Jam Tartlets

 Sometimes you just want something fairly quick and fairly simple to make, something sweet, something tangy... these cute little jam tartlets ticks all those boxes! Soft dough envelopes the jam of your choice, with a little extra taste and texture of shredded coconut added in. 

Simple, easy... with the only drawback being that you're probably not going to be able to make enough! I made a batch, got about 50 (3 sizes: small, medium and large), and before I knew what hit me, there's 10 left!!

So, I don't know how many people you have to feed, but my 3 kids gobbled it up.

Ingredients

Dough

2 1/4 c    flour

1t salt

1c cold butter

1/3c cold water

1 egg + cold water for brushing

Filling

Jam - apricot, strawberry

Shredded coconut

Method

1. Mix flour and salt

2. Grate the butter and rub into the flour until well incorporated. Or put it in the blender and whizz, but don't over mix.

3. Add the 1/3 cup of cold water and gently mix, just bringing it all together.

4. Wrap it up in clingwrap and let it rest in the fridge for 30 min or more

5. Once the dough has rested, roll it out and cut out circles.

6. I used these little tartlet makers I bought in a cheap shop and it works really great.

7. Scoop a little jam into the centre - but not too much, otherwise it will cook out

8. Add a little coconut over the jam

9. Brush the outer circle of the dough circle with water to act as glue

10. Close up the tartlet and press the edges together firmly.

11. Mix the egg and a little cold water and whisk with a fork

12. Brush the tartlets with the egg wash

13. Poke a hole or two with a fork into the dough to let out steam

14. Bake in the oven @ 180degrees Celsius for 10 - 15 minutes

15. Remove and let it cool 

16. Enjoy!!

Yours in butter and sugar

Risch

Homemade buns

I love myself some buns, plain buns, portuguese rolls, cheese buns... but the ones from the shop is pure air... it is not filling. These buns, however, is super delicious and very, very filling indeed. 

These buns are perfect with real butter, as simple and as plain as that. For me, that is food fit for a king. Or a queen...

Ingredients

3½ cups flour

1t salt

¼ cup sugar

2tbs instant yeast

1 cups warm water

⅓ cup oil

1 egg

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 200 Celsius.

2. Check the instructions on the yeast you use. I use the yeast that should be added directly to the flour, not be bloomed first

3. Mix the water, oil and egg and beat well. 

4. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt.

5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix into a stiff ball.

6. Knead the dough for a minimum of 7 minutes - NOT NEGOTIABLE!

7. Cover with a wet cloth and let it rise for min 30 min, until double in size.

8. Knead down, and form into equal balls. Best is to weigh the dough and divide by the number of buns you want to make, so as to make the balls equal in size. This makes baking it better and more uniform.  

9. Cover and let it rise for another 30 minutes.

10. You can brush the buns with egg wash prior to baking, this will help with the browning.

11. After 30min, put the buns into the oven and bake for 10min, until golden.

Optional: Sprinkle with sesame seeds after brushing with egg wash.

Enjoy with butter, cheese, syrup. Or use for homemade hamburgers. 

Yours in oil and veggies,

Risch

For a printable PDF version of the recipe, click here: Homemade Buns PDF