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Ebb and flow

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I’m a firm believer in grating cheese over food that doesn’t impress me with its taste. I feel like this is how I want to live my life. Grating cheese over things and impressing myself. Yes, I do take the easy way out but that’s because not everything I make is Page 1-top post-hit publish worthy. If I was good at vomiting percentages, I’d say 60% of what I make tastes a lot like goat cheese. The rest is me being possessed by evil spirits and cooking things that see me spending 10 minutes staring at my taste tester.

“Is it good?”

“Do you like it?”

“You’re lying”

“It’s not that good.”

“Give me the truth, man. That’s all I ask.”

To tell you the cold hard truth, it hasn’t been that good this week. Either I’m realising that I wasn’t made with a flair for cooking or I just have temporary afternoon blahs. Or I feel too plain and I want to step up my game. If I have to, I have no idea how.  Do you have such thoughts too? I assume it comes with the territory…of coming up with something new each week.

I thought about how I’d like to be Miss Spice of Life in this world and I came up with a few ideas. To everybody not reading this right now, this is me thinking out loud and motivating myself to focus on this experiment as a whole and not a day-day thing.

– Stay simple and true to your ingredients. It takes a lot for me to say “NO, I will let this lemon be a lemon and flavour my cold water right now” when all I can think of is “PIEEEEE”. Nothing wrong with that except you tend to scatter your thoughts to 70 different areas instead of taking a seat and sipping on you lemonade and feeling so cool that you can whatever you want if you just breathe.

– Reminisce food experiences. Those meals are the ones you yearn for. Find your own special way to recreate them and make them your own.

FINALLY.

– Cook the food you love to eat. If this week is all about the dal (yellow lentils) and rice, then so be it. Yesterday it was slightly different. I couldn’t stop thinking about the rainbow carrots in the vegetable drawer. They were sitting there and being pretty and I was scouring the web for recipes that would do the most justice to them. I couldn’t wait much longer so I went ahead and cooked them in the way I knew best. I would eat this 10 times over if I could.

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I will have this recipe up for you sooner than you think.

In other news, I have to do a test tomorrow. For a job. Spectacular. Thankfully it requires very little getting out of bed and a lot of tea on tap.

In other other news, these guys are making my life just when I was about to give up on them.

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Hey little ones, I will eat you very soon. Without cheese because that’s how good you’ll be.

Super Sunday eggs + Resurrection rice cakes

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Hello another Sunday where I’m ready to pass out from eating a much too heavy breakfast in the morning, doing nothing in the afternoon,  and then shamelessly passing out like I had initially planned. No wait. That’s not the shameless part. There is something worse than that. It takes me back to Goa when I lived with my parents, followed this Sunday routine except after I woke up, I expected more food.

Seriously, Indian children are so spoilt in the parents making them food department. No matter how old you get, your mother and in my case my father too, always want to feed you. So yes, blame them if you must. What horrible parents they are for wanting to feed 27-year-old children (Hi Jane. I meant you).

Gathering whatever was left of my will to survive, I climbed up the stairs from the lower part of my house and made my way into the kitchen. As soon as this happened, my mother would appear from nowhere as if she was standing behind me all along and say, “Hungry? Wait I have to make rice.” Oh okay mama, I’ll just pretend you said pulao and that my stomach is not ready to crush every ounce of my brain that’s telling me it’s stuff your face you lazy arse o’clock. The lazy arse being me, of course.

My mother, never disappointed. She’s the best rice-maker I know and to say I’ve learnt to make amazing pulao from her would be a big lie. I know nothing about the first of it and if I do, it’s purely by chance. From watching her I learnt to wash the rice (twice) thing, the one-cup-rice-two-cups-water thing, the simmer-boil-close-open-stir thing, and the drain-the-water-once-you’re-done thing. Sometimes I get all these “things” mixed up perfectly.

As for the pulao, I can make my mother proud. I don’t know how. I’ve never bothered learning about it as much as I worried about biting into a cardamom pod while eating.

The things that take you back home…

I miss your pulao, mother!

Super Sunday eggs + Resurrection rice cakes

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Claire, I stole the rice cakes idea from you. That’s right. I took it. You were asleep and I said “To hell with her!” Don’t feel bad. If I can make the pain go away, I’ll say two things: I love the names “resurrection risotto cakes” and Donna Chinona. You inspire me to copy you. Feel better?

