Happy Easter

Ingredients: 

Shortcrust pastry

• 300g of plain flour
• 1 tbsp of sugar
• 150g of unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 150ml of water
• icing sugar, for dusting

Filling

• 350g Arborio rice or grano cotto
• 250ml of milk
• 30g of unsalted butter
• 1 lemon, zest only
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 300g of sugar
• 350g of ricotta
• 40g of candied citron
• 40g of candied peel, orange
• 20g of orange blossom water
• 1/4 tsp vanilla paste

Method:

1. Begin by making the pastry. Place the flour, sugar and butter in a bowl and rub together with your fingers until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the egg and mix with your hands until combined.
   
2. Add the water a little at a time, stirring well, until the mixture comes together to form a dough – you may not need to use all the water.
3. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film, and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour to chill.
4. Meanwhile, make the filling. Place the grano cotto/arborio rice in a saucepan and add the milk, butter and lemon zest. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, stirring all the time until cooked – this will take about 20–25 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.
5. Place the eggs in a bowl with the sugar and whisk until the eggs turn pale.
6. Place the ricotta cheese in a blender and blitz until it has the consistency of whipped cream. Add it to the egg and sugar mixture, folding it in with a spatula.
7. Add the cooled wheat mixture, candied peel, orange blossom water and the vanilla bean paste into the ricotta mixture. Stir together until combined and put to one side.
8. Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3 and butter a 24cm x 4cm cake tin.
9. Dust a clean surface with icing sugar and evenly roll out the pastry, carefully lining the cake tin. Prick the bottom with a fork and pour in the filling, trimming the pastry from the edges of the tin to leave a neat edge. Reserve any spare pastry to decorate and form into a ball.
10. Roll out the ball into an even layer. Using a pasta wheel or knife, cut 8 strips long enough to be placed across the cake tin. Place 4 of them across the top of the pastiera in one direction and then place the other 4 diagonally to create lozenge shapes.
11. Trim the edges of the strips against the edge of the tin and place the pasteria in the oven to bake for 1 hour. After this time, cover the top with a piece of tin foil and cook for another 30 minutes. Allow it to cool completely in the tin before carefully turning it out.

Serve the pastiera cold with a good quality Italian espresso coffee. It makes a lovely Easter breakfast, accompaniment to afternoon tea or dessert.

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Vegan Hot Cross Buns

Enjoy these delicious vegan hot cross buns.

Ingredients:

• 65g dairy-free margarine
• 50g caster sugar
• 250ml lukewarm almond milk, or your favourite plant-based milk
• 7g sachet of yeast
• 400g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting your work surface
• half teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoons ground mixed spice
• 150g dried mixed fruit
• sunflower oil, for greasing
• 25g flour, to decorate
• 1.5 teaspoons maple syrup, to brush after baking

Method:

1. Gently warm the dairy-free margarine in a saucepan until melted, making sure to keep stirring. Remove from the heat and add the sugar and milk; the milk should be lukewarm. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk, stir and leave to stand for 2 minutes.

2. Mix the flour, salt and mixed spice together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the warm milk mixture, stirring until the mixture forms a soft ball.

3. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes to make a smooth dough.

4. Knead the mixed fruit into the dough until evenly distributed. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 1.5 hours, or until doubled in size and spongy.

5. Return the dough to the work surface and pull the dough off the sides of the bowl with your hands and form a ball. Knead lightly, then divide into 12 balls.

6. Place the buns around 1.5cm apart on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand, cover and leave to prove for 45–60 minutes. The buns should be just touching each other.

7. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.

8. To make the cross decoration, mix the flour with 2 tablespoons of cold water to make a smooth, thick paste.

9. Spoon the paste into a small freezer bag and cut off one corner, or piping bag fitted with a round nozzle. Pipe lines of the flour paste on top of each row of the buns in one direction and then the other.

10. Bake the buns in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes, or until risen and golden.

11. Brush the warm buns with maple syrup and leave to cool.

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Enjoy Easter with a twist with this traditional Spanish-style french toast that'll leave you wanting more.

Ingredients:

• 400g brioche loaf
• 400ml fresh whole milk
• 100ml whipping cream
• 1 cinnamon stick
• peel of one orange
• 3 large free-range egg yolks
• 100g caster sugar, plus extra for frying
• Unsalted butter for frying
  
  

Method:

1. Gently heat the milk, cinnamon stick and orange peel until warm.
2. Remove from the heat, cover with cling film and allow the milk to infuse for 5 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, mix the egg yolks, sugar, cream and strained milk and dip the brioche slices on both sides until well coated in the mixture.
4. In a medium sized frying pan, melt some butter on a gentle heat and dust some caster sugar before frying each torrija on both sides until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Be careful of frying them on a high heat because the butter and brioche will burn very quickly.
5. Remove from the frying pan and drain on some kitchen paper.
6. For the extra caramel crunch, dust each torrija with more caster sugar and place under the grill (or use a blow torch) to melt the sugar and make a thick caramel coating.
7. Serve the torrija warm with a scoop of idiazabal ice cream (cheese ice cream, a popular Basque cheese made from ewes milk).

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Creme egg cupcakes

A delicious treat made with your favourite snacks and more!

Ingredients:

• 100g golden caster sugar
• 75g soft light brown sugar
• 175g unsalted butter, soft
• 3 eggs
• 125g self-rising flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 50g soured cream.

Icing

• 200g unsalted butter, soft
• 400g icing sugar
• yellow food colouring
• 6 creme eggs, halved.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.
2. Beat both the sugars and butter with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, beating well in between each addition. Sieve in the flour and cocoa, add a pinch of salt and fold in briefly until combined. Stir in the vanilla and the soured cream.
3. Divide the mixture between the cases, and bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen, and spring back when gently pressed. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
4. Beat the butter and icing sugar together for the icing, until pale, light and fluffy. Put half of the icing in a separate bowl and add enough of the yellow food colouring to turn the icing a golden-yolk yellow.
5. Fit a piping bag with a star nozzle, and place flat on the work surface. Put the white icing into the piping bag in a few dollops in the middle of the bag, where it’s still wide. Place the yellow over the top of the white. Lift the piping bag by the wide end and squeeze both colours down evenly so they are side by side right down to the nozzle.
6. Pipe swirls of the icing over the cupcakes and add a halved creme egg into the icing to stick on. Will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container.

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