Raisin Vanilla Plaits Food

BAKED RAISIN PUDDING

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Combine the brown sugar, water, and butter in a saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes.
• Pour the sugar and butter syrup into a buttered 2-quart casserole dish.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, raisins, milk, and vanilla; blend thoroughly and gently until there are no lumps. But don't overmix.
• Pour the batter over the hot mixture in the casserole dish.
• Bake the raisin pudding for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 F. Allow the pudding to cool off slightly before slicing.
• Enjoy!

RAISIN-VANILLA-PLAITS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
• In a big bowl combine oil, low-fat quark, milk, sugar, vanilla and salt.
• In a second bowl combine flour and baking powder and add to the wet ingredients. Knead into a smooth dough.
• Incorporate the raisins (or chocolate chips or cranberries) and divide dough into four equal portions.
• Divide each portion into three equal portions again and roll each of these out into long coils (about fingerthick or slightly thinner).
• Take three of the coils and braid into a plait.
• Place plaits on a paper-lined baking sheet and brush with the glaze.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned.

FRUIT PLAIT

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface into a large rectangle. Transfer to a lightly greased baking tray.
• Put the sultanas in a small mixing bowl with just enough warm water to cover them, and soak for 10 mins.
• Core the apples and pears and slice them into even-sized pieces - you don't need to peel them. Put the pieces in a bowl and add the honey and 2 tbsp apricot jam. Drain the soaked sultanas and add them to the mixture. Stir well and add the mixed spice and cinnamon to taste.
• Spoon the mixture in a thick strip down the centre of the puff pastry. Use a sharp knife to make roughly 8 diagonal cuts down each side of the pastry like a lattice. Fold the pastry strips alternately across the filling like a plait.
• Crack the egg into a bowl, whisk with a fork and, using a pastry brush, glaze the top of the puff pastry.
• Place the plait in the oven and bake for 25-30 mins or until the apples are soft and the pastry is golden brown. Serve with crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.

VANILLA RAISIN BREAD

Steps:

• Measure all ingredients except for the raisins and vanilla into your bread machine according to the manufacturer's directions.
• Set your bread machine to bake in the raisin mode.
• Light crust would work well with this bread.
• After starting the machine, place the raisins in a bowl or cup and add the vanilla extract.
• Soak raisins for 1 hour; drain.
• Add the raisins when your machine beeps or signals to add additional ingredients.
• Continue with the baking cycle.

DANISH PASTRIES

Steps:

• Pulse together the dry ingredients plus 2 tsp salt in a processor, then pulse in the milk and egg, plus 100ml water, until you have a smooth, slightly sticky dough. Knead for 1 min, using a little flour, until just smooth. Put into an oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hr until doubled in size (overnight in the fridge if you like).
• Flour your surface, then pat the dough out to a rectangle, 1cm thick. Lay the butter slices out over the middle of the dough, in a rectangle. Fold the pastry over the top, bottom and then sides until the butter is completely hidden. Press the edges down.
• Roll the dough out to a 50 x 30cm rectangle, first tapping out the dough with the rolling pin in gentle ridges, so that you can tell the butter is being squashed out evenly inside the pastry, before rolling properly. Turn dough 90 degrees, then fold the right third over and the left third over that. Do this three times, chilling for 15 mins after each roll.
• Cut the dough in half, into 2 squares. Roll one piece of dough to 35 x 35cm. Cut into 9 squares, then follow the instructions below for each filling and shape. If you want to make more than one shape, it's easy to divide the filling quantity. Don't worry if your squares rise as you work, just roll them out a bit again.
• To make 18 pecan pinwheels, whizz 85g pecans until fine, then stir in 50g light muscovado, 1 tbsp maple syrup and 25g softened butter. Cut each square of pastry almost to the middle from each corner, spoon on 1 tsp filling, then fold each point over and press into the middle. Scatter more chopped pecans and a little sugar over before baking. Drizzle with a little maple syrup to serve.
• For 18 apricot custard turnovers, you will need 150g tub custard, 2 x 320g cans apricots and a few tsps apricot jam. Put 2 tsp custard in the middle, sit two apricot halves on top, dot with jam, then pull 2 corners over and pinch to seal.
• To make 18 raisin swirls, mix 50g raisins, 25g caster sugar, 1 tsp mixed spice and 50g soft butter. Instead of cutting the dough into 9, leave it whole and spread the filling over. Roll up, slice into 9 rounds, then squash each one. Blend 50g icing sugar and a few drops of water to drizzle over once baked.
• Once shaped and filled, let the pastries rise for 30 mins until puffed and doubled in size. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Brush with beaten egg, make sure you pinch any edges together again, then bake for about 20 mins until golden and risen.