How to Cover Up A 'Oooops' - A Culinary 'Watergate'

A Gastronomic Catastrophe Arises as a New “Tea Time Titbit's”

Now one of my favourite pastimes when I am sitting, either in a Doctors room waiting for an appointment or whiling away a couple of hours in a coffee shop being bone idle taking photographs, drinking bottomless coffee, people watching and reading magazines. I usually pick up the Female interest type, no! not to see the fashion trends and all the other type of articles that appear in them, it is only to read the recipes, of which some of them I would mentally file them away after already deciding what else would rather use or better substitute in place of which spice, meat, marinade et al that either I do not like, or owing to health does not like me or my dietary constraints.

What am I on about this time, well let me tell you.

It started at the beginning of the week, I had removed some Frozen Puff Pastry, from the freezer compartment of the fridge. Yes, indeed you have not made a mistake, and have read it correctly!

Here is Mister Cook “doitallfromscratch” admitting that he does sometimes have strange edible and pre-made objects in his pantry, fridge and freezer! To be honest it was there at the wife’s request as she was going to make some pin-wheels for a function at her office, other events over took the frozen pastry had defrosted in the fridge and it was all but forgotten.

A couple of days later, on a Sunday afternoon, I had a cooking urge and felt like making a quick afternoon tea type of sweet bun.

Well to cut a long story short I had this pastry, I had some raisins I had some castor sugar and some Cassia. I use this as a substitute for cinnamon, which tends to gives my wife indigestion.

So off to the Kitchen.

Cinnamon (Cassia Raisin) 'Thingies@Mistakes'

1. Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius

2. Unrolled the pastry, ran the floured rolling pin up and down along the length to stretch it a bit.

3. Mixed about 75g of room temperature butter with 15ml of ground Cassia and 75g of Castor Sugar, which had been nicely creamed.

4. Spread a layer of the spiced creamed butter across the waiting sheet of pastry.

5. NOTE carefully leaving about 5cm at the bottom and the top butter free.

6. Liberally sprinkled some raisins across the buttered surface.

7. Then I rolled the pastry from the bottom to the top across the width, forming a long sausage.

8. This was cut into 12 equal disks, and then placed into a patty pan which had been lightly oiled.

9. Popped in the oven and baked for 20 minutes until golden brown.

10. Remove from oven

11. Turn them out onto a drying rack to cool

12. Serve while still warm.

Perfect – well not so perfect Chef Rodney, you blew it, you fluffed it up real badly.

After 15 minutes between step 9 and 10, what I saw on inspection through the glass doors off the oven was an absolute disaster:-

• The pastry wheels where raising beautifully,

• However that where also being shallow fried, till a golden brown, within in the patty pan cups at the same time was not to be expected!

This was due to Three Mistakes that I made!

Well actually four and five – one- I was being to cocky and – two- way to clever at the time.

• One - due to the excess amounts of butter which had been used to grease the pan

• Two – due to the amount of cinnamon/cassia butter spread.

• Three – Due to the amount of fat within the Puff Pastry

Well these mistakes where dumped onto a baking tray to cool down.

Absent-mindedly I broke of a piece of the “pastry” and popped it into my mouth. That wild taste explosion on my palate was incredible especially of that warm golden brown raisin.

The batch had yielded 12 of these scrumptious golden baked/fried wonders, within the time that I had boiled the kettle, there was only enough time to grab a quick photograph, before the Munchie Gremlins (and others) descended.

I have worked on quite a few variations to the basic Pastry Versions

• Add some finely chopped pecan nuts to the raisins

• Add some Fresh Apple pulp to the raisins

• Add some Turkish Dried Figs, Apricots

• Substitute the Raisins with either Sultanas or Glazed Cherries or a mixture of all three

Only be warned you may very will need to make a double batch.

As to what I had originally aught to have done:-

The original recipe called for about 550g of Normal Yeast Dough, knocked back, left to rise again before rolling it out, you know the type you make Chelsea buns with, well sometimes Nano is better than normal speed, when you want a completely amazing Teatime Treat.

Try that version as well! I am sure you may find those variants very very interesting.