Lest We Forget – and my Anzac Biscuit recipe!

ANZAC Day – 25 April – is probably Australia’s most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

For those of you reading that aren’t Australian, Anzac Day is a public holiday in Australia. There are what we call ‘Dawn Services’ all over the country, where people get up before the sun rises, and march in a parade – both veterans of war, their relatives (often bearing the medals of those fathers, grandfathers, uncles and brothers who served and have since passed) and local people and community groups, such as Girl Guides and Scouts.

It’s a day that we remember those who bravely  fought for our countries, those who lost their lives fighting for us, and those serving today.

Anzac Biscuits (or what Americans refer to as ‘cookies) are a long tradition. It is said that biscuits were sent by wives to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation.

As a young girl I used to get up early and put on my Girl Guide uniform and march in a local parade. A funny story that my mum will hate me telling - I remember when I was 9 years old, and we were living with our grandparents in Marton, I got up early one Anzac Day to march in the parade. I went into mum’s room to wake her up to walk me down the street, and found that she wasn’t there. It turns out that she was still out – at 4:30 in the morning. I’m not sure if this was the occasion that we found her climbing onto the roof to get in to the house on the second floor (because we lived above my grandparents shop, and Poppy deadlocked the door every night, and she wasn’t able to get in!) or if that was another time… but it was funny!

It’s always hard being away from home on a holiday. And, since I am on the other side of the world, I decided that today, April 25, I would share a small tradition with my host family, and bake Anzac Biscuits with and for them. When I told Miss 3 that these were Australian biscuits, she was worried, and ask if I had to take them all back to Australia, or if I would let her eat some!

So thank you to all those men and women who have served, and those who gave their lives. We really are lucky to live in one of the best countries in the world (if not THE best!).

I know it’s a little late, but I thought I’d share my Anzac Biscuit recipe with any Aussie au pairs reading (or any other au pairs who want to try out this simple recipe), so that you can share our nations ‘cookie’ with your host families too. I slightly altered it from this recipe, and it works well with American ingredients!

Anzac Biscuits – Cyndi Style

Ingredients
1 cup quick oats (I used Quaker brand)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup flaked coconut (I use the Angel Flake Coconut [store brand] and I dehydrate it in my toaster oven before using it, but you can use it wet as well!)
1/2 cup (one stick) salted butter
3 tablespoons Golden Syrup (You should be able to find “Lyle’s” brand from the UK at an average grocery store)
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Heat oven to 350°F (175°C)
2. Mix the flour, sugar, coconut and oats in a bowl.
3. In a small pot, melt the butter and golden syrup together. (I use a whisk to mix them together once the butter is melted, as the butter has a tendency to separate)
4. Disolve the baking soda in the water, and then mix into the butter mixture.
5.  Add butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix to combine.
6. Drop spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet/tray (I use one lined with baking paper to stop them sticking!)
7. Bake 15-20 minutes. You need to keep a close eye on them, as they have the tendency to burn because of the high sugar content. A longer cooking time with give a crunchier biscuit. If you like your bikkies soft, consider cooking for 13-15 minutes! (Although this receipe does seem to produce a biscuit that is soft when it comes out of the oven, but quickly hardens.)
8. Enjoy your little slice of Australia!

Freshy made Anzac Biscuits!

Happy 1st Birthday, Ted!

Ted is my Special

On April 21, Ted celebrated his 1st birthday.

Ted doesn’t show his face in my blog very often, but that doesn’t mean he’s not well known. Actually, Ted is quite well known amongst my close friends, if not for his chocolate loving tendencies, then for the fact that he has visited 4 countries in the past year, with trips including New York City, Quebec City, Nashville and Florida.

Ted was given to me as a very special gift, and since I got him on April 21st last year, he has gone pretty much everywhere with me. I know, sounds weird, 27 year old “woman” (gag, I sound so old) dragging a teddy bear around with her. But Ted reminds me that I am super loved, and even though sometimes he gets naked in bed (by losing his tie in the middle of the night) he’s super special to me.

