CHRISTMAS BAKING: ROCK BUNS AGAIN!

Rock Buns are my mother’s favourite cookies.  This year, due to dementia, Mum often looks at many things with new eyes. I was amused to see her face lit up when she saw the cookies today.  “How pretty they are, “she commented, “I don’t think I’ve had these before!”  

I usually make rock buns around Christmas time and have given them out as gifts.  People ask me for the recipe because these cookies are SO GOOD!  Let me share the link.

IT'S BEGINNING TO SMELL A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

I haven't spent a lot of time in the kitchen in 2018.  Much of the year had been devoted to my Dad who, as you know, was admitted into a nursing home in early January.  In fact, it's hard to believe that the last time that I attended a bread baking class at Brettschneider's Baking & Cooking School was in February 2017.  An entire year has sped me by and I've been too caught up in all my day-to-day craziness to notice.

Today's Christmas Baking is once again sponsored by my very generous boss, Caspar!  We made Stollen, minced pies and fruit cake.  The recipes were fairly easy to follow.

Dean Brettschneider also demonstrated on how to make Panforte.

 



I'm so glad my co-worker, Wedad, asked me to sign up for the class with her.  'Twas a Saturday well spent.

Chilli Crab Kitchen is now on Instagram !

AT HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Am at home all week for the Christmas holidays.  The mobile phone is on silent mode.  I've ceased to check my work emails.  It's my feeble pursuit of tranquility. Living with emotionally needy parents can be draining.  On Sunday I attempted (unsuccessfully) to read a book.  With every 2 pages that I turn my mum would appear by my side with either a question, something to discuss, or something to say.  

Yesterday I finally spent half a day on my own - in a cafe, sipped fruit tea and read a novel.  A much needed (albeit brief) liberation.

This afternoon, while Mum was busy at the sewing machine, I made a batch of cookies.  Well, you might say they are a cross between a rock bun and a scone. At the speed of light and quietly as a mouse I moved, and even managed to snap a few photos before the sun got smothered by layers of dark clouds.  

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MY MOTHER'S TEA TIME FAVOURITE

Mum loves Rock Buns.  She calls them "lock bun". If I haven't made them for some time, she would remind me that I still have dried fruits in the fridge. "Don't you think they'll be perfect for making "lock bun"?" she would ask hopefully. 

I first learnt to make Rock Bun back in my secondary school days.  When I practise making them at home they turned out as hard as stone, which led my mother and my aunt to comment that its name truly befits it! 

ROCK CAKES
Adapted from this recipe by Dan Lepard

Makes 15

225 grams all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

75 grams caster sugar, plus extra to finish

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

175 grams dried fruit, chopped

125 grams unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 medium egg

About 25 ml milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

A good pinch of salt

Preheat your oven at 200 degrees C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put the flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl, add the cubed butter and rub it through evenly. Stir in the lemon zest and dried fruit.

Beat the egg with the milk in a jug or another bowl, along with the vanilla extract, then pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and mix to a stiffish but spoonable dough – add a dash more milk, if you think it needs it.

Scoop egg-sized dollops of the dough on to the pans keeping them rough looking, and sprinkle with caster sugar. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until just turning golden brown.

Enjoy!

CHRISTMAS BAKING: CRANBERRY-ORANGE WALNUT BREAD

  

I recently rediscovered the recipe for this Cranberry-Orange Walnut Tea Bread. I had it scribbled in an old diary. I don't remember where the recipe came from. I do remember, however, the person who gave me the diary. I also remember that I bought the Christmas linen (featured in the photo above) during a day trip to the Blue Mountains, NSW in 1999. Three days ago, I retrieved it from my cupboard and put it up on a hanger to air it. Yesterday, it wasn't on the hanger anymore. I searched high and low only to find that I had already returned it to the drawer myself. 

They say that people with dementia can remember things from long ago, but not things from a few minutes ago. So if you ask me what I had for lunch today, my answer is "I can't recall it now but check back with me again in ten years and I'll tell you."

CRANBERRY-ORANGE WALNUT TEA BREAD
Makes one 7" x 7" cake

75 grams butter, softened
150 grams sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
110 grams fresh orange juice
110 grams buttermilk
260 grams all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
65 grams dried fruit (I used a mixture of chopped dried cranberries, glazed cherries, orange peel and raisins)
65 grams chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven at 180 degrees C.  Line a 7" x 7" pan with parchment paper. (In the original recipe, the bread is baked in a 9" x 5" pan.)

