g milk, at room temperature (I used UHT)
- 500g bakers/bread flour
- 8g fine sea salt
- 60g brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground pimento (allspice)
- 60g butter, melted and cooled
- 2 large free range eggs
- 100g currants
- 30g good quality candied peel, finely diced
- Cross: 2 tablespoons self-raising flour mixed with 2 tablespoons water
- Glaze: 2 tablespoons milk and 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar, simmered together
Baking time: 220C (with fan) for 10 minutes, followed by a further 10 minutes at 200C (with fan). Brush the hot buns with two coats of glaze.
I personally find the milk glaze a little sweet, but all three of my men adore it – it’s a little reminiscent of the topping on Krispy Kreme donuts.
Have you been baking this Easter?
My friends Brydie, Heidi and Sally have all baked gorgeous hot cross buns, using completely different recipes to mine. Honey and Christine have made mouthwatering chocolate chip versions, and Doc’s buns are laced with stout!
Clever Sally has created a fabulous Italian Easter Pie, and C at Cakes, Crumbs and Cooking has baked an Easter mud cake, topped with Cadbury mini eggs.
I hope you’ve all had a relaxing weekend – hopefully you’ve found time to indulge in a little festive cooking as well!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Hi Celia, your HGBs look wonderful. I’m doing a baking class soon so hopefullyI will have success next year.
Thanks Sue! Enjoy the baking class!
Lovely meal, I thought the non-alcoholic drink was particularly great, I’d love one right now… Easter is only partway through here in California…
not much cooking for us, we are going out for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants with my stepson and his girlfriend. Should be fun!
Have a great night, Sally! The mocktail was very nice – especially for the teens.. :)
It sounds like you’ve had a wonderful, relaxing Easter with friends and family, just as it should be!
I love your sourdough hot cross buns, they look fabulous. I haven’t made HCB this year, but really feel like I’m missing out!
Thank you for the link back to my blog!
C, your chocolate cake looks gorgeous. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Cadbury mini eggs here – I must look out for them! :) Hope you’ve had a happy Easter!
What a beautifully relaxing, delicious time you’ve been having! I’m loving your hot cross buns – so shiny and festive! You’re baked ricotta is sounding delish, too! :) Thanks for the linky.
Chris, HXB photos as requested! :) The baked ricotta is very nice – I have more in the oven now. I’m just annoyed at all the old ricotta I’ve thrown out over the years – had I known it was this easy to bake it up once it was a couple of days old, I’d have been doing it years ago! :)
These buns look so shiny and delicious. They aren’t such a big thing in the States (grew up in the UK but live in Boston now). Would love to have your crumble, too!
Hi there, thanks for stopping by! The glaze on the buns turned a matt white as they cooled – a bit like the topping on an old style finger-bun! :)
gorgeous looking hot cross buns – i’m intrigued by the sourdough element too
Laura, it’s easier to make the yeasted HXBs, but the tribe all seem to prefer the sourdough version! I made the dough the night before and left it on the bench, ready to be shaped and baked the following morning!
Oh boy, what a spread! I too made hot cross buns – must say, the weren’t my best though.
:-) Mandy
Mandy, thank you! I made three dozen HXBs all up this year – they were all eaten on the day of baking! :)
So laughing about the capacity of teenage boys. They’re like army ants!
The glaze on the buns looks perfect. Must try!
Maz
Maz, you have a starving man-cat, so I know you understand! They seem to be bottomless pits! :)
An Easter brunch sounds lovely. I’ve managed to make contributions to a couple of Easter teas, but mornings have been spent working down at our plot which is where I shall be disappearing any minute now. I have, of course, done some Easter baking, but have only posted one thing so far. I didn’t make hot cross buns though – yours look fabulous.
Choc, how nice that it’s Spring for you now, and your plot is well underway! Look forward to seeing all your wonderful produce!
