I finally finished my Manta Hueco Zig Zag blanket last night. I LOVE IT! I enjoyed making it and I know the recipient will be thrilled.
The pattern can be found here. I added a simple border around it in white.
Usually it’s always a relief when I finish a large project but with this one, I could have happily continued. I will miss working on it. I will make another one of these one day.
When I was looking for a recipe for the Weggli (“butt buns”), I also happened to come across the recipe for Dampfnudeln and I immediately started to crave them. My husband immediately proclaimed that it doesn’t sound like he’d enjoy them. Luckily I have plenty of friends and neighbors who enjoy my baking so I went ahead and made them anyway today.
Dampfnudeln are sort of a custard-y sweet bun made from a yeast dough. We’ve always had it as a dessert with vanilla custard and fruit compote (usually either berries or Italian plums).
Recipe is out of the 1991 edition of “Tiptopf” which is the cookbook used to teach grade 9ers in Switzerland how to cook. It contains also lovely recipes for tripe, tongue, liver etc. I wish I was kidding. I’m not sure who thought it would be a brilliant idea to get kids interested in cooking by suggesting they’d make such “delicacies”.
I’m pretty sure the last time I had Dampfnudeln was when we made them in said cooking class so clearly I was well overdue..
Dampfnudeln
Makes 8-10
Yeast dough:
250 grams white all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
40 grams soft butter
15 grams fresh yeast (I can’t find fresh yeast around here so I used 1 pack if instant dry yeast)
100 ml warm milk (not too hot though or you’ll kill the yeast)
1 egg
Mix the flour, salt, sugar, soft butter and yeast in bowl. Add egg and milk and mix well. Knead dough for 15 minutes. Cover it with a wet warm towel and let it raise until it doubles in size (approx. 1 hour).
For the “custard”
200 ml milk
3 tbsp sugar
40 grams butter
A splash of vanilla extract (not in the original recipe but love vanilla and it goes well with it especially if you serve it with the vanilla custard)
Mix everything and heat it up until the butter is melted.
Butter a 9 x 9 in baking dish. Pour half of the “custard” mixture into the baking dish. Shape 8-10 little balls out of the dough and spread them evenly around. Let the dough raise a second time for about 40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220 C/ 425 F. Bake for 20-25 minutes, take it out and use two forks to gently pull the Dampfnudeln apart. Pour the rest of the “custard” mixture into the gaps. Put it back into the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
Best served warm with vanilla custard and/or fruit compote (jam is also lovely).
Guess who gobbled up 3 within about 5 minutes! Yup, my husband who was convinced he wouldn’t like them.
Oh my, I’ve been so busy creating things I didn’t find the time to blog.
I used to sew hammocks for pet rats. A LOT of hammocks for rats. We’re talking hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them. They were a nice way to raise funds for rat rescue but after making a gazillion ones of them, I couldn’t look at the sewing machine again. For two years, I didn’t pull it out. While starting our yearly spring clean/de-cluttering, I finally decided to make another push to get my fabric stash down a bit more as my yarn stash is starting to take over and could use some more space.
I ended up making 3 cat chair cushions, 18 little handy dandy pouches and 10 couch pillow covers. Apparently I can’t just do a little here, a little there. I’m either all in or all out.
These little pouches are super awesome. I have about 10 of them for all sorts of purposes – The dog’s poopy bags, my iPod, my change, my bank cards etc. They fit most cell phones as well but that’s the one tech thing I do not own.
Most of them sold within minutes but I do have a 1 of these left:
And 3 of these:
Please email me if interested!
The zippered couch pillows were made from the same fabric. I like rats, what can I say.
The cat chair cushions fit most chairs nicely and give them a little bit of a padding. They are also great to protect your couch a bit from cat hair. I just adore those little cat mermaids!
Been working on another pair of socks… These are called “Socks On A Plane”. The pattern can be found on Ravelry. I’m just about done.
I was hoping to have the Manta Hueco ZigZag blanket done but got slightly distracted… like making a crab army
I am however close… 2 more rows on either side and then the border which I still haven’t quite decided how I’m going to do it other than it’s going to be white. I’m hoping to be done with my crab army by tonight and then should have the rest of the week to finally finish it. Actually considering it’s fairly close to a queen size blanket with DK yarn/4 mm hook, it’s still only taken me 2 months to get her and that’s not bad at all.
Anyway, I’m sure you’re wondering about the “Butt Buns”. They are a traditional type of Swiss buns. They are actually called “Weggli” but since none of my English speaking friends here would remember that, I’ve been calling them “Butt Buns”. Why you ask?
Need I say more?
That really is how they are traditionally shaped. I of course took it a step further and gave my dear friend Ellen one with a strategically placed chocolate chip. Yeah, I’m sick and twisted like that. They are a milk based bread, great for sandwiches or with dinner or simply as a snack.
I figured I post the recipe since quite a few friends who go to try them are now raving about them. I do not know where the recipe originally comes from, it’s been passed down in my family.
Weggli (“Butt Buns”)
Ingredients:
750 grams white flour (all purpose works fine)
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp dry instant yeast
25 grams soft butter
200 ml warm (but not too hot) milk
200 ml (but not too hot) water
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp milk
Mix the flour, salt, yeast and soft butter together in a large bowl. Add the milk and water mix. Once it’s all incorporated, pour it out on a clean table and start kneading. Knead for 15-20 minutes. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with a damp towel and put it in a warm spot. Let it raise until the dough doubles in size, about an hour or so.
Sorry, I do not know how long you’d have to let our KitchenAid work the dough. I am from the land of elbow grease and find kneading bread dough very zen (plus my kitchen is tiny and I have no idea where I’d put one).
After an hour, divide the dough in 14 equal amounts and shape little balls. If you want the traditional butt shape, take a plate and push it down in the middle of the roll until almost all the way to the bottom. Lay them out on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Let them raise again for about 40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200 C/390 F. Mix the egg yolk and the 2 tbsp milk together and brush onto the top of the buns. Once the oven has reached temperature, put the buns into the oven and make for 20-25 minutes. The buns should be golden brown and if you flip them over and tap the bottom, they should sound hollow.
Pickles is my other foster dog, she too is up for adoption through Bully Buddies.
I’m taking her and Boo to an adoption event on the weekend. I figured since Boo will wear her hats, Pickles shouldn’t be left out so I made her a simple earflap hat with a big pom pom on the top. It matches her hot pink Thundershirt that she’ll be wearing also. Credit for the pom pom actually goes to my husband, he did most of it, I just trimmed it and sewed it on.
Irresist-a-bull! I just adore her! I wish I was in a position where I could adopt her myself.
Sorry, no pattern. I was in a rush to get it done and didn’t take any notes.
I made another dishcloth yesterday – SHARK! I used up the last little bit of cotton scraps I had. Yay! It feels good to stay on top of my scraps plus one can never have enough dishcloths.
Pattern for the shark dishcloth is again by Mamafri/CreaWelten on Ravelry
RAINCITYMUMBLINGS 