You’ll need one cup of leftover risotto or vegetable pulao, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1tbsp plus a little more buckwheat flour (can also substitute with all-purpose flower) and some salt and pepper to taste. For the side (if you prefer sides), you can use slices of tomato and salad greens drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Take a cup of the pulao and mix it with an egg, buckwheat flour, Parmesan cheese and some pepper. Ideally you rice should already be salted because it’s made from leftovers but I don’t like to predict these things. If you need more salt, don’t let me stop you. You should be able to make about 3 small rice cakes or 2 big ones. The cakes should be easy to shape so if 1 tbsp buckwheat flour isn’t enough, add a teaspoon more and see if it does the trick.

The end.

Haha.

Heat olive oil in a non-stick or stick frying pan and gently add the rice cakes to it. Like a sniper. Three to four minutes later, turn them over. They should be golden brown on the cooked side and easy to turn over as well. It’s easy when the bottom is cooked. These things are connected and written into the fibre of the universe. I might sound like I’m making it all up but I’m not. Repeat this on the other side and take it off the stove and place it on a paper towel or plate. Paper towel to soak the extra oil or plate because you used olive oil and your worries should have disappeared by now.

In the same pan, crack an egg and cook until the white is set. You can cook the egg as you choose, I’m not going to be an egg Nazi.

Decorate your plate with edible plant-based nourishment (tomatoes and salad greens) and breakfast is ready.

I’m going back to bed.

(PS: I will have a mother’s special vegetable pulao recipe up on here this week. It’s only fair)

Last week.

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Muddy paws. Muddy feet. Wet paws. Wet feet. Peanut butter sandwiches. Fallen tree bridges. Mossy trees. Tiny water springs.

Smelly socks.

Dog baths.

Human soul cleanse.

Yes, I like the beach more but for now, this will do.

Can’t live without sweet potato sandwich Thursday

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Something very strange happened yesterday. I went over to my neighbour’s flat and knocked on her door. She opened it. This is not unusual. Well maybe it is a little bit in most of America but in this case, it’s boring. I know her. We’ve met. At a bus stop, but yet, we’ve done the this and that required for initial human contact.

After talking for a bit, she turned on the TV, went to the red logo magical streaming thing, and hit play on a show I never thought I’d watch: Desperate Housewives. Ick. Sorry Ranvijay and everybody else who worships the Cherry or Berry that created these women, I can’t help rolling my eyes at some of the stuff that comes up.

And my eyes really hurt.

As it typically goes, my sweet neighbour asked me if I watched these women and their secret everything lies. As it typically goes with questions I don’t want to answer, I did my diplomatic “Ohhh my mother and sister used to watch it. Big fans.” Why I feel the need to not disappoint her is beyond me. Maybe I thought she loved her role as a stay at home mother so much that watching a desperate housewife was something very personal for her. Considering the phase of life I find myself in, that fictitious world it’s 100000% something I’d like to pretend never existed in my memory.

Ever.

Thank you.

Because some days sandwiches are the last thing I want to be known for and other days they’re my only friends.

Because some days (most days) I feel like I’m too young for this and other days my stretchy pants feel like a very good deal.

Because some days I just want my own money so I can book airplane tickets to places I close my eyes and point to and other days I can’t get past the door.

Because some days I want to deny Desperate Housewives and the fact that I know their names (Mother, sister, remember?) and other days Susan Delfino Season 7 episode *I don’t know*.

Okay it was episode 3. I know because I googled it.

Now leave me alone.

Roasted spicy sweet potato goat cheese and pesto sandwich

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The in-house carnivore loved this sandwich. In this case his opinion matters because he is the in-house carnivore and I am the in-house lentil-eating, rice-munching, spinach-grazing non in-house carnivore. And I unhealthily heart taters. Precious. (Movie reference. Name it, win a lifetime of photographs I take of myself in the bathroom mirror).

Though I have added quantities for the spices (and cheese and pesto), it complete depends on you and how much more or less you want to add. The fennel seeds add a very “refreshing” flavour, the cumin adds spicy smokiness and the red pepper flakes add heat. The goat cheese adds happiness and the pesto justifies the goat cheese, plus MOAR. Own it.

Ingredients

  • 4 slices of bread (I used whole wheat Pane Francese {it’s like a baguette but with more volume} and made two 6 inch sandwiches)
  • 1 sweet potato
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 2 oz goat cheese (at room temperature)
  • 2 oz cilantro basil pesto
  • 2 handfuls of winter greens washed, dried and tossed with lemon juice

Finally, I begin!

