Anyone for a two-course cake lunch? Let’s sit down and have a cup of Paradise tea.   Oooh, some cake and nice light brioche rolls, really easy and fast to make!  I’ll give you the recipe.  But no baking right now.  We’ll just get comfortable and ponder the meaning of life and blogging.  Have a look at the photo above.  Would you like a couple of brioche rolls?  And can you spot the mistake? (hint: teapot)

So here I am with my friend (that’s her hand there reaching for more cake), telling her about my new double life as a blogger.  Actually, she’s lucky to be eating any cake at all, since it was very hard to tear myself away from the computer and make it to the kitchen.  I should have gone earlier – baking at 4 in the morning .. ahem.

I now have an excuse for two-course cake lunches: we’re testing cakes for the blogging community, myself and my willing guinea pig – as my friend called herself over the intercom system.   So down to quality control:  she suggests mint leaves to decorate (et voilà) and we agree the mojito cake curd should be a less intense green (oops).  Otherwise not bad.  Following further testing, recipes will be with you soon(ish)!  The brioche rolls were surprisingly delightful so I’m liberating that recipe into cyberspace (beam it up Scottie, or scroll down).

So now we chat about holidays, family, relationships and, of course, blogging.  Without moving from my computer for two days (except to make cake), I have travelled far and wide, connecting with ideas, places, people and feelings all over the world.  I mention the poetry, the artwork,  the Kindness Blog.  She notices I look happy.

Some Kindness blog posts I like more than others but I do appreciate the general sentiment. My favourite posts so far are here and here – are you curious?  So yes, I’m inspired to continue browsing in the community to connect and learn with fellow bloggers.  When I’m out and about climbing a rock or in a restaurant, I’ll have a sea of new ideas floating in my head.

And now sweet reader… for that recipe.  Then we’ll have a bit of humour with Christmas cracker jokes, and the teapot mystery will be revealed!

Fast brioche rolls recipe

It’s a light brioche, with not much butter, like a pain au lait without milk.  It takes about 15 to 20 minutes of actual work, around 1 hour in waiting time – which I used to finish making cakes and hoover – and 10 to 20  minutes in the oven.  Trust me, that’s a super-fast brioche!  Started at 1pm and at 3pm (normal lunchtime here in Spain) rolls magically appeared at the table.

Preparation

Put greaseproof paper on a baking tray (30 x 40 cm).

Ingredients

• 330g ’00’ flour (or strong flour) – sifted
• 44g caster sugar and 4g invert sugar or honey (if you use 48g caster sugar you’ll need a bit more water)
• 50g beaten egg
• 6g salt
• 120g water at room temperature

• 48g softened butter

• 30g fresh yeast (crumbled into small pieces) or 10g dry yeast

Method – if you have no stand mixer, knead by hand and take more time to get the dough right (sorry!)

So hope you enjoyed these yummy little brioches!  When you’ve stopped eating them, store in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days or in the freezer.

And just to celebrate let’s pull Christmas crackers together (my favourite British Christmas tradition).  It’s never too late for a cracker!

Ha ha, ho ho? Oh dear?!  Oh, and that teapot.  Well it’s my brand new first ever teapot (lovely, isn’t it?) and I didn’t know removing the filter meant the lid I was putting on again would just drop to the bottom – oops!  Had a good laugh.  You probably had to be there.

Till next time and happy baking!