Fun times with the oral surgeon...

Not! I have not made any posts for a few days because I had to have my wisdom teeth pulled. Oh what fun. In actuality, it has not been bad at all, mostly just inconvenient. But now I am ready to get back to cooking and posting. : ) Over the holiday weekend I was a cooking/baking fool and with the exception of a Strawberry "Ricotta" Cake Roll that certainly was not beautiful everything came out very delicious. I love my family for being such willing test subjects, ; )

First recipe, Hot Cross Buns. I cannot take complete credit for these because I basically just veganized an existing recipe that I found online. Preparing the dough in the bread machine is a life saver when you have a million other things to do. They came out delicious and the texture makes me think they would work marvelously turned into bagels. If anyone tries this before I get a chance please let me know your results.

Hot Cross Buns

dough
3/4 c almond milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 t ener-g egg sub. mixed with 2 T water (I am going to try it without egg subs as well.)
1 T yeast (scant)
3 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
pinch of cloves and allspice
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup currants

glaze
2 T sugar
2 T water

icing
1/2 cup powered sugar
2 t water

To prepare dough in a bread machine;

Place all ingredients for the dough, except the currants, in the bread machine pan in the order recommended for your machine. Set on the dough cycle. Add the currants when the machine signals. Remove from machine at the end of the dough cycle and cut into 12 pieces. Let rest for a few minutes. Shape into balls and place on lightly greased baking pan about 3" apart. Cover with a damp tea towel or a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray, place in a warm draft free place and let rise for 45 to 60 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375f degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Place entire pan on a rack to cool. Mix the sugar and water for glaze and brush on still warm buns. Let cool completely. When buns have cooled mix powered sugar and water for icing, adjusting the water amount if necessary to have a good piping consistency. Pipe or spoon a cross on each bun.