Peel the sweet potato and chop it…erm. I forgot the word. What I mean to say is you have to cut it the opposite of length-wise, into the little circles about 1/4 inch thick. I am the best recipe-writer in the world right now.

Thankfully I have a picture for it.

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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, which is my house takes 10 days and by that time I’ve paid for 8 deli sandwiches from the corner store. I kid. Prepare a baking sheet by covering it with foil and brushing it lightly with olive oil. In a bowl, toss the cut sweet potato in olive oil, and the spices + the salt. Place them on the sheet and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes. At the 15-minute mark, you need to turn each slice of potato so it cooks on the other side too. You want it to be tender on the inside and slightly golden brown delish on the outside. As you can see in the picture above, the potato slices were a bit uneven in thickness. It didn’t matter too much except for the smaller slices which cooked and got blackened too much on the edges. No. Big. Deal. You will have enough for 2 sandwiches either way.

Set the oven to broil (500 degrees F), slice the bread LENGTH-WISE (THANK YOU) and place it in the hot oven face down. Leave it in for 3 minutes and get the other sandwich fillings ready to fill ‘er up. I’m going to be pretentious of the order of things. I urge you to rebel. I’m fickle like that.

  • Spread the cilantro-pesto basil on the base of the sandwich. YUM.
  • Sweet potato goes on top.
  • Lemony greens.
  • Goat cheese on the very top. Go thick or go home.
  • Why does this sound the way it sounds?
  • It’s ready to eat.
  • It can sound any way it wants right now.

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Your sandwich is ready. You don’t need to read this anymore.

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GO.

Eat.

Cilantro-basil pesto + Some real talk

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Are you one of those people that believe ads? I’m not talking about the usual “Oh I need to get that” kind of belief. It’s more like the “Poor thing, I should help them out by buying some of that new toothpaste” kind of faith. There’s a big part of me that can’t stand advertising (this punchline is just one reason why). My sister was an ad copywriter for the start of her working life and one of the things I’d famously do in my head was secretly hate that profession. I had my head stuck in the clouds about how much better a journalist was. That somehow, my work was more meaningful no matter how much I was forced to fill space with make-up tips I didn’t have the slightest idea about. I was a good pretender. I know my spring colours. If by spring you mean trying to stop your face from melting because it does not exist in India.

That one.

I guess I’m not one to be Miss journalistic ethics but I do believe that a part of me did some good work. Now that I feel a lot more informed and less misguided, I still miss the poop world that us news guys created. No other place let me love and hate with equal fervour and I embraced it, knowing well that some of what we as an industry did was pretty crummy. Like that one time….meh. Fugghedaboutit.

As much as I try not to, I can’t help but be naive. It’s this big, fat stupid baby stuck inside my head that still wants to believe that people are good. I mean they try so hard to put Hawaiian breeze in an easy to spray can that they can’t be that bad, right? And just like Santa’s not real, I get to snap back into reality, except it’s more of a *thud* because shit just hit the fan. At least it’s Hawaiian-scented.

It’s not.

I’m 25 years old and I think I should be used to the idea that everything is something I’m supposed to need. All I ever need is for my body to be nourished well, my mind to be okay. As we become more conscious consumers, this goal become less of a chore and we can easily win. So try. Maybe one day, we’ll have the ad world wrapped around your finger.

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I feel like I make this recipe too much because I (eeps) eat too much spaghetti. Judge, judge all you like. I love life in the fast lane. If my instructions are too easy because the recipe is just that. Make it once and you’re expert enough to adapt it the next time. I’m gushing. It’s my fave. Take that “can’t live without Thursday”!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup fresh basil leaves
  • 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped roughly or just crushed with a punch of your fist.
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped roughly
  • 1/4 cup olive oil (you will need less than the quantity stated but have a 1/4 cup ready to pour into the food processor while it’s working the basil, cilantro and pecans)
  • 1/4 cup parmesan-reggiano (optional)
  • Salt to taste

Put the basil, cilantro, garlic, parmesan and pecans in a food processor. Start it up and set it to low because setting mine to high just makes me paranoid that the blade will fly out and turn me into this.

Why so serious?

Okay that NEVER EVER happened.

As the food processor is working itself up, add the olive oil in a thin stream. Like I said in the ingredients note, you will not need the entire 1/4 cup of olive oil so keep a watch on the contents and how it reacts to the oil. When you notice the ingredients moving around the food processor bowl more freely and looking more pasty, stop stop stop stop. It’s done. Did I scare you? Okay, good.