Blowing out Ted's candle

So to celebrate, we threw Ted a “party” on the weekend. The party consisted of a personal mini pavlova in a cupcake wrapper for Ted, a few of his closest friends (haha, thanks to Chrissie and my host dad for their contributions of ‘friends’ to the party) and then lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, where we ate, and he watched. Yeah.

Ted and all his friends (haha)!

So happy birthday Ted. Thanks for the year you’ve spent with me. xoxoxo

It’s my city – I’m the King of New York!

It was time to go back. There is something about New York City that drags me in. 90% of it is probably Broadway. I can’t go to New York without seeing a Broadway show. It’s part of who I am. But it’s true, that New York City has a little something-something about it that makes you want to go back again and again, at least for me. And so we did.

Driving down 5th Avenue

Maria and I took the bus from Alewife Station at 6am Saturday morning. Sounds all well and good, until you factor in that the Richmond vs. Melbourne game (Australian Rules Football, for those of you playing along at home) started at 11:45pm Friday night here in the US, and it finished around 2:30am. I umm-ed and ahh-ed about whether or not I should stay up to watch the game (knowing full well that last time I ventured into New York on less than a few hours sleep it was a pretty long, exhausting day) but in the end the feeling that we were finally going to win a game kept me up… and thankfully we did win! But, in turn, that meant that when my alarm went off at 4:40am, I’d only had 2 hours sleep, and I felt it.

The weather forecast has changed overnight, and so I took my raincoat out of my backpack, and substituted a small pillow instead, in an attempt to sleep on the bus. Unfortunately, but the time we got to the bus and got on, I was wide awake. I finally was able to fall asleep around 8am, and then was jolted awake about 9am when the driver slammed on his brakes. Ugh.

We got to the city at 10:30am. Our hotel, The Carlton, was only a 15 minute walk from the bus stop, so we made our way there, and thankfully our room was ready to check in (yay) so we were able to have a quick rest and dump our stuff before heading off.

After a quick stop in at Pinkberry (my new obsession, more on that later) for breakfast, we headed up to the Nederlander Theatre where the musical ‘Newsies’ has just opened. Friends of mine at home encouraged me to go and see it on Broadway if I had the chance, but the tickets are pricey, and with it just having opened (for a limited engagement), almost sold out. We headed to the lottery… and BINGO, I won! Pretty exciting, since although I have been to a lot of shows on lottery tickets, rarely is it my name that is called!

 

BINGO!

 

It was a beautiful day in New York, around 22 degrees by midday, so we headed up to Pie Face, the Australian Pie chain that has opened in NYC, and got pies for lunch, and then sat in the sun on the little plaza on Broadway and 51^st street and ate our pies. It’s so nice to be able to walk around New York in just a tshirt and jeans, and not have to strip off coats, hats, gloves and scarves as you go in and out of buildings!

First pie I've eaten in nearly a year!

Newsies was amazing. My friends know their shows, but I wasn’t prepared for the talent of the predominantly male cast. The lead is played by Jeremy Jordan – not of 1990’s fame for being a pin-up boy, whose body I once had stuck over my bed, at age 8, (and later playing one of the lead roles in Drew Barrymore’s “Never Been Kissed”), but the one who recently started alongside Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah in the movie “Joyful Noise”. The dancing was amazing – some of the cast were previously finalists on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and the talent was just amazing. Those boys tapped, leapt, spun, flipped… I was a little bit in awe. The storyline keeps you hooked until the end, and of course, it has a happy ending.

With Jeremy Jordan, the star of 'Newsies'

After the show, we met up with Veronica, an Aussie who is an au pair in Philly, and we headed to The Australian for dinner. Seriously, I was in love. That place felt SO MUCH like home it was crazy. Veronica drank Coopers, we ordered dinner (parma, bangers & mash and fish & chips), talked to other Aussies, were shouted drinks for answering questions (LOL) and we didn’t really want to leave…

Giant American-Sized, Australia-Style Parma!

