Jam Side Down

The last Sunday in September found me in a reflective mood and recharging my batteries as the number of unexpected adventures in the last  month and the responsibility of looking after two houses and two dogs began to take their toll.

As always when I need to focus on having some downtime I fall back on my love of cooking and music. I picked Pink Floyd's 1977 effort "Animals" to bake some blackcurrant buns to. The album, although one of their best, is often overlooked by the casual fan, as it falls between two of their greatest albums (both of which are more accessible) 1975's "Wish You Were Here" and 1979's "The Wall". Animals' best track is "Sheep" which I was lucky enough to see its writer Roger Waters perform in 2008 on his excellent solo tour.

I realised I had mentioned my cooking skills to my work colleagues and I decided that actions spoke louder than words and therefore I should make something to take in for them to enjoy. The recipe I chose was a variation on an old recipe from a 1960s cookbook. It is essentially used to make buns that are topped with Jam.

I first added eight ounces of self-raising flour to my mixing bowl followed by three ounces of  margarine which I cut into cubes and then stirred into  the flour until the mixture resembled large golden breadcrumbs or shingle on the beach.

Then I added two and a half ounces of brown sugar and one egg. After I had thoroughly mixed these ingredients into the margarine and the flour I saw that it was all far too sloppy to cook. This said I added four ounces of plain flour to the bowl which meant that after I had stirred it in there was a mixture that almost had the consistency of cookie dough.

I divided the mixture into twelve equal pieces and put them on a greased baking tray. Then I added half a teaspoonful of black currant jam to the top of each piece trying as I did so push the jam down into them so it didn't run off in the heat of the oven.

I cooked the buns in the oven at 200 degrees (190 for fan ovens) for a period of fifteen minutes. I noticed the buns had become a pale bronze colour, a little like a meathead who hadn't applied enough fake tan before a night on the town, and when a put a skewer into them it came out clean meaning they were ready. The jam had also run a little and crystallised on top of the buns to create a tasty topping.

I tried one after I consumed a large stew for my tea and I found that buns sweet and rich but not too rich that I couldn't manage one comfortably despite a big main course.

At work the reaction was positive as pretty much all the buns were eaten by the colleagues in my team which has motivated me to do more cooking projects to take into work.

Straight out of the oven with a pale bronze colour showing in the dough and the jam well crystallised on top of each bun.