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Make a huge bowl of spaghetti, mix this in and bounce across the room because this is the life.

If you have leftover pesto, bottle it and refrigerate until you’re ready to make another huge bowl of spaghetti.

I don’t have to tell you what to do next.

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(Look out for a sandwich recipe using this pesto on Thursday. So I guess as an afterthought, you could skip that second huge bowl of spaghetti.)

Bunny in a hat. How about that.

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bunny in a hat

I did these drawings after doing 40 arm curls which might explain why they’re a little lop-sided. A LITTLE?! Geez, you don’t have to be so critical. I tried! You should see my arms right now. They’re so..what’s the word I’m looking for..

Oh yea.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE3d2GHBuvQ&w=420&h=315]

That.

Coincidentally, his mother’s name is Bunny too! I did not plan this out but I do love myself some happy coincidences.

Do you want to guess the bunnies this week? Of course you do! I don’t know what your prize will be this time but I’m sure I can pull something out of my hat. Get it? Hat. Bunny.

You are still reading, aren’t you?

You dolls.

Sunny side up say whaaaaat.

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Is it strange that I spend quite a lot of my time thinking I was made for bigger things? That I should have already written my bestseller and signed every fan copy requested of me while juggling a media career where I talked for 30 minutes every week on how we just need to get along and have cookie exchanges.

Cookie exchanges. Like stock trading with cookies.

Never mind all of that. I figure if I wanted something really badly, I would have done it already. No excuses. I sometimes wonder how I’m going to keep writing this way. Everyday, almost diligently. With strong doses of “move your arse”, I have managed well so far. Last year was spent just sitting around contemplating what I could so instead of whining. Now I just sit around. I DO NOT.

Here’s your lesson that you can gain nothing from whining but a lot from sitting down. I’ve made a lot of things in the kitchen and a lot of messes I just did not want to clean up. The fact remains that I’m always going to love cooking and taking pictures of my food. Nobody can take that away from me, least of all the pressure I sometimes put on myself to write.

My “eggs on a Sunday” post has been MIA 3 weeks now. I was going for week 4 but I changed my mind. This is a good thing because we’re all going to be winners here.

Winners not whiners. I’m going for gold, if you didn’t already know.

Sunny side up eggs on creamy-mustardy spinach

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You’ll need 1 egg, a cup of spinach, dijon mustard (or any mustard you want to experiment with), heavy cream, bread crumbs (I used panko crumbs because it’s all I had), mustard seeds, parmesan-reggiano, salt and pepper. Oh, also heat the oven to 400 degrees F which takes 8000 push-ups worth of time to do in this house. You should see my arms. Buff.

On a baking sheet lined with a tiny bit of foil, mix together 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/4 cup bread crumbs and 1 tsp of mustard. Put this in the oven for 5 minutes. This will go on top of the egg, for crunch ye know?

Pour water in a skillet to cover half of it and wilt the spinach in it. This should take about 3 minutes. Once it’s done, drain the spinach and squeeze out the water from it. Wipe the skillet clean and put it back on the stove with the spinach, 1 1/2 tsp mustard and 1 1/2 tbsp heavy cream. Stir until the spinach absorbs the cream and mustard, taking on a creamy texture itself. This will take 3 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Put it on a plate and fry the egg.

HURRY.

Break the egg into the pan and once the white is completely cooked, put it on top of the spinach and sprinkle the bread crumbs on the top. Tres facile, ne c’est pas?

I try, I do.

If there’s that thing you’ve always wanted to try, do it.

Don’t be like me, hiding my non-existent bestseller from the world and everything.

Quinoa stir-fry with lemony winter greens + older and nuttier

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Just yesterday, Antsypants booked two tickets for us to go visit my in-laws and his parents in May. That’s where we’ll be this time two months from now. This time two months from now, I’ll also be 26. Mama, if you’re reading this, WHEN DID I BECOME 26? Bleah, it’s okay. I actually like my birthday. I forget I’m 26 at least until somebody asks me my age and then I have to think for 5 seconds when this all changed.

It wasn’t like this when I was a teenager. I was angst-ridden and the idea of me standing around a cake with people staring at me was quite unappealing. I wanted to hide in my room but I always wanted to hide in my room at that age. There were parties people came over, I came out and shook hands and said thank you. When I realised that I was missing all the presents, I tried to be better about it. Who doesn’t love presents?! Especially of the monetary, non-fabric kind.