While we were there, I got a call from an old friend of mine that I met at summer camp in CT in 2005, who is now a NYPD Cop. He was down in Manhattan bringing someone to court (haha, a day in the life) and he stopped in to say hello. He walked in the door of the pub, and all the staff turned and looked. I mean, he is about 6’6” tall, but apparently police in bars in America is very unheard of and uncommon! We quickly stepped outside to chat as not to cause a fuss, haha. I was very amused to see that not only did he have a gun (lol) but that he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Wow. I guess that’s what you get for working in the Bronx!

We had tickets to an Off Broadway musical called “Fat Camp”,  so we hustled back to the hotel to clean up, and then caught a cab up to 55^th Street to see the show. We made it just on 8pm, and laughed our way through the 2 hours of musical comedy. I mean the “Butt Song”? Haha. I thought Molly Hager (as Taylor) and Carly Jibson (as Daphne) were amazing!

Afterwards, I was on the prowl for some Pinkberry… and Veronica had never been before (blasphemy!) so we walked the 20 blocks down there, and of course it started to sprinkle as we walked. Luckily it didn’t turn into a downpour, and we finally made it to Pinkberry to indulge in some parfaits, yum yum!

Taking Veronica's Pinkberry Virginity!

Our original plan for Saturday night was to head back to The Australian to watch the Hawthorn vs. Adelaide game at 1:15am, but by 11pm we were wiped, and the thought of staying up that late made me feel physically sick, so we called it a night and took a cab back to the hotel, where we said goodbye to my new favourite Ausmerican, Veronica, before falling into a sleep-deprivation coma (complete with my newest favourite item – pink earplugs that I have been sleeping with in my ears for the last 4 nights, and make the world of difference to me being woken 3 times a night by noises!)

And then we woke up on Sunday morning. But that is a whole other blog post in itself!

Let’s Zumba!! [I finally joined the party!]

So I did it. I gave in. I “joined the party”. The Zumba party, that is.

I’m not really one to step out of my comfort zones too far. I know what I like, I know what I’m good at, and if you think you’ll often see me throwing myself to the lions, by attempting to participate in some type of physical activity that I know isn’t really my cup of tea, you have another thing coming.

But I did it. For over a year now I have been meaning to “join the party”. The gym is one place that sometimes (rarely, but sometimes) I try to step out of my comfort zone, just to prove myself wrong. I don’t think I’d be able to run  today if I hadn’t have stepped out of my comfort zone. But Zumba is not running. Zumba is also not weight lifting, nor is it cardio-based martial arts, both of which I have attempted in the past, and am actually good at, to some extent. No, Zumba is DANCING. Eek. But, it’s something that was being talked up, taking gyms by storm, and I wanted to have a go at it.

So, last week, after much talk about how Maria and I have these gym membership cards that must be nearly going mouldy from sitting unused, we decided to take a Zumba class. Well, actually, to be honest, I decided, and dragged her along, knowing full well that she is less co-ordinated than me, and might possibly make me look good (what a great friend I am, right?!) I went into the class freaking out. I am not overly co-ordinated when it comes to dancing. I don’t “get down” in the club. I can count, and I enjoy music, but my body is much better at lifting weights than it is at wiggling in a particular way (and looking good while it wiggles).

But you know what? I enjoyed it. I looked weird, and I know I did a LOT of standing around and staring, because I had no idea what was going on, but I enjoyed myself, I moved, and I laughed. And then, I went back on Thursday night. And then again tonight.

And so all I really wanted to say, is that I will not be giving up my day job. I am not cut out to be a bellydancer, or a latin dancer, or any type of dancer for that matter. My favourite is the dance where you look kind of like a monkey, and there is a lot of turning that makes you dizzy.

But I have learnt that maybe we shouldn’t be so self-concious about trying things like this. I was worried about looking uncoordinated and silly, but I learnt that a lot of the other women there are worried about looking silly too. And a lot of the other women there DO look silly. So I guess what I’m saying is, even if you think you look silly doing something, give it a try. Because after you have tried it once, there is always going to be someone who is newer than you, and looks more silly than you do. And someone with a bum bigger than yours.

