Instructions | Zac and Lily

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Double chocolate and oat cookie mix

Heat oven to 180c/165c(fan)/gas 4, beat 125g butter in large bowl until very soft, add jar contents and 1 egg. Mix with wooden spoon or squidge with hands until fully combined. Roll into 18 walnut sized balls, space out on 1 or 2 baking sheets, bake for 12-15 mins or until golden. Cool then enjoy.

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American pancake mix

Crack an egg into the paper measuring cup then add milk to fill the cup up to the line. Pour this mixture into a bowl and mix it together with a whisk or fork until it’s all combined and a bit bubbly. Add the contents of the white mixture bag and whisk together just until the lumps are mostly gone (over mixing at this point makes for tough pancakes). You can add the little bag of cinnamon at this point too, as much or as little as you like. Alternatively add some of the cinnamon once you’ve cooked half the mix so you end up with some plain pancakes and some cinnamon. Leave the mixture to rest for around 5 minutes.

Warm a frying pan over a medium/high heat. Brush the pan with a little oil. Once the pan is nice and hot add a quarter of a teaspoon of butter, it should sizzle and bubble straight away. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture into a small pile in the pan, it will spread to form a neat circle. Quite quickly bubbles will start to form on top of the pancake, once there is a good covering of bubbles across the surface (this should take around 40-50 seconds) flip the pancake over with a spatula. Cook for a further 30 seconds then remove from the pan with the spatula.

Repeat the process until all the mix is gone. If there is room in the pan, once you are feeling confident try cooking a few pancakes at once.

Cover the pancakes in syrup. Serve with fresh fruit or bacon and a hot cup of tea.

Best enjoyed snuggled up in bed.

**Bakers tips**

If bubbles are not starting to form within 30 seconds of cooking, the pan is either not hot enough or you’ve added to much mixture to the pan – adjust accordingly for the next pancake
It might take 1-2 pancakes to get your heat just right, don’t worry there should be enough mix for 8-9 pancakes.

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Hot Cross Bun Mix

Part 1

Warm 100ml of milk in a pan or in the microwave until it’s just warm, take off the heat and drop in 30g of butter to soften in the warm milk.

Pour the contents of the large white bag into a bowl, add one egg and the lukewarm milk/butter mixture. Mix it all together with a wooden spoon until it comes together into a sticky dough. Leave the mix for 15 minutes to relax.

Now’s the time to get your hands dirty. Put your dough onto a clean worksurface start squishing it, pulling it, stretching it. Don’t worry too much about your technique here, the important thing is that the dough is being stretched about a bit. You will almost certainly think something has gone wrong because it will seem very sticky and messy – it hasn’t, keep going and it will slowly start to change. Eventually though dough’s desire to stick to your hands and the worktop will change into a desire to stick to itself and your worktop and hands will be miraculously clean! If you really can’t bare the stickiness, a drop of oil on your hands and worktop will help.

Check out our video below to see the Zac and Lily kneading technique.

Eventually (after 8-12 mins of work) you will have a smooth dough – well done the hard part is over! Put your lovely dough into a large bowl and cover with cling film. Leave your covered dough somewhere warm (near a radiator or in an airing cupboard) for 60-90 minutes, until it’s doubled in size. You’ll know your dough is ready for the next stage if you prod it and your finger leaves a dent.

Zac and Lily baker’s tip – Take a picture of your dough before leaving to rise, then you’ll really be able to see how much it’s grown.

Part 2

Add the fruit mix from the second bag into the bowl with the dough. Knead the dough again; your aim here is to spread the favour throughout the dough. Squish it, fold it and stretch it till it’s all mixed through. Cover it with cling film again and leave it in a warm place for another hour, till its doubled in size.

Zac & Lily baker’s tip – If you have a small eating apple spare, peel and chop it into small cubes add this to the dough at the same time as the dried fruit, it adds a lovely fresh taste to the buns.

Part 3 (almost there!)

Divide your dough into 6 or 7 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball between your hands and space them out on a baking tray lined with parchment. Lay your cling film on top of the balls but don’t wrap them tightly. Leave them for another 30-60 mins.

Zac & Lily baker’s tip – try to keep the top side of the buns free of fruit as it will dry out when baking

Part 4

Preheat your oven to 190c/170c(fan)/gas 5.

