Sourdough Hot Cross Buns [cookbook challenge]

[tielan]

I pretty much dropped the posting ball back in March. I was cooking, but actually putting them up? That was something else!

I'll be posting a bunch of recipes I did over the next few days to 'catch up'.

( Sourdough Hot Cross Buns )

Changes, Thoughts, and Notes
We don't have 'pumpkin pie spice' in Australia, so I added cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. Also, I like my hot cross buns packed with fruit, so I added chopped dried apricots to the list of ingredients.

Timing was pretty key with the rising and shaping stages, and I feel like I wasn't quite in sync with the required timing. Our house runs pretty cold and we don't use heating until the middle of winter. In cooling weather, everything takes longer to rise. In addition to which, I was taking these to an event and wasn't able to give them as much time to rise as I'd have liked.

I would make these again - they were tasty and a use for my sourdough starter - but I would just do flour-and-water for the cross, instead of the cream cheese.

Fancied up Chicken and Potatoes

[fuzzyred]

Well, this is going to be a journey today. I decided I would make Bacon-Cheese Topped Chicken and Chili-Seasoned Potato Wedges for dinner this week, but I'm working overtime tonight so I won't be cooking until after 7pm. Both recipes are from my tasteofhome 2010 Annual Contest Winning Recipes cookbook (I think; will check when I get home) and they will be posted below. I will add any thoughts and variations tonight after I've made and eaten them.

( both recipes )

Thoughts and Variations
Chicken
This was a fairly tasty recipe, though I always forget that I don't really like the taste of mustard. Other than leaving out the parsley, there were no ingredient substitutions this time, though I did only marinate the chicken for one hour, and I cooked the mushrooms in the fat from the bacon, then wiped the pan and browned the chicken. It seemed to turn out just fine, although "partially cooked" is not really a good indicator for what to do with the bacon. It finishes cooking some in the oven, but I cooked it to a degree that would have been unedible if I was just frying bacon. My recommendation is to cook the bacon to the point *just* before it would be ready for someone who likes fatty bacon.

This wasn't a hard recipe to put together, though it did have a fair number of moving parts, so it was within my skill range but starting to stretch it a bit. It probably didn't help that I was doing all the chicken prep while the potatoes were cooking, so I had two things to focus on.

Potato Thoughts
I made it as is, using russet potatoes for my baking potatoes. I should have cut the chili powder about in half, and just added more of the other spices, as this ended up on the high range of tolerable to me. The potatoes did crisp up nicely, and the seasoning was good, but I'd definitely put less chili powder next time. Or maybe sub it completely for something like paprika. I also needed to grease the baking sheet more than I did, since the potatoes stuck to it some when I went to flip them.

Overall, rather tasty and would definitely make again, perhaps when I can finally have family over again?