And as far as I’m concerned, as long as I’m moving, and as long as I’m burning those calories, I don’t care how silly I look, since everyone else looks kinda silly too!

PS. If you want a little more Zumba-based entertainment, check out this funny blog post I found when searching for Zumba’s “catch-phrase” (which is “join the party” in case you hadn’t guessed!)

People I Want To Punch In The Throat – Part 1

John at Stop’n'Shop Lexington, MA

Thanks to this douche, my ‘Easter’ (whatever there was of it) is officially ruined. I’m not sure about any of you reading this, but I can say that sometimes my host family (as much as I love them) buy some weird things at the grocery store. I mean, I’m sure that there are weird things that I like to buy at the grocery store and eat (my host mom recently found a can of ‘sliced beets’ in the cupboard, and questioned me about it. I thought it was like Australian beetroot. Turns out it is, minus the flavor, since it doesn’t have any sugar or vinegar or anything else tasty in it… but anyway, moving on). We all do it. We all have weird things we like.

Like, this one time, my host dad bought bison hotdogs. I didn’t even know what a bison was, I had to google it. And then was kind of grossed out. And then, my host mom and I laughed together, as I regaled her with stories of how I cooked them for the kids and they happily ate them, none the wiser.

And, so, my host family like deli meat and sliced cheese, as do I, although our preferences differ. They are happy to buy the pre-sliced, pre-packaged, sometimes-slightly-overprocessed kinds, where as I am a bit of a deli-meat snob, and will usually only eat deli meat that I choose and see them slice as I buy it. And I am only really a fan of hard cheese – particularly sharp, crumbly white (not orange!) cheddar. Put a piece of any type of processed cheese in front of me, and it’s likely I will gag. Unless, it is melted into a grilled cheese (panfried, with salted butter) and I am in a “plastic grilled cheese” kind of mood. But I have to be in the mood.

So, it’s 5:30pm on Easter Sunday. I’ve spent all day locked up in my room, hiding from the world because American Easter is nothing like Australian Easter, and I don’t really feel like getting out and being social when I’m homesick and feeling terribly anti-social. My host family leaves to go to Easter dinner, and I decide that, since I haven’t eaten all day, I want to go to the grocery store, buy some ham and cheese (because after inpection, the cheese in the fridge, although cheddar, is a little too processed for my liking), and a bottle of bubble bath, come home, make a sandwich and take a bath. Simple enough, but it had possibility to semi-recover my pretty lame Easter.

That is, until I get to Stop’n'Shop and see the big sign on the door that they are closing at 6pm. I look at my watch and it’s 5:49. Perfect. I still have 11 minutes to grab what I need.

WRONG. The deli counter is literally inside the front door of the store. You walk in, and there you are. I walk up to it. And then John proceeds to tell me that they are closing in 10 minutes, that he still has 3 orders to do (even though there are 2 other people working in the deli, doing a who lot of not much) and that by the time he has filled those orders it will be 6pm. I tell him that I’ve just driven 15 minutes (maybe a slight exaggeration, but it was at least 10) to buy 4 slices of cheese. 4 SLICES. He just looks at me and says sorry.

So I walk away, angry, to look for bubble bath. I can’t find any that doesn’t come in a 2l bottle. Seriously? And I’m not prepared to shell out $6 for a 2l bottle of bubble bath that I’ll probably never use again.

So I wander back to the fruit section, to find some raisins that I spied on my way in, and I see the deli counter empty of customers. And it’s 5:55pm. And then, a man steps up to the deli counter, and John tells him that he can’t sell him anything. And this mans asks for some type of sausage, and doesn’t need to be sliced. And John sells it to him.