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy and smooth then add sugar, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Continue to beat until the mixture is very light in colour and texture.

Add the egg very slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until mixture is fluffy and pale ivory in colour. Stir in the vanilla extract, orange juice, then buttermilk.  Add flour mixture in 3 - 4 additions until incorporated.  Fold in the dried fruits and walnuts.

Spoon batter into prepared pan, and spread evenly with a rubber spatula.

Bake the cake until the top springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out free of batter, 50 - 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 10 – 15 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan.

Enjoy!

CHRISTMAS BAKING: ROCK BUNS

 

One Christmas Eve many moons ago, my friend Hans and I were treated to a ballet performance of The Nutcracker. The evening began joyously enough. The sweeping Tchaikovsky score, the visually entrancing set, the glittering costumes – what a cosy winter dream! Yet somewhere between the Waltz of the Snowflakes and the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, my eyes slowly glazed over ... When I recovered I stole a glance at Hans who was seated next to me. His eyes watery from yawning. (He later claimed it was because he was very much moved by the bravery of the Mouse King. The liar!) 

Every Christmas Day, I play my Nutcracker Suite CD, just to get into the spirit of things because even though watching ballerinas flirt, prance and dancing en pointe just isn't my cup of tea, I do enjoy listening to classical music.

Mum has been bugging me for weeks to make Rock Buns for Auntie Xia (阿霞). I must have told you about Auntie Xia before. She’s the neighbour who occasionally looks in on my parents while I’m at work. When we run out of eggs, Auntie Xia helps us buy and deliver them right up to our doorstep! She shares with us her homemade laksa, yam rice and chilli paste. And as if babysitting the neighbourhood kids doesn’t keep her busy enough, she still finds the time to ask my mother out to Rochor to buy dried seafood, and then have coffee with her afterwards. Needless to say, our family love Auntie Xia to bits.

I'm spending eleven slothful days at home during Christmas, Mum presses me to bake something nice for one of the most helpful neighbours we've ever had.

"来烘点饼阿霞啦!"  ("Come on, make something for Har!")

"烘什么饼好呢?" ("What should I bake?")

"就烘 'lock bun' 吧!" ("Rock Buns, of course!")

Mum labels everything ranging from Digestives to cream crackers, chocolate chip cookies to Tau Sar Piah, as 饼 (biscuits). Needless to say Rock Buns (or '骆笨' as my mother calls them) also falls under the same category. So if you're in our kitchen and my mother offers, "要不要吃饼?" ("Would you like a biscuit?") you should confirm with her which kind because you never know what you might get! 

ROCK BUNS

By Jane Brocket

Makes 15

340 grams all-purpose flour 

8 grams baking powder 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

Finely grated zest of one lemon 

175 grams butter 

100 grams brown sugar 

75 grams caster sugar 2

255 grams mixed dried fruits (I used a mixture of chopped dried cranberries, glazed cherries, orange peel and raisins) 

1 large egg 

1 to 2 tablespoons milk or buttermilk 

Egg wash 

Cut the butter into 1-inch cubes and place them in the freezer until you're ready to use them. 

Preheat your oven at 180 degrees C. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Place the flour, baking powder and butter in a mixing bowl and roughly chop the butter with a round-bladed knife. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the lemon zest, sugars and dried fruits. Add the egg and, using the knife, bring the ingredients together to form a stiff dough. If the mixture is too dry, add a tablespoon of milk. 

With the aid of two teaspoons, dollop heaps of the mixture on to lined baking sheets, spacing them well apart. Lightly brush the tops of each cookie with egg wash. Bake for 15 minutes or until cookies are golden brown. 

Cool on a rack.

Enjoy!

BEWITCHING BRIOCHE

Ever since I read Carole Walter's recipe for Brioche Buns with Dried Pears and Camembert I couldn't get the combination of creamy Camembert, toasted walnuts and candied pears infused with orange and cardamom out of my head.   I think about it everyday but I cannot make it - I haven't got dry pears! 

In our local supermarket there is abundance of dried mango, pineapple, banana, cranberries and once I even came across dried kiwi fruit but no dried pears!  I looked in all the local supermarkets but no avail.  I became obsessed with my search.  I went into depression.  My world stopped spinning. No, nothing else could substitute. Downright silly, I know. 

Then in July, my coworkers Soph and Venna headed to Sydney for work.  I begged them for a packet of dried pears.  Finally, I can make Dried Pears and Camembert Loaves. 

I think I've done those dried pears justice.