Oh wow what a feast! Beautiful. I’d love to have a blogger-get-together where everyone brings a dish…because you all cook such amazing things!
Congrats on the 10,000th posting.
You have done a fantastic job.
Cheers moo x
Hi Celia:
happy Easter to you too
Hi Celia,
The mocktail looks very refreshing. Your brunch looks great. Perfect for a group of hungry teens!
10,000 comments! Well done :-)
Those hot cross buns look gorgeous. I think I’ve quietly laid my hot cross bun hat to the side for the year… 4 batches, enough until next year I think.
Baked ricotta is one of those things that I’ve been meaning to make for the past 5 years but never seem to get round to it. Thanks for the prompt Celia.
(thanks for the link too :-))
Yeah- the baked ricotta looks magnificent!
I have some ready to go in the oven!
Thank for the link.
HXB’s done for the season!
Mrs Bok, Norma, and Manuela, thank you! :)
Moo and Brydie, thanks, although about a third of the comments are my replies! :D
Heidi, Brydie, the baked ricotta is so easy – I wish I’d figured it out years ago! I often make a ricotta loaf as well, but this is a much better use of for the leftover tub – it’s quite delicious!
Hi there,
This is the first time I’ve commented here but I’ve been really enjoying reading through your blog for a while.
Each year for Easter, we make Easter themed gingerbread – though this year opted for sugar cookies which were very greedily received.
Paula, thanks for the comment! :) Easter gingerbread sounds like a wonderful tradition!
Happy Easter Celia, this looks wonderful, I love the buns…., I don’t know how but I’ve managed to eat way too many of these little crittas this weekend & still want more ;(
Oh Boy 10,000 – very cool, congratulations :)
Thanks love – I have to say, I’m a big fan of HXBs, but only during Easter. I rarely make fruit buns during the year – they don’t seem to taste right! ;-)
I would have loved to have cooked and baked all weekend, but we are moving this weekend, so I didn’t want to add any extra items to the house! Those buns look delicious though.
Susan, that’s very exciting! I hope the move went well!
Nice looking buns Celia, certainly a lot more uniform than mine turned out. Alcohol free cocktails, well thats another matter entirely…..
Fear not, friend Davey, there was plenty of alcohol consumed over the break…hahaha
Wow what gorgeous hot cross buns! We went away with some foodie friends to a little seaside town called Robe for Easter – cheap cabins with million dollar view, lots of lovely food and a great way to spend my birthday :)
Happy Birthday Sarah! Sounds like a lovely long weekend away – how often do we get five days off on a birthday! :)
Ohh, it was a pleasure to read about your Easter. It looks wonderful. I like the look of that baked egg dish and the sourdough HCBs look fantastic. Your formula was very similiar to the one I used, though I went with a light water coating. Thankyou for sharing Easter with us.
Craig
Craig, thank you – it was your HXBs that inspired me to bake this year. Or more correctly, inspired Small Man to ask me to bake. Yours were absolutely delicious! Hope you had a wonderful Easter with your family as well!
What a lovely variety of food and drinks. I’m glad you could spend some time relaxing with friends and chilling out. Hope the rest of your week is as enjoyable!
Becca, thanks love, hope you had a good long weekend as well. Unfortunately we’re all down with chest colds now…ah well..
Happy Belated Easter Celia!! It sounds like you had a great day, there’s nothing better than sharing food and wine with those you love! Thanks for the baked ricotta idea, I have a tub that needs using and I was a bit over spinach a ricotta pie!!
Strawberries, thank you, Happy Belated Easter to you too! The baked ricotta was very nice, hope you like it!
For some reason having hot cross buns this Easter never crossed my mind! I don’t know what happened, I love them and have them every year. And now I’ve got major bun envy, yours look gorgeous! Hope you have a great Easter Celia.
Just saw the link to my buns! Thanks so much Celia.
Hehehe…you made me laugh when this comment came through Sally…your buns deserve the attention! :)
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