WHAT THE HECK. I don’t care if it needs to be sliced or not. I don’t care if you think you don’t have enough time to slice my 4 slices of cheese before 6pm or not. As far as I am concerned, if you store sign says it is open until 6pm, and I walk in the door at 5:58pm, I expect someone to slice my fricken cheese for me and let me be on my way. The checkouts were all at least 2 people deep, so it wasn’t like slicing me quarter of a pound of Boars Head Sharp Cheddar was going to hold up the checkout girls.

What happened to you John? What happened to you that made your become a hard-ass deli meat slicing nazi, ruining innocent peoples Easters?

***

All props for the title of this post have to go to Jen over at http://www.peopleiwanttopunchinthethroat.com/ - she throat punches regularly, and I am a huge fan of hers. I had an idea to write a post of a few “mini-punches”, as she calls them, of things that have been getting on my nerves lately, but after my run in with “John” (his real name, according to his nametag) today, I was so fired up that I had to give John his own post. Go and visit her site. You won’t regret it. Just make sure you are wearing your Depends if you have a problem with peeing yourself while laughing. Because you will laugh. Hard.

Also, while I’m here, I’m not a violent person. I can honestly say that there is not a high chance of me actually punching someone in the throat. Just to put it out there.

Florida Vacation – Day 6 – Universal New Years Eve

Do you remember that one time I went to Florida? Yeah, me either. It was so long ago. I was just thinking about how I have finally passed the 8-month mark of my time in the US, and realised that it’s been over 3 months since I was in Florida, and that I never got around to writing in my blog about New Years Eve. So that is what I am here to do.

When we planned our trip to Florida, our decision was between spending NYE at either Magic Kingdom, or Universal. In the end we decided that, even though Universal doesn’t have Fireworks on New Years Eve, it would be a stupid decision to try and pile into Magic Kingdom with 99,996 people on NYE, and instead we opted to spend December 31st at the Universal theme parks.

The good thing about getting the 2-Park Pass for Universal, is that you can go back and forth between both parks on the same day. This is useful for two reasons – one, because the Universal Studios park (the one sans Harry Potter stuff) isn’t that great, and to be honest, I couldn’t spend a full day there. It only has two or three rides worth riding multiple times (The Simpsons, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit and maybe The Mummy), and it doesn’t have quite the same feeling as Island of Adventures. That said, it’s a great park for short lines and a bit of space if the lines at IoA are too long and the park is crowded, so we planned our day around the two parks, with a break in the middle of the day.

We went a little more prepared than our first day, planning to ride water rides and get wet, so we all brought towels and a change of clothes in the car. We went to IoA first and rode the Hulk coaster, which usually has long lines through the day, and then we decided to head to Universal Studios, where there were no crowds and no lines, it was almost like a ghost town. We rode everything we wanted to ride again, and got a quick lunch, before heading back to IoA to ride the water rides.

Teeny tiny hands... compared to an ogres!

We discovered that Ripsaw Falls has a single-rider line, and with the ‘normal’ ride 20-25 minutes long, we decided that we didn’t care if we rode together, and went through the single rider line again and again, getting more and more wet. We spent a LOT of time laughing at the ‘poncho people’ as we called them, wearing their ponchos on the water rides thinking that they’d keep them dry, and still coming out soaked.

About 2:30 we were done with the water rides, and decided it was time to go back to the condo for a rest. We headed up to the parking lot (this time we were parked on the roof carpark) and proceeded to strip off our wet clothes in the open parking lot. So funny when a security car comes driving up through the parking lot, and we thought that it had been called to arrest us for public indecency, haha. Luckily it was just doing normal rounds, and didn’t come anywhere near us, but it was funny to see us all, hiding behind car doors with towels around our waists scrambling for shorts and shorts. Haha!

We headed back to the condo, and I took a nap. I don’t remember what anyone else did, but after all the driving and walking I did through the week I was exhausted. Afterwards we cleaned the condo and did laundry, ready for our departure the next day. And then, one last time, we headed back to Universal to ring in 2012.

