12. Ham and Mushroom Muffins

Hi readers, sorry for the absence of a post last week – I did bake a Birthday cake for my niece (but a tried and tested recipe so it didn’t count for this blog) and I also went to Disneyland and started a new job so I didn’t have time – it’s all happening!

This week I opted for a savoury recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery (http://hummingbirdbakery.com/) – ham and mushroom muffins.

I started by cooking some chopped button mushrooms in butter.

Mushrooms

In a separate bowl I added flour, baking powder and cheese and gradually mixed in a combination of whole milk and eggs. The recipe said to use an electric whisk but the mixture was far too think, I thought the whisk was going to short circuit so I put a bit of old fashioned elbow grease in instead!

I then added in chopped ham, chopped onions and the mushrooms.

After giving it a good mix it still seemed really stiff to me so I added a bit more milk to loosen it up a bit. I then put it into cases ready to be baked (the recipe said 12 but I made 16 – winner!).

Pre oven

I then baked them for half an hour (smelt amazing in the oven) until they came out like this…

Post oven

They’re really good, quite cheesy (no complaints from me!) and much lighter and airier than I expected. I had one fresh out the oven and then a cooled one and they were equally as nice each time. Really quick and easy to do – would recommend!

11. Bourbon Biscuits

This week, inspired by the April newsletter from Sew White (www.sewwhite.com), I decided to make one of my favourite type of biscuits, bourbons.

I got all the ingredients out before I started and randomly arranged them into a sort of display so I decided to take a picture!

Ingredients

I fisrtly mixed all the dry ingredients together and then added the butter and golden syrup and mixed thoroughly.

I then added the milk until the mixture came together into a dough.

I then rolled the dough and cut out the shapes for the biscuits and as I didn’t have rectangles I used stars and hearts (the heart’s also from Sew White).

I then refrigerated them for 20 minutes and put them in a prehated oven for another 20. Meanwhile, I made the icing to fill the biscuits.

Filling

Once the biscuits were out the oven I left them to cool. Sadly as they had spread a little the letters didn’t come out as well as hoped but you could still read some of them.

10. Breakfast Rolls

This week I decided to go savoury and try something I’ve been meaning to try for a while, a Paul Hollywood recipe, breakfast rolls. So called because they’re bread rolls filled with elements of a typical English breakfast. It starts with a relatively typical bread dough – bring all the ingredients together to form a wet dough, kned for 10 minutes until you get a smooth dough and leave to rise for a few hours.

Wet dough

Smooth dough

Whilst rising I cooked a pack of bacon and removed the rinds and sliced some button mushrooms. After the dough had risen I rolled it into a large rectangle.

Rolled out dough

I then topped with the prepared ingredients- tomato passata, bacon and mushrooms and rolled up as tightly as I could.

Dough with filling

All rolled up

I then sliced it up as best I could – it was really hard to be neat with not the sharpest of knives and passata oozing out everywhere but I eventually got them on the baking trays. I left them to prove for 30 minutes and then brushed with an egg glaze.

Rolls pre oven

Close up roll

They then went in a hot oven for 20 minutes until they looked like this…

Fresh out the oven

Mmmmmm! I thought they were really good. Cooked all the way through, with a good structure and no soggy bottoms! Aesthetically could maybe have been a bit more pleasing but not bad for a first attempt. I made them last night and at the time of writing I’ve already eaten four! They are especially good warm, the only slight criticism is that they were a bit salty. I took a load to work and they weren’t that popular but I think everyone in the office has too sweet a tooth. Next time I won’t bother – I’ll happily keep them all to myself!