Non-fabric kind. I just made myself “lol”. Ask me later if you want to know why.

At 25, I can say quite confidently that I don’t think like that anymore. I still don’t like birthday parties in the tradition of “let’s invite everyone we know so our faces fall off from two cheek kissing” but I like to be around the people that matter. As for presents, I feel better a lot better about giving and feeling grateful for what I already have. There’s little I need and a bulk of that you just can’t buy.

Two months to 26. If this is what it’s going to feel like, I’m alright with that. Being with the new extension to my family, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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I made this recipe up from my own “too lazy to cook something fancy” brain and guess what? It turned out to be quite fancy after all. I should not try more often. My point is, if you find that you need to change the vinegar-soy sauce ratio, go ahead. Just make sure you start with less and taste as you go. I’ve made this thrice and I’ve like it most with this combination of quinoa. The red quinoa is a lot crispier even after it’s cooked and the mustard seeds give it a wonderful nutty flavour as you eat.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed and cooked (I used a mix of black, white and red quinoa from the bulk section of the grocery but any one kind will do)
  • 1 + 2 tsp peanut oil
  • 5 oz tofu, cut into  1/2 to 1 inch cubes
  • 2 tsp whole mustard seeds
  • 1 large clove garlic, chopped fine
  • 1 cup carrots, diced
  • 1 cup green beans,
  • 2 tbsp lite soy sauce (it’s a lot less salty than the regular kind. You can also use tamari if you don’t like soy sauce but modify the quantity as per your tastebuds)
  • 4 tsp rice vinegar
  • Winter salad greens, washed and dried (frisée, arugula, mustard, beet greens, chicory…are some example. If you don’t have any of these, you can add baby or chopped spinach)
  • Squeeze of lemon juice
  • Salt to taste

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Heat a teaspoon of peanut oil in a non-stick frying pan and cook the tofu on both sides until it’s golden and crisp on the outside but still soft on the inside. It should take about 3 minutes per side. Take it out of the pan and place it on a paper towel. I thought about cutting it into cubes after frying it (makes it easier to flip) but if you’ve gone knife crazy and prepped your ingredients already, I’m sorry. I can make it up to you by cooking for you someday should our crosses path. Paths cross.

I’m not really sorry.

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At this point, your quinoa should be on the stove top in a small pot, being cooked in lightly salted water or vegetable stock.

On the same frying pan where you fried the tofu, add 2 tsp of peanut oil and add the mustard seeds to it. Once the oil gets hot, the mustard seeds will start to pop. Quickly add the garlic and give it a 30-second stir. Then add the carrots and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Throw in the green beans next, then the tofu and keep stirring the mix for another 4 minutes at least.

Add the soy sauce and give it a quick stir and then add the rice vinegar. Taste here to check if all’s well in stir-fry land. Cook for 3 more minutes or until the veggies are cooked but not soft (I like them to be a little crunchy). Take it off the stove and check on the quinoa. If it’s ready, then add this stir-fry mix to it and combine the two in the quinoa pot. If it’s not, you wait till it is. That was easy. Ha.

The third part of this recipe is incorporating the salad greens. Wash and dry the greens and then squeeze some lemon juice over them in a separate bowl. You are now going to add these greens to the quinoa in the pot. The quinoa should still be warm when you do this so that the greens wilt just a tad.

Serve warm in a bowl. Squeeze more lemon juice on the top if you prefer.

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Hot cross buns with chocolate, dates and pecans + If you have no daughter.

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I love this time of the year. It has nothing to do with the weather but yet, it has everything to do with it. Spring time festivals all seem to come along at the exact same time. I don’t think it’s coincidental that Holi and Easter come in the same week. I know somebody planned it that way all along and then let us play with it, make our own rules and call it something marvelous, with the perfect food to accompany the event.

Except, on Holi people are too stoned to remember and everything looks like perfect food. Not speaking from experience only because drinking cannbis-laced milk things doesn’t appeal to me. I spit it out and then filmed my friends acting their lives out in slow motion. On Easter, the food isn’t traditional but on Good Friday, my family has this “thing”. It’s a fairly new thing and my favourite part of it, is that it’s completely non-traditional (at least in my mind it is).

They go to the Good Friday service: Mother, father, and my sisters and me, when I was around. The chapel is on a hill, wonderful views but in 2000 degree heat, it doesn’t really matter. There is always place to sit and simple things don’t take forever to finish. My father, driving us there and back, loves pointing out that the church they usually go to “is still doing *such and such* part of the service”, (emphasis on the “still”). We are a crafty lot that way.

