Hazy days, April days and baking days.

Its been a while since my last post , i feel as if I've lost touch with the world what with all this April sunshine going through my system on a daily basis.
Its Easter Sunday Bloggers and you know what that means ....I CAN EAT CHOCOLATE . oh Yes . I'm starting to feel a bit sick of it now as I've had rather a lot today. Oh well im making up for lost time i suppose.
I went to the hospice barn on Wednesday , picked up a few lovelies there ,will blog about that as soon as i can get the photos up . I can't believe how quickly the Easter holidays have gone and hasn't it been a lovely one ? The days have just melted away in a haze of sunbathing ,swimming (oh yes), listening to music ,blogging ,some rather gorgy days out, along with a few evening barbeque's and baking and eating and maybe some more baking . Because i really have been quite a busy baker this Easter weekend , and because I'm nice i thought i might share it with you :

Okay so i started of on Friday with Hot cross Buns , what else? (it was good Friday after all ). I've never made these before and was apprehensive but exited ,they really are Delicious . Don't let the whole seasonal thing stop you they are divine any day of the week.

Great British Hot Cross Buns

For the buns

450g strong white bread flour (The recipe called for 350g of white and 100g of strong wholemeal bread flour but it worked out great with just white).

50g caster sugar

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp ground mixed spice

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 x sachet 7g instant yeast

50g unsalted butter

150g mixed fruit and peel (I only used mixed fruit as I can't find mixed peel here).

2 eggs

200ml warm milk

For the cross

4 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp water

For the glaze

2 tbsp caster sugar

4 tbsp milk

Method

Put the flour, sugar, salt, spices and yeast into a large bowl and mix well. Add the diced butter and using your fingertips rub it in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the dried fruit. Make a well in the centre, pour in the lukewarm milk and the beaten eggs and gradually draw the flour into the liquid to make a very soft dough. Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead thoroughly for 10 minutes by hand or 4 minutes with a mixer on the lowest possible speed until silky smooth and very elastic.

I found that my dough was very sticky at the beginning and almost unworkable so I added a bit more flour. It didn't need much though and definitely be careful not to alter the ratio of ingredients too much. The dough shouldn't be sticking to your fingers, but you don't want a tough, dry hard dough.

Return the dough to the cleaned bowl, cover with a damp tea towel or put in a plastic bag and leave until doubled in size - about 1 hour.
Punch down the risen dough to deflate and turn out onto your work surface. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape them into neat balls. Set them well apart on a greased baking tray and slip it into a large plastic bag, slightly inflated so the buns don't come into contact with the plastic. Leave to rise until doubled in size again - about 45 minutes to an hour( you don't have to leave it for the full time if they look a good size after 15 mins put them in the oven). Towards the end of the rising time, heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.

For the cross

Mix the flour with enough cold water to make a smooth thick paste that can be piped. I found that I needed a bit more water than the recipe states to get something loose enough to pipe. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with the smallest nozzle or use a plastic bag and snip off the corner. Uncover the buns and pipe a cross on to each one. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.

For the sticky glaze

Towards the end of the baking time, heat the milk with the sugar until dissolved. Boil for 1 minute, then brush over the buns as soon as they emerge from the oven. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

And finally, enjoy with a cup of tea and lashings of butter.

My Hot Cross Buns ,they didn't last long.

But oh No i wasn't finished yet i still had another baking task to complete . I'dbeen asked to make a dessert for a family Easter barbeque and as i could eat chocolate on Easter Sunday I'd go with a chocolate themed dessert -White Chocolate and Vanilla Mouses served with shortbread hearts.

presentation wise i was very proud of my efforts . defiantly a recipe to try again. It was easy and looked good (for a change ):

Aren't they cute !

So that completes my Bakingtastic weekend -just a little tierd now .

I can finally settle down to a nice cup of tea . But before i do i have to blog about this song .Its from the matalan advert and afyer telling Rosie we both are in love with the band , that's ginghamandroses for you... Enjoy !

Have a good bank Holiday

Izzy Xx

P.S The recipe for hot cross buns came of a very good blog i only just discovered . She hasn't got any followers yet, i don't know why she has some lovely recipes please follow her !http://www.ateapartyinholland.blogspot.com/

Our giveaway ends TOMMOROW , you'd better enter quick this could be your last chance to win a MAC Lipstick of your choice.

Something Good

I'm finally 15!!  and I can't describe in words how beautiful my birthday was.  It has to be the best birthday I've had ever and it was all down to Izzy and Rosie.  I feel like a new woman...
It seems like AGES since I last posted, sorry about that, but my 'relaxing holiday' hasn't quite gone to plan!  It seems as though my holiday has been packed full of things to do and time is flying away - as it does in the holidays and unfortunately I have been ill these past few days, but as I always say 'I'll live'.

It's another sunny week in Jersey, and I'm not letting it go to waste....Last night, my mum and I went down to st. Ouen's beach just as the sun was setting and we watched it go down with a cup of hot chocolate from El Tico after walking for miles taking photos along the way.  It was lovely watching all the surfer's and their family's setting up there BBQ's with sausages smoking away whilst the kid's ran around on the beach.  It was the perfect setting for a well deserved break from my revision.  Well, I say revision, more like catching up on facebook whilst staring out of the window wondering why the sky is blue.  I always find it hard to revise and I've always got other things on my mind at the time.

After me rambling on, I've got some sewing news for y'all...
A few posts back, I told you I was going to make a pair of shorts.  Well...it's a lot more complicated that I thought and so it'll be a few months before I probably get started, buy luckily the granny's on hand to help me...

I do have skirt to show you though.  I went to hospice the other day and I found a lovely white skirt!  I couldn't help but add my personal touches to it and although the skirt was down to the floor, it wasn't quite the style I was going for.  So, I took it up and gave it a good wash!

