Christmas Bakes: Cranberry & Orange Chelsea Bun Tree

In case you haven't realised, Christmas is like two weeks away...how crazy!

Across the world families are decorating their homes, schools are practicing their nativities and soon thousands will visit their local theatres to watch a good old panto.

But the best thing about the build up to Christmas? THE BAKING! Last year I shared a few of my favourite recipes, and this year is no different. Over the next two weeks I'll be sharing 4 delicious and unique recipes, some of which I've baked before and some I'll be trying out for myself this year! So without further a do, here is recipe number one...


Cranberry and Orange Chelsea Bun Tree


This recipe comes from the BBC Good Food website, and is delicious! I love Cranberry and Orange Chelsea Buns, so was incredibly happy to find this sweet tutorial on how to make a mini edible Christmas tree!



Ingredients

275ml full-fat milk
50g cubed butter
450g strong white bread flour
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
50g golden caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Vegetable oil, for greasing
200g chilled marzipan
1 orange (zest and juice)
100g fresh cranberries
100g dried cranberries, plus 1 tbsp.
40g pistachios, chopped
Edible gold spray (optional)
3 tbsp apricot jam, sieved
150g icing sugar


Method

Warm the milk in a saucepan until steaming but not boiling.
Remove from the heat and add the butter, swirling to help it melt, then set aside to cool a little.
Meanwhile, mix the flour, yeast, 50g sugar, the cinnamon and 1 tsp salt in a large bowl.
When the milk is warm, add it to the dry ingredients and combine to make a sticky dough.
Tip onto your work surface and knead for 10 minutes by hand, until the dough is smooth and stretchy.
Return to a clean oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave somewhere warm to rise for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.

Line your largest baking sheet with baking paper.
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll to a rectangle about 30 x 40cm.
Grate the marzipan over the surface and scatter over the orange zest, fresh cranberries, 75g dried cranberries, 25g pistachios and 3 tbsp caster sugar.
From one of the longer sides, tightly roll up the dough into a sausage, pinching the dough together at the other end to seal the open edge.

Use a large, sharp knife to divide the sausage of dough first in half, then into quarters, then cut each quarter into three pieces, so you’re left with 12 equal pieces of dough.
Turn them all cut -side up and arrange on the baking sheet in a tree shape, using one piece for a trunk and leaving space between each bun for them to expand.
Make sure the pinched edge on the outside of each bun is facing towards the centre of the tree, otherwise it may come unstuck and unravel as it cooks.
You should have one bun left over – bake this alongside (you can use this as a tester! Perks of the job...).
Cover the sheet in one or two pieces of oiled cling film and leave to prove for 30 -40 minutes, or until doubled in size and just touching.

Heat your oven to 180C.
Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 20-22 minutes until golden brown.
While the buns cook, heat the apricot jam with 2 tsp water until runny, then set aside to cool a little.
Mix the icing sugar with enough orange juice to make a thick icing and transfer it to a small disposable piping bag or plastic sandwich bag.
You can spray the pistachios with gold spray at this point, if you like.

When the buns are cooked, leave to cool for 15 minutes, then brush all over with the apricot glaze.
Snip the corner off the piping bag and drizzle icing over the top of the buns in random lines.
Scatter over the remaining pistachios and dried cranberries and leave the icing to set for 10 minutes before serving.
These beauties will keep in an airtight container for up to three days.


Voila!

A yummy sweet treat, perfect for those lazy Saturday morning breakfasts, or for a gathering of friends, you can't go wrong! 

Happy Baking...and Merry Christmas!

Charley x 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hummingbird Bakery's Rocky Road Bars

Rocky Road is a delightful dessert. It always goes down a treat at parties, coffee mornings, at home with the family-pretty much anywhere to be honest. My favourite recipe for Rocky Road has got to be by The Hummingbird Bakery. It's absolutely gorgeous, and it's such a quick and easy recipe. It also makes 12 generous portions so there's no need to fiddle on with multiplying the recipe to make sure it serves everyone. Great right? So without further a do, here's the recipe! Ingredients: 1.4KG milk chocolate, roughly chopped 8 regular sized chewy, filled chocolate bars of your choice (such as Snickers or Mars), roughly chopped 100g marshmallows 180g maltesers 100g dried apricots, roughly chopped 100g raisins 100g cornflakes 100g chocolate vermicelli *You will also need a 33x23x5 cm baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper* Method: Put the milk chocolate into a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the base of the bowl touch the ...
Read more

St David's Day: Welsh Cakes

Image
Happy St David's Day/Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus to all my Welsh readers and family! Have a spectacular day! Today's recipe is a classic Welsh one, and is a good old family recipe...Welsh Cakes. They are basically my favourite thing on the planet, and whenever I go to Wales I always come home with a pack (or ten) of these beauties. You won't be disappointed. Ingredients 8oz self raising flour Pinch salt 4oz softened butter 4oz caster sugar, plus a little extra for dusting 0.5 tsp mixed spice 1 tsp currants 4oz currants 1 egg, beaten Method Sift the flour and salt in a bowl. Rub in the butter. Add the sugar, spice, syrup and currants. Mix in the egg to make a soft dough. Pat out on a lightly floured surface, to a quarter of an inch thick. Use a medium scone cutter to cut out into rounds. Bake on a medium hot griddle pan, turning once until golden brown on both sides. Remove to a wire rack to cool and dust with sugar while hot. How simple is that? They rea...
Read more

Rosemary, Black Pepper and Sea Salt Scones

Image
Hello! Today's recipe is a makeshift one. I fancied making some scones, but wasn't too sure what type or what shape to make, and so I ended up picking some fresh rosemary from the garden, and pairing it with some cracked black pepper and sea salt flakes. They turned out pretty scrummy! Ingredients 2 cups plain flour 4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp sea salt flakes, plus a little extra to finish 1 tsp sugar 1 tbsp. butter 1 tbsp. freshly chopped rosemary (or 1 tsp of dried) 1 cup milk (I didn't use the whole cup full, but you can use the remainder for washing before baking.) Method Pre-heat the oven to 220C. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl, and rub in the butter. Add the rosemary, and mix again, before adding the milk. Combine with your hands to form a soft dough. Roll out on to a floured board to 1.5 inch thickness and cut into either rounds or squares. I also shaped some of mine into a doughnut shape by rolling out a section of the dough into a long thin ...
Read more