We rode the Harry Potter ride, and then went to the Three Broomsticks for dinner, the Harry Potter restaurant, and ordered the banquet for 4, which had chicken, ribs, corn, potatoes and a huge salad. We spent the evening riding different rides through the park, including the Dr Seuss kiddy rides that didn’t have huge lines. We then decided to ride the Harry Potter ride again, but since the line was still 30+ minutes long, we hit up the single riders line – again, and again, and again. The best thing about it was that the single riders line comes in near the FastPass line, and the use it to fill up carriages with groups of 2 or 3 people – but because it was so late, and there weren’t that many people riding on FastPasses, we just ended up getting on and riding together in 2′s, or all 4 of us at once! Shhhh. My little secret

At one point we were looking at our watches and it was still early. We were all tired, and all we really wanted was for it to be midnight so that we could ring in the new year and then head home.

We headed back into ‘Hogsmead’ after riding a few times, and went into Ollivanders for the wand experience. I spent the whole time watching the clock, and at midnight nudged my friends. It was 2012. And then, as we finally exited Ollivanders around 12:02, a whole bunch of people yelled ‘Happy New Year’ at us, and  that was it.

In front of the Hogwarts Express on 12/31/11.

We decided to leave the park, hoping to miss the ‘crowds’, bun unfortunately everyone had the same idea. There was a big party on down in the restaurant/bar area of Universal, and thousands and thousands of people trying to leave at the same time. The travellator area was packed with people, and it was insanity, to the point where it was scary. I’ve never really liked big crowds (for reasons other than the obvious) and freaked out a little, and tried to stay near the edge as not to get crushed.

We finally made it to our car, and it then took us over 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot. Think the parking at Acer Arena and ANZ Stadium at Homebush on a concert/footy night. INSANE. I got a bit of parking lot rage, and there were people all over the place honking their horns. I may or may not have started that, just for fun.

And then, it was 2am on January 1, 2012, and we all fell asleep, ready to wake up in a few hours to fly home to reality…

American Easter [in the lead up] and my recipe for Australian Hot Cross Buns

American’s are crazy about holidays. You can buy greeting cards in this country for holidays that I didn’t even knew exist, or at least I didn’t think were worthy of greeting cards. I mean, really, people send greeting cards for St Patricks Day?

So American has Christmas, obviously. They also have Thanksgiving, which is more widely celebrated here than Christmas, due to it’s non-religious nature. Thanksgiving is like the Australian Christmas – you spend a day gorging yourself, and then the next day you head out at ungodly hours to hit the sales. In American they call this Black Friday (since Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday). In Australia, we call it Boxing Day.

Now, I see America as a fairly ‘Christian’ country. I understand that there are some very ‘Christian’ parts, and some not-so ‘Christian’ parts, but I mean, in the Pledge of Allegience they say “one nation under God”. Anyway, so I see America to be a fairly Christian country. I mean, Australia, I guess, is a fairly Christian country. And, as such, Australia acknowleges the most significant event in the Christian calendar – the death and ressurection of Jesus, by giving everyone not one, but two extra days off. Yes, the moral of the story here, is that America is ripping people off on their public holidays. PEOPLE IN AMERICA WORK ON GOOD FRIDAY! (For those of you who aren’t aware, Good Friday in Australia is the one day that even most McDonalds’ are closed until 1pm. NOTHING IS OPEN.)

America is also ripping off it’s children (and adults, for that matter) in the way of CHOCOLATE. Attention anyone who is even the slightest bit attached to Red Tulip Bunnies or those cardboard cartons of Cadbury easter eggs wrapped in the coloured foil: do not come to America at Easter time. Easter is not a ‘chocolate holiday’ here. It seems (from what I have been told, and what I have seen in every store I’ve set foot in for the last 4 weeks) that Americans celebrate easter with a strange mix of plastic eggs filled with assorted candies, toys, tattoos (and anything else that appeals to a child that you can fit into a 6cm long plastic egg), Easter baskets filled with toys and candies, with fake grass (made out of paper or plastic, depending on how much money you want to spend) padding out the bottom, and jellybeans (which my Host Dad proposed symbolise rabbit poops…) And don’t get me started on the lack of real Hot Cross Buns.

