Rum Babas, basically. No, no, no. So much more than that. So much more.
Rum babas should be as good as it gets, but these little morsels – from the brain of Valentine Warner, but improved, slightly adapted by me – are even better. Yes, they are!
Orange zested buns soaked in a syrup flavoured by orange, orange flower water, orange liqueur and honey. All this orange sounds like overload, but it remains incredibly subtle. It’s the layering of the orange that does it. It sneaks in from all angles, but quietly, politely. It’s neither harsh nor brazen.

There is the slightest waft of the exotic in the barely discernible, yet very present, orange flower water. The freshness of Triple Sec – the least cloying of all orange liqueurs – is always less predictable than rum. My addition of orange zest to the batter makes the flavour carry through more.

Then there’s the honey. Warm, sticky, rounded and familiar, increased in its intensity by the quantity of sugar backing it up. There’s nothing like a massive slug of sugar syrup to show honey for the complex substance it is.
If anything is worth baking in Summer, it is this. Provided you have no objection to the consumption of a minor quantity of alcohol being consumed by your/someone’s child, then I can assure you that kids, well, my kid, loves them. They’re a crowd pleaser and definitely something I would make for a picnic – especially as you store them in jars. How very cool, hip, lifestyle and Anthropologie.

- *pause for whittering* O.M.G., I heart Anthropologie. I have been gasping over their website for ever. Then I met my dearest friend Claire in London for the day, requested a trip there and she took me. She took me to Anthropologie. It was a moment that I will never forget. She even took my picture by the living wall. Thank God I had stopped squealing and hanging on to it.
I left my heart there. If I win the lottery, I’m off to Regent Street to empty my purse right there. Dump, clatter.
‘One of everything, please.’
‘Certainly Madam. I say! Are those sticky, honey, orange scented buns packed artistically, yet deceptively casually, into a kilner-type jar?’
‘Why, yes they are!’
‘Madam, you are one of us.’
‘I know, right? Totally fey and co-ol. Did you know I am wearing crocheted knickers with a lace trim?’
‘*gasp* Madam is perfect!’
*blush*

- End of wittering, come on back in.

Grease the wells of a 12-hole mini muffin tray and mini doughnut tray with cake release spray or brush with melted butter. I like making these small – it gives dieters (like me – 2 stone gone!) the chance to have just one and everyone else the chance to eat many – because they are small. Feel free to make them in normal muffin tins – it’s all good.

Start by mixing together the sugar, flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl until well combined. Add half (or 3/4 if half isn’t enough) of the beaten eggs,

then whisk using an electric whisk until the mixture is well combined and forms a sticky paste. Don’t be fretting about overworking it. We have barely begun beating the life out of it.

Gradually whisk in a little of the remaining beaten egg. When the egg is fully incorporated into the mixture, add 1-2 of the softened butter cubes and whisk in until fully incorporated into the mixture.

Whisk the remaining beaten egg and remaining butter cubes into the mixture in alternate turns, until the mixture comes together as a soft dough.

It will climb up the beaters repeatedly. Do try not to fling it against the wall. No, really. You may want to rage at it, swear at it, open the back door and hurl that mofo down to the end of the garden.
Don’t.

Be zen. It wants to climb, so it will climb. Calmly scrape it down and get on with it so this part ends quickly.

Add the grated zest and then, using a wooden spoon or a spatula (let’s see it climb up that. HA!), beat the dough until smooth.

Divide the dough mixture equally among the wells in the prepared muffin tray. What I mean by this is, scoop a teaspoon full of the stretchy batter and deposit it into each mini muffin well. For the mini doughnut tin (should you also have acquired one from TKMaxx), I knock the dough off the spoon with my little finger and curl it round the centre ‘stalk’.

Set aside in a warm place for 50-60 mins (I put mine in the airing cupboard), or until the buns have doubled in size and filled the wells in the tray. I sometimes just take them out after 60 mins regardless. I know this is bad, but I am being honest. £300 says I’m not alone.

Meanwhile, for the syrup, heat the caster sugar, orange rind and cold water in a pan over a low heat, stirring well. When the sugar has dissolved, bring the mixture to the boil and continue to boil for 5, 7, maybe even 10 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened slightly and resembles syrup. Don’t over-think it though- it thickens significantly once it’s been in the fridge.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the honey, orange liqueur and orange-flower water, until well combined. Set aside until cooled slightly.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

When the buns are proved and swollen,

bake them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until well risen and pale golden-brown. Swap the trays over in the oven after 5 mins. These buns have a real thing about burning. Watch them like a hawk. They WANT to burn. Catch them at that deep golden deliciousness stage.