Topshop skirt - £130.00

My skirt - Jacques Vert - £4.00

Lots of love

Hannah    xxx

Happy Birthday Hannah.

Finallly! Our Izzy and Rosie joint blog post, and what an exiting one.
On Monday it was Hannahs Birthday, a very exiting time for us at ginghamandroses, especially us as we had planned a very special secretive suprise for Hannah on her birthday.
The plan was for an unassuming Hannah to meet us outside coffee republic, where she would find an envelope adressed to her. Inside the envelop she would find clues leading her on a trail around town where she would eventually end up at Coppers coffee cafe (exclusive to Jersey!) where we had arranged a special suprise for her...
Everything seemed to be going to plan as we hid inside Topshop opposite coffee republic waiting for hannah to open the envelope and start the scavenger hunt. Unfortunately, Hannah chose that moment to wonder into topshop a little early in search of a birthday outfit. We grabbed the first thing off the rail and dived into the changing rooms, whilst Hannah completely oblivious continued browsing.
All went well from there and a very quick Hannah arrived at the Cafe where we treated her to a very delicous afternoon tea/birthday suprise courtesy of the lovely David Warr (we reccomend you jersey beans go there, the cake is amazing!)
So anyway we'll stop our exited ramblings and let the pictures do the talking, because it was quite a gorgeous day:

The one and only...

It was such a nice lunch, the floral and dotted china tea set is just the bomb. Apparently this photo may be used as a sort of advertising poster for Cooper's coffee cafe for people to receive the same afternoon treat- so Jersey beans keep your eyes peeled...

We slyly quizzed Hannah about a week before her birthday over what her favourite cake was, and this^ was our answer. It was THE BEST carrot cake you will ever find! The cream cheese topping had orange zest in, it made it so good.

Chilling in Hannah's beautiful garden whilst getting to grips with the self timer on Rosie's camera...

The first part of Hannah's presents included: A 'Kirstie Allsopp  sewing box that we knew she had her eye on, a pretty French floral vintage tin we discovered at the vintage fair, and a beautiful 'Kate Middleton' style ring from the vintage fair that we knew Hannah also had here eye on (even though it's too big, ha ha).

The other bit of Hannah's presents: a framed vintage poster, because Hannah is redoing her bathroom by decorating it with framed pictures, so we thought it was quite appropriate! ..and yes, you saw correctly, it is indeed a signed Usain Bolt photo for the Bolt herself.

Rosie's AMAZING *hint sarcasm* homemade wrapping paper, trying to show everything that makes Hannah, well, Hannah. It's not the full thing, but you get the idea.

the outside of Rosie's card to Hannah

          Unfortunately there seems to be  a 'service error' when we tried to upload a picture of the inside of Rosie's card, but nevertheless it said:

Hannah, you never fail to brighten up my day. Happy birthday! Lots of love, Rosie xxx

We also don't have any pictures of the card Izzy gave to Hannah, but on the outside it said 'Keep calm and think like Hannah', instead of the usual expression 'keep calm and carry on'. In the inside it had lots of nice photos of the three of us, and a quote saying:

Friends are like the chocolate chips in the cookie of life. Sometimes hard to find, but always make the cookie 10 times better. Thank you for being my special chocolate chip.'
Happy birthday Hannah! Love Izzy xoxo

...or words to that effect!

It was SUCH an enjoyable day, we know how much Hannah loved it too which made all the preparations very worthwhile. Although, I don't think we will be able to eat cake again for a while, we ate a ridiculous amount! ...actually, you can never have too much cake, or tea for that matter.

We hope you also have had a nice start to the week, love Izzy and Rosie xxxx

P.S gingham and roses are planning their bike ride soon as you have been previously made aware, but will be sure to make a good blog about too. So stay tuned...

P.P.S (!) Don't forget to enter our giveaway !

...

Super sorry bloggers, I've been so busy today and am out all this evening, but my blog post will be tomorrow. Promise! It'll be about our fabulous day we had yesterday for Hannah's birthday, so it will be a goodin'!

Love Rosie xxx

Travels with the Easter Bunny

Sorry about the late post bloggers ,i know Sunday is supposed to be our day of rest n'all but i only just got back last night and didn't get chance to post .
I've just got back from a lovely two days away in Brighton ,yes i know the gay capital of the UK but the shopping really is very good there and needless to say i picked up a few things. It really is the most amazing city and as some would say its ' London by the sea' . With its rambling lanes where i could of rambled all day soaking up the little shops , cupcake bakeries Japanese candy stores and vintage shops you name it they have it !
And guess who remembered their camera ...

Beautiful and Delicious cupcakes from  the Angel Food Bakery  ,must find out how to recreate their Banoffee flavoured cupcake.

Choccy woccy doodah ( yes that is how its spelt ) a bit like heaven in a chocolate shop really.

Some would say that only me ( and my obsession with Cinnamon buns) could seek out the only shop in Brighton selling imported American candy , and Cinnamon buns in a box.

Another pair of sunglasses i hear Rosie shout... Yes i know but they were such a good price...

Sorry for my ramblings bloggers ! This week looks to be an exiting one for ginghamandroses. Not only is it Hannah's Birthday tomorrow ( i think I'm more exited than she is ) , we're planning our gingham and roses cycle ride on Wednesday , and to top it all of i can finally eat chocolate on Sunday . What a week.

Anyway the jersey sunshine is calling

Have a good Sunday

Izzy X

P.s Don't forget to comment on hannah 's post about our exiting giveaway( titled Something to celebrate) you could win a MAC lipstick of your choice . Now that really is something to celebrate !