The Great British Bank Holiday Baking Bounce Back

Regular readers may have spotted how important a varied breakfast is for Anna so I am planning to take advantage of the extra time the holidays bring to make them more of a feature meal than they are most days. So we started today with pancakes, strawberries and maple syrup.

And for tomorrow we have these cinnamon buns. Probably served with fruit and maybe yoghurt? Not sure as I have never made them before but I definitely will again because they are a) amazing and b) ridiculously simple to make.

And there are blueberry muffins.

We also invested in some new games...Pass The Bomb was fun, though received mixed reviews so I suspect will have a limited replay audience, and Fast Flags which is a kind of flag version of Dobble. Fast and fun and with the added bonus of increasing our Embassy recognition around London. Hopefully.

A dog walk and the FA Cup Final and BGT. And some sitting in the garden in the sun with my book in The Chair.

Thank you for the kindness yesterday. Today jolliness is restored.

Lesley x

EDIT: I blipped too soon! I've just made lava lamps with Anna. They don't last long but they look amazing. Next slow blip day...

EDIT 2: Cinnamon Bun recipe

Ingredients:
Rolls:
350g/12oz self raising flour
Pinch of salt
2tbsp caster sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon
100g/3.5oz butter, melted and extra for greasing
2 egg yolks
200ml/7 fl oz milk, extra for glazing

Filling:
1 tsp ground cinnamon
55g/2oz brown sugar
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp butter, melted

Icing:
125g/4.5 oz icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp butter, softened
about 2 tbsp boiling water
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
Grease a 20-cm/8-inch round tin and line the bottom with baking parchment.

Mix the flour, salt, caster sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Whisk the butter, egg yolks and milk together and combine the dry ingredients to make a soft dough.

Turn out onto a large piece of waxed paper, lightly sprinkled with flour, and roll out to a rectangle 30 x 25cm/12 x 10 inches.

To make the filling mix the ingredients together, spread evenly over the dough and roll up, Swiss-roll style to form a log. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 8 even-sized slices and pack into the prepared tin.

Brush gently with extra milk and bake in a preheated oven, 180C/350F, for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tin.

Sift icing sugar into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Place the cream cheese and butter in the centre, pour over the water and stir to mix. Add extra boiling water, a few drops at a time, until the frosting coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the vanilla essence, then drizzle the icing over the rolls.

Serve warm or cold.

Courtesy of www.bbcgoodfood.com