Crafty as foxes, in the meadows, stalking rabbits.

Except the rabbits are masala dosas and dosas need to be eaten. I did say it was non-traditional. Yes, we eat dosas right after church, in a restaurant, on Good Friday. I would say we’re going to hell but there is no proof of that. Just like the best, we make the rules up as we go. As for the hot cross buns, those are always waiting for us at home. Full of dried fruit and a zig-zag cross. If there was a better way to wash down a dosa, I don’t want to know about it.

This is it.

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This recipe does take 2 days but most of the work has everything to do with bread-like waiting. Nothing about it is intimidating and if you’re a non-professional bread maker like me, this would make for a great first experiment. This was my first and only attempt with the help of this beautiful recipe from Chocolate and Zucchini. I changed some things but the base is the same. I do encourage you to read through Clotilde’s recipe as well simply because painstakingly she made this process so much easier for me.

Ingredients

For the buns

  • 3 cups (400 gm or 12 oz) all-purpose flour. I used Gold Medal Unbleached.
  • 2 tsp dry yeast
  • 3/4 cup whole milk (room temperature)
  • 1/2 cup fresh cream
  • 6 tbsp pecans, roughly chopped
  • 2/3 cup (100 gm or 3 1/2 oz) Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips (or any other good quality chocolate chips)
  • 2/3 cup (100 gm or 3 1/2 oz) pitted and chopped dates
  • 1 tbsp sweetener (agave syrup or honey or maple syrup)
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • Zest of 1/2 an organic lemon
  • 1 tsp cinnamon powder

For the crosses

  • 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp water

For the glaze

  • 50 gm (1/4 cup) raw cane sugar
  • 3 tbsp + 1 tsp water

Mix the flour and dry yeast in a large mixing bowl and then pour in the milk and fresh cream. If you have a mixer, you can use it to mix the messy mass of dough but all I have are my hands. Once incorporated, leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes.

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In a separate bowl, add the pecans, chocolate chips, dates, sweetener, salt, zest and cinnamon. Stir it up well. This messy mass of goodness will go into the dough in a little bit.

Ready?

NOW. Mix the pecan-chocolate-date mass into the dough so that they’re spread out evenly. This can also be done with a stand-in mixer but like I said before, “this is a one-in-a-million hand.” Actually George said it. Love me, love my Seinfeld quips.

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Fold the dough for 4 minutes. This video was in the original recipe and it shows you how it’s done (ignore the numbers and the texture of the dough in the video. Yours will look more “together”. Just take 4 minutes). At first, the dough will seem a bit tough but as you go along, it will soften up. Once this is done, place plastic wrap on the surface of the dough and cover the bowl with a plate. Your dough will then go into the fridge for 12 to 18 hours.

Day 2

Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest for 30 minutes. It will look like it hasn’t risen at all but of course, it has. It’s just a very moderate increase in size. Lightly flour a working surface and work with the dough making equal bun-shaped pieces of it. You should have 12, according to the recipe but I had 11. They should be more of less the same shape because you want it to bake evenly. Make sure each bun has close to the same amount of the pecan/date/chocolate mix so that no unnecessary fights break out.

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Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place the shaped dough an inch apart from each other. Cover it with a clean and damp towel and let it sit for 3-3 1/2 hours in a warm dark place or until they become 1/2 as big. Once the buns rise, it’s okay if they touch. You want that to happen. I personally love it when my food touches.

Next, turn your oven up to 360 degrees F (180 C). Brush the top of the bun dough with milk so they’ll brown well while they bake.

Make the mixture for the “crosses” on the hot cross buns. If you don’t have any of the piping tools to draw a cross on the buns, make one out of parchment paper. This video will show you how. Pipe the crosses on top of the buns. Place the baking tray into the oven (middle rack) and bake for 35-40 minutes or until they’re nice and brown on the outside.

I do make crappy crosses, if I say so myself.

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While they bake, prepare the sugar syrup to glaze the top once the buns are out of the oven. Mix the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Keep stirring until the sugar dissolves and thickens into a syrup. Brush this on the buns while they are just out of the oven. It will form a nice sugary coat on the top. This step is entirely optional, especially if you’re trying to make it lighter.

Slice the buns horizontally let them cool completely. Store in an air-tight container.

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“Store in an air-tight container.” Hahaha, only if you don’t eat them all at once. Did not happen.