Julia's Raspberry Jam Breakfast Buns

Ever since B first made Julia Turshen's genius lasagna (which he discovered on Lottie + Doof), we knew we needed more of this woman's magic in our lives. Thankfully, since the end of January, Julia's cookbook, Small Victories, has been spending a lot of time in our kitchen.

My usual Saturday morning routine starts like this: wake up, drink tea, eat food, flick through cookbooks to decide what I need to bake and feast on this weekend. A couple of weeks ago, this process was cut short as I only had to get a few pages into Small Victories before I knew that raspberry jam buns with crème fraîche frosting were exactly what my Sunday morning would need.

This recipe isn't for the time short, but it is for everybody else. And if you're time short, try prioritizing raspberry buns over, say, sleep, and your day will be happier. Just a suggestion. Julia's beautiful and funny (so many bun puns) writing guides you through the process with ease and clarity: making yeasted, filled, swirling buns may seem complicated, but it's made oh so simple with her instructions and images.

Within 30 minutes of waking up on Sunday morning, sweet, almost caramelized, cushiony, freshly-baked buns were ours to devour. Runny crème fraîche frosting was thrown Jackson Pollock-style (Julia encourages you to embrace the mess here) on top, and then they were immediately torn into. One after another after another were eaten until we were so full that all we could do was lie down and drink coffee for the rest of the morning. A Sunday morning dream.

I can't encourage you enough to buy the book, but if you need buns faster than Amazon can deliver, you can find the recipe here.

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Semlor

B mentioned a few times that he'd like me to make Rocket & Squash's semlor. (If you don't read this blog already start now). I nodded and carried on as before as often as I could. Then he offered to help me make them, and then there was no way out. So we made them. And now I regret not making them before. They are heavenly. Little soft, pillowy, sweet, gently spiced buns filled with freshly whipped cream and sugary almond paste. Maybe I should listen to B's food request more often. I'm not sure it would be good for the waistline, but life would be even more delicious. 

Ed Smith's recipe can be found here. Along with his always amusing commentary. Put aside a few hours next weekend to make a few Swedish buns. And please drop one on my doormat when you've finished as a little thank you.

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Maple Syrup Walnut Buns

I fell upon Nigel's recipe for maple syrup walnut buns on Saturday morning while reading my backlog of blogs and finally getting to Ed's fantastic and ever-so-useful Supplemental from the previous weekend. I had a free afternoon, and a free Sunday morning. I knew that with a strong cup of tea, sun-dappled bed sheets, and a good book, this is what I would need to make that Sunday morning even more special.

No long, long rising time. Well, comparatively. I remember making brioche last year, but I wasn't in the same place for more than 12 hours at a time so the brioche did a lot of driving around the country with me. Miraculously, it survived. None of that business here. No complicated ingredients. No scary kneading technique. In fact, as long as the room was warm enough for the dough to rise, with my trusty KitchenAid working away, there was very little I could do wrong. 

The dough did rise. The butter was soft enough to spread over it without breaking. It rolled into swirls without a problem. Stress free. Slotted perfectly into the tin, rose again, and baked to a golden sheen. Only to be improved by a generous pouring of maple syrup. Ripped apart and eaten while warm. Or heated up the next day. And the next day too. And hopefully tomorrow morning as well. These trusty buns made for a perfect weekend morning, and are doing a great job at cheering up weekday breakfasts (or coffee breaks for B) too. Cancel all your plans for next Saturday afternoon to make sure you have time to make these. You won't regret it. Promise.

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