waldorf dolls

How cute are these? spent a lovely evening helping a friend decipher the instructions for this acorn boy, waldorf doll kit.

These dolls are brilliant, detail is kept to a minimum so that the child can choose what mood the doll is in, and what s/he is going to do today.  They are soft and cuddly, made with natural materials, stuffed with sheeps wool, unlike many commercial dolls which often have hard plastic faces and limbs, and as they are made by hand, each one is individual.  Often made with the child in mind who it will be given to. They are completely personal and unique to that child. They can become a companion, and be the focus of play, make believe, role play and mimicking play. They are also quite easy to make, you don't need to be brilliant at sewing!!

When the acorn boy is completed, I'm going to make some others using ideas and patterns in this making waldorf dolls book

Hummous, Avacado and Cheese Quesedillas.

Lunch Time!!! What presents itself to me in my fridge today? 
*  small amount of hummous made for chicken wraps the other day.
*  some wraps left over as some of us were feeling greedy and opened a   second pack

*  half a chopped avacado that Monty didn't fancy.

Result yummy quesedillas made in minutes (only 2 minutes longer than making a cheese sandwich)

•  Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan.
• Spread the wrap with the hummous and avacado (mash the avacado a bit)
• Grate on some of your favourite cheese.
• Fold in half and fry for a minute on each side untill the wrap starts to brown and the cheese melts.
• Serve with your favourite salad.

For devotees of my hummous (and there are one or two) here is my recipe;

• Tip one can of drained chickpeas in to a food processor or blender
• Toast a tablespoon of whole cumin seeds in a dry frying pan untill they are darker and smell great.
• Grind the cumin seeds in a pestle and mortar with a small clove of garlic and a pinch of salt; add to the blender.
• Add to the blender a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice, and a couple of tablespoons of tahini (although i freely admit i keep forgetting to buy tahini and therefore make it without)
• Add a good glug of olive oil (not your best stuff for this, save that for dressings)
• turn on the blender and whizz untill smooth, adding more oil if required to get the consistency you like. (if you want to make this a little lighter on the calories, use some of the water from the chickpea can in place of some of the oil)

Hot Cross Bun Adventures

So, on good friday we rocked up at our local nature reserve, got out our windbreak, stove, kettle and teapot (yes, teapot) and grilled our hard won breakfast. I think the look on Toby's face says it all,

This is the first year i've made my own hot cross buns, it seemed that they took all day; it's a long and involved process starting with a ferment, and after 2 rises finally you pipe a cross on the top with a runny dough mix. They were WELL worth it though, and were especially yummy eaten outside.

The recipe came from Andrew Whitley's 'Bread Matters' book, my absolute bread making bible it is extremely well thumbed since we decided we wouldn't  buy any bread ever again (well, very nearly)

The ferment
20g sugar
10g yeast (I use dried)
280g milk (tepid)
140g stoneground wholemeal flour (I buy mine from Mountpleasant Windmill, Kirton Lindsay)

dissolve the sugar and yeast in some of the milk and make a paste by adding some of the mix to the flour. gradually add the rest of the milk and whisk till it's smooth(ish) leave in a warm place till it has risen to it's full extent and then started to drop again.(an hour or so depending on how warm it is)

Main dough
ferment from above
200g strong white flour
110g stoneground wholemeal flour
10g ground mixed spice
50g butter
35g sugar
1 egg
5g salt

Mix everything together and knead for about 10 mins, it will be quite sticky but try and work with it, as if you add flour to make it easier to work with, your buns will be much denser.

about 10 minutes after kneading, the dough will have relaxed a little, and you can fold in 260g of sultanas that have been soaked for at least an hour in 40g of hot water or fruit juice. Gently fold and press the fruit in to the dough until it is fairly evenly dispersed.

Set the dough somewhere to rise until it has doubled in size. (I put it back in to the bowl and cover it loosely with a clean carrier bag).

when it has risen, pull off equal sized pieces and roll them on the worktop in to buns.


top tip: roll them under cupped hands, this makes really tight buns that will stay rounder, rather than spread out and go flat.

put the buns about 5cm apart on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. let them rise until they are nearly touching.

to make the cross, mix together a runny dough and pipe the cross on to the buns just before they go in to the oven.

50g plain white flour
1g baking powder
5g veg oil
50g cool water

preheat the oven to 180 deg., they will go brown quite quickly because of the sugar in the dough, check them after 15mins, you want the buns to be brown, but the cross to still be white.

As a final flourish, and to get that unctous stickiness;  when they come out of the oven and are still hot, brush them with a glaze.  (dissolve 25g sugar in 25g water and add a beaten egg).