Set aside to cool on a wire rack.

Pack the buns into two 1 litre/1¾ pints sterilised jars. Equally divide the syrup and set aside for 20 minutes

then cover the jar and seal tightly. I like to stand the jars on their heads for a while to give the top ones a good soaking before moving them to the fridge.

Incidentally, Valentine Warner says the buns can be kept in the fridge for up to one month.

The syrup doesn’t completely cover the buns, so I like to rotate them occasionally whilst they’re living in the fridge. I cannot overstate the extent to which these are saturated by the syrup, so don’t lose sleep over ‘the ones at the top being dry’. Ain’t never gonna happen, friend.

I serve them as is, but a swirl of whipped cream wouldn’t detract from the flavour…

Orangey honey buns (Valentine Warner’s recipe, fiddled with)

PRINT THIS RECIPE (opens in a new window)

(Original recipe here)

Buns

4 tsp caster sugar
150g plain flour
pinch sea salt flakes
1 x 7g sachet easy-blend dried yeast
3 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten
75g butter, slightly softened, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
grated zest 1 orange

Syrup

500g caster sugar
1 orange, rind only, rind cut into long strips
500ml cold water
100g-150g clear honey (mine was a bit weak and feeble, so I upped it to 150g)
4 tbsp orange liqueur (I used Triple Sec)
1 tsp orange-flower water

whipped cream, to serve (optional)

Grease the wells of a 12-hole mini muffin tray and mini doughnut tray with Cake release spray.

Mix together the sugar, flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl until well combined. Add half (or 3/4) of the beaten eggs, then whisk using an electric whisk until the mixture is well combined and forms a sticky paste.

Gradually whisk in a little of the remaining beaten egg. When the egg is fully incorporated into the mixture, add 1-2 butter cubes and whisk in until fully incorporated into the mixture.
Whisk the remaining beaten egg and remaining butter cubes into the mixture in alternate turns, until the mixture comes together as a soft dough. It will climb up the beaters repeatedly. Do try not to fling it against the wall.
Add the grated zest and then, using a wooden spoon, beat the dough until smooth.

Divide the dough mixture equally among the wells in the prepared muffin tray. Set aside in a warm place for 50-60 mins, or until the buns have doubled in size and filled the wells in the tray.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

When the buns are swollen, bake them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until well risen and pale golden-brown. Swap the trays over in the oven after 5 mins. These buns have a real thing about burning. Watch them like a hawk.
Set aside to cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, for the syrup, heat the sugar, orange rind and cold water in a pan over a low heat, stirring well. When the sugar has dissolved, bring the mixture to the boil and continue to boil for 5, 7, maybe even 10 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened slightly and resembles syrup. Don’t over-think it – it thickens significantly once it’s been in the fridge.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the honey, orange liqueur and orange-flower water, until well combined. Set aside until cooled slightly.

Pack the buns into two 1 litre/1¾ pints sterilised jars. Equally divide the syrup and set aside for 20 minutes, then cover the jar and seal tightly. The buns can be kept in the fridge for up to one month.

My first daring bakers challenge!

Lisa was the host and she selected cannolis. I have never had cannolis; I had heard of them because I used to make a cannoli cake that was filled with ricotta, cream, orange and choc chips. Now I know why.

I had also heard Tony Soprano referring to them a lot. That wasn’t necessarily a recommendation; after all, he talked about murder a lot too.

So Tone was wrong about the murdering, but oh… so very right about the cannoli.

So the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and cocoa go into a medium bowl

Add the oil, Marsala and white wine vinegar and stir and squidge to make a stiff-ish dough

Once together, knead for a couple of minutes until it’s smooth, then seal in a bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours – I left mine overnight.

Cut the dough into quarters and roll one quarter out until it’s thin enough to go through a pasta machine

Put the dough through the pasta machine – I initially rolled it through 1, then 3, then 5, then 6.

7 is the highest setting, but that was a little too thin for my liking.

Now. The cannoli forms. There was great debate on what to use. People were sawing up wooden handles, going bizarre things with foil and all sorts. I spoke to the friendly people in my local cake decorating shop and they were kind enough to order me some cannoli (stainless steel) forms. Lisa said that dried cannelloni shells worked too, so I stocked up on a box of them just in case.

Heated a pan of oil to 350-375F. I have watched Fireman Sam so many times, I actually had a wet tea towel next to me. You can cook 2 at a time, but I did one at a time – far less stressful and they do need attention in the oil, turning, grabbing – that kind of thing. They took no time at all to cook. Apparently, good cannoli are blistered and that’s our goal. Mine blistered and I nearly wept with relief and joy.