So anyway, the moral of the story is, I am severely depressed because my easter will be lacking in Red Tulip Bunnies this year (although I still have fond memories of the 2 I received last year) and I am dying without Bakers Delight Hot Cross Buns, so today, I got Miss 3 into the kitchen (she loves to bake) and we whipped up a batch of Hot Cross Buns.

I know a lot of the Aussie Au Pairs have been trying to find a good recipe, and I managed to make some pretty good  ones by mixing up a few recipes, which I am going to share below Some people are scared of using yeast, but if you follow the instuctions then you shouldn’t have too many problems!

Cyndi’s Hot Cross Buns

1 sachet yeast (2 1/4 – 2 1/2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sugar
310ml warm water

3 1/2 cups plain white flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
2 tablespoons butter/margarine, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup plain white flour
1 tablespoon sugar
50-80ml water

2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons white sugar

1. Put 310ml warm water in a measuring jug/bowl etc.Read the back of the yeast packet, it will tell you what temperature to use. Above 140F and you will kill the yeast. Below 80F and it won’t work. I think you are supposed to use water that is around 110F, but check the yeast packet. Put the sugar into the water and mix. Then sprinkle the yeast on, and mix. The yeast should froth a little bit. Leave it for 5-10 minutes.

2. Put all the dry ingredients from the 2nd list into a large bowl (flour, sugar, spices, salt). You can either mix it with a wooden spoon and then by hand, or you can use a mixmaster with 1 or 2 bread/dough hooks (that’s what i used). When the yeast has been sitting for 5-10 minutes and it a little bit frothy, make a well in the dry ingredients and pour it in. Add the melted butter and egg, and mix.

3. When the dough comes together use clean hands to finish kneeding it into a smooth dough. Put the dough into a large greased metal bowl (you can use butter, or I used Pam spray) and cover it with glad wrap. Put it in a warm place and leave it for 30-60 minutes, it should double in size.

Dough Rising

4. When it has doubled in size, turn the oven on to 390F (200C). Remove the glad wrap and punch the dough down to get the air bubbles out of it. Then put it onto a lightly floured surface (I used a piece of baking paper with a little bit of flour on it) and knead it until smooth. Divide evenly into 12 portions.

Miss 3's favourite part, punching and kneading the dough!

5. Line an oven tray with a piece of baking (parchment) paper and arange the buns in 4 rows of 3, making sure they are touching each other.

Miss 3 arranging the buns on the tray

6. To make the crosses, mix flour, sugar and water together in a bowl (I used a whisk to avoid it getting lumpy) and then put this mixture into a ziplock bag. The recipe I used said to use 80ml of water to 1/2 cup flour, but this was too runny and the crosses spread as they cooked, and I’d suggest only using about 50ml water. Cut the corner off the bag (a small hole) and pipe the crosses on the buns.

Buns ready for the oven, post-crossing. The paste was a little runny.

7. Bake for 10 minutes at 390F/200C and then turn the oven down to 320F/160C and continue baking for 20 more minutes.

8. After you have taken the buns out of the oven, let them cool slightly and then move them onto a wire rack. To make the glaze, put the sugar and water into a small saucepan, and bring to the boil. Make sure you mix it otherwise the sugar won’t melt and may stick to the bottom. When it’s boiling, turn it down to medium and simmer until it thickens (think like if you were making toffee for toffee apples). When it has thickened, use a pastry brush to brush it over the cooked buns.

Ready to eat! Out of the oven and glazed!

9. Serve warm or at room temperature, with or without butter!

Notes: I have upped the amount of spices from the original recipe. This recipe should give you a good amount of spice, but if you like more cinnamon go ahead and add more. You can also add different types of fruit, like currants or mixed peel. (Also, if you are making this in Australia, you can sultanas rather than raisins).