The crosses are purely for decoration, so if you can’t be bothered with adding them don’t worry. Your buns will be just as yummy (just slightly less hot cross bunny, but no judgement here!).

To add the crosses mix the contents of the little white bag with 2 tablespoons of water in a mug. Keep mixing until you have a smooth paste, the consistency you are aiming for is PVA glue. Add another half tablespoon of water if it’s too thick, but go steady as you can’t go back if you add too much water. Use a teaspoon to drizzle this paste to form a cross on the top of each bun. Alternatively spoon the paste back into one of the bags, cut a teenie corner off the bag to form a makeshift piping bag and artfully pipe your crosses on (very fancy!)

Bake your buns for 15-18 minutes, take them out when they are a dark golden colour but still soft inside. While they are still warm, heat up your apricot jam (microwave in a mug for 10 seconds) brush the jam over the tops of all your buns to give them a sweet, shiny glaze.

Well done you made it, doesn’t your kitchen smell yummy now!?

PLEASE NOTE: If you are toasting your hot cross buns (it’s our favourite way to eat them) please be careful. The apricot glaze gets very hot in a toaster and will burn, so just give them a light toasting or better still go ‘old school’ and toast them under the grill, cut side up.

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Chocolate shortbread mix

Put 110g of butter into a bowl, mix it with a wooden spoon till it’s super soft, (the consistency of yoghurt). If it has come straight from the fridge it may need a couple of 10 second bursts in the microwave to help it soften up.

Add the contents of the main bag to the bowl & stir, slowly at first (or you’ll get covered in flour!). Once it’s all mixed in, get rid of the spoon & get your hands into the mix. Squidge it together & it will soon start to look like dark brown play-dough. Keep squidging until it’s all one consistent colour. Dust your clean work surface with a little of the flour from the small bag & put the dough on top. Flatten it down with the palm of your hand (or a flour dusted rolling pin if you are feeling fancy) until it’s around 1cm thick. Use your cutter to cut some biscuits & transfer them onto a flat baking sheet. Don’t feel limited to just using the cutter – express yourself & create some shapes of your own, try to make sure they are all roughly the same thickness and size. Reform the dough with the leftovers & flatten out again to cut out some more biscuits. Re-dust your surface with the remainder of the small bag if needed.

Put your biscuits (on the baking sheet) in the fridge to chill for about half an hour – this will help them to keep their lovely shape in the oven. You can skip this step if you REALLY can’t wait but they may spread a little. Preheat your oven to 200c/fan 180c/gas 6 while the biscuits are chilling, then bake for 17-19 minutes. Cool then munch.

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Chocolate chip shortbread mix

Add the contents of the main bag to the bowl & stir, slowly at first (or you’ll get covered in flour!). Once it’s all mixed in, get rid of the spoon & get your hands into the mix. Squidge it together & it will soon start to feel like smooth play-dough. Dust your clean work surface with a little of the flour from the small bag & put the dough on top. Flatten it down with the palm of your hand (or a flour dusted rolling pin if you are feeling fancy) until it’s around 1cm thick. Use your cutter to cut some biscuits & transfer them onto a flat baking sheet. Don’t feel limited to just using the cutter – express yourself & create some shapes of your own, try to make sure they are all roughly the same thickness and size. Reform the dough with the leftovers & flatten out again to cut out some more biscuits. Re-dust your surface with the remainder of the small bag if needed.

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Rainbow cookie mix

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Flapjack mix

Pre-heat oven to 200c/180c(fan)/gas 6. Stir 3 large spoons of golden syrup and 75g of melted butter in a bowl. Add contents of jar and mix until fully combined. Press into a buttered cake tin, level out and bake for 12-15 mins or until golden. Allow to cool completely in tin. Remove, cut up and enjoy.

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Double chocolate cookie mix

Heat oven to 200c/180c(fan)/gas 6, in microwave melt 115g butter (it doesn’t need to be hot just runny) Pour into bowl with jar contents and 1 egg. Mix with wooden spoon or squidge with hands until fully combined. Roll into 24 walnut sized balls, space out on 2 baking sheets, bake for 11-12 mins. Cool then enjoy

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