This is what the cannelloni shells looked like after I had removed the cooked cannoli. Say that fast again.

And here they are…..

Cannoli shells!

Now to the filling. I wanted 3 different flavours. Traditionally they are filled with ricotta, but I find ricotta a bit too grainy to be completely satisfying, so I used equal quantities (250g) of ricotta and mascarpone.

I blended them together then separated them into 3 bowls.

First, traditional. So to the first bowl, I added the zest of 1 orange, around 3 tsp icing sugar and a handful of chocolate chips and stirring it all together.

Second, a little something to coax out the cinnamon flavour. So to the second bowl, I added some dry-fried pecans that I chopped and a good slug of maple syrup.

For the final bowl, I was thinking nougat, so I dry-fried some almonds, chopped them and also added a big glug of strong honey. If I really liked candied zest and glace cherries, I would have added those too.

Put it together and what do you get?

Maple syrup and pecan Cannoli.  Mmmmmmm

————-

Lisa’s recipe:
PRINT (opens in a new window)

CANNOLI SHELLS

2 cups (250 grams/16 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners’ sugar

Note – If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer’s directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

Pasta Machine method:

1. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Starting at the middle setting, run one of the pieces of dough through the rollers of a pasta machine. Lightly dust the dough with flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Pass the dough through the machine repeatedly, until you reach the highest or second highest setting. The dough should be about 4 inches wide and thin enough to see your hand through

2. Continue rolling out the remaining dough. If you do not have enough cannoli tubes for all of the dough, lay the pieces of dough on sheets of plastic wrap and keep them covered until you are ready to use them.

3, Roll, cut out and fry the cannoli shells as according to the directions above.

For stacked cannoli:
1. Heat 2-inches of oil in a saucepan or deep sauté pan, to 350-375°F (176 – 190 °C).

2. Cut out desired shapes with cutters or a sharp knife. Deep fry until golden brown and blistered on each side, about 1 – 2 minutes. Remove from oil with wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, then place on paper towels or bags until dry and grease free. If they balloon up in the hot oil, dock them lightly prior to frying. Place on cooling rack until ready to stack with filling.

My fillings:

250g ricotta
250g marscapone

toasted almonds, chopped
honey to taste

toasted pecans, chopped
maple syrup to taste

rind 1 orange
handful chocolate chips
3 tsp icing sugar

Blend the ricotta and marscapone together and separate into 3 bowls.
Into one bowl, add the almonds and honey, the second bowl the maple and pecans, the third bowl the orange, icing sugar and choc chips. Stir to combine.

ASSEMBLE THE CANNOLI:

1. When ready to serve..fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the ricotta cream. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it’s messier and will take longer.

2. Press or dip cannoli in chopped pistachios, grated chocolate/mini chocolate chips, candied fruit or zest into the cream at each end. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and/or drizzles of melted chocolate if desired.

TIPS AND NOTES:
- Dough must be stiff and well kneaded
- Rolling the dough to paper thinness, using either a rolling pin or pasta machine, is very important. If the dough is not rolled thin enough, it will not blister, and good cannoli should have a blistered surface.
- Initially, this dough is VERY stubborn, but keep rolling, it eventually gives in. Before cutting the shapes, let the dough rest a bit, covered, as it tends to spring back into a smaller shapes once cut. Then again, you can also roll circles larger after they’re cut, and/or into ovals, which gives you more space for filling.
- Your basic set of round cutters usually doesn’t contain a 5-inch cutter. Try a plastic container top, bowl etc, or just roll each circle to 5 inches. There will always be something in your kitchen that’s round and 5-inches if you want large cannoli.
- Oil should be at least 3 inches deep and hot – 360°F-375°F, or you’ll end up with greasy shells. I prefer 350°F – 360°F because I felt the shells darkened too quickly at 375°F.
- If using the cannoli forms, when you drop the dough on the form into the oil, they tend to sink to the bottom, resulting in one side darkening more. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to gently lift and roll them while frying.
- DO NOT crowd the pan. Cannoli should be fried 2-4 at a time, depending on the width of your saucepan or deep fryer. Turn them once, and lift them out gently with a slotted spoon/wire skimmer and tongs. Just use a wire strainer or slotted spoon for flat cannoli shapes.
- When the cannoli turns light brown – uniform in color, watch it closely or remove it. If it’s already a deep brown when you remove it, you might end up with a really dark or slightly burnt shell.
- Depending on how much scrap you have left after cutting out all of your cannoli shapes, you can either fry them up and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar for a crispy treat, or let the scraps rest under plastic wrap and a towel, then re-roll and cut more cannoli shapes.