Displaying items by tag: easter

Ooh, Easter Biscuits. These have been on the tea table in our house since I was a little girl. This is my mother's recipe which probably came from one of those 1950's Good Housekeeping recipe books. A buttery shortbread style biscuit with spice and currants. Easter is not the same without them. Makes about 24 biscuits.

 Cheester Eggs from Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses. Cheddar or Blacksticks Blue, definitely an Easter Egg to nibble on.

• Blacksticks Blue Easter Egg
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Allow three hours to make these hot cross buns include rising time. Makes 12 buns so well worth doubling up if like me, you'll eat four as soon as they come out of the oven.

Now that you can buy hot cross buns all year, everywhere, the only thing to do to make them special is make them yourself. I had a go and have eaten four so far and these are lovely. I should have spent more time getting the shape right but as usual I was rushing. I tried the recipe from my charity shop find, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book -  the 'Cooks Classic Companion', which I use all the time although I have my own recipe here. Later on I'm going to make some fab Easter chocolates to give to the family (but don't tell them I've just melted down Lidl Dark Almond chocolate to do it...)

Granola - a toasted muesli, nice with fresh fruit and yoghurt for a vegetarian breakfast, this is a very adaptable recipe using any grains, seeds and nuts that you fancy.

Ingredients

• 12 oz / 300g rolled oats, wheat flakes, rolled barley or any other rolled grains

• 4oz / 100g chopped hazelnuts, pecans, almonds or any other nuts

• 2oz/50g pumpkin, flax, sunflower seeds or seeds of your choice

• 2oz/50g desiccated coconut

• 4 fl oz Hill Farm rapeseed oil or sunflower oil

• 4 fl oz Suffolk honey

• 6oz/150g raisins or sultanas

Method

Preheat the oven to 130c/Gas 2 ( a cool setting)

Place the rolled oats in a bowl and mix in the nuts, seeds and coconut.  ( not the raisins yet!) Stir well.

Warm the honey and oil together in a small pan and pour onto the dry mixture.

Coat all the nuts, oats, seeds etc in the honey and oil.

Spread the mixture onto a baking tin and place in the oven for 40 mins.  You will need to move the granola around a little from time to time to ensure that it crisps all over.

Remove from the oven and mix in the raisins.  Leave to cool and store in an airtight container. where it will keep for several weeks.