Light knit shawl - second progress

Full speed for the knitting needles, look what an amazing progress, which I have made from my light knit shawl in cashmere yarn :-)

Welcome to ceramic mushrooms

I have got two ceramic mushrooms as a hostess gift in connection with my birthday celebration. And now they have found their space next to my front door.

Welcome to my new "mushrooms", which would like to welcome you, when you come around :-)

Light knit shawl - first progress

I have actually made some good progress on my new knit project in form of light version of a knit shawl using cashmere yarn. When finished this shawl will have a weight of only 80 g !!! This is amazing.

Light knit shawl

When I found a good offer on cashmere yarn at Garnudsalg, I decided to an new version of  this little knit shawl. For the first version of this knit shawl I used 750 m yarn with a total weight of 250 g. Using 800 m cashmere, this amount og yarn weight as little as 80 g !!!

This cashmere yarn is made from 68% cashmere & 32% mulberry silk.

Buns with squash

Squash season is over us, so it can a "fight" to use all the various squash, which the garden is providing you with.

I have used this recipe on classic buns as starting point, while making these squash buns. I did also notice, that the addition of 2 grated squash brought so much moisture into the bun dough, that I had to increase the amount of wheat flour significantly. Another I should perhaps the water part entirely ?

Squash buns: - approx 25 buns

• 1150 g wheat flour
• 50 g sugar
• 100 g rape seed oil 
• 25 g fresh yeast
• 1 egg
• 8 g salt
• 250 g water
• 2 squashes or 600 g squash - roughly grated

1. Weigh all the ingredients directly into the mixing bowl of the stand alone mixer. Keep salt & sugar away from the yeast.
2. Place the bowl on the stand-alone mixer.
3. Start knead the dough at speed 1 for 8 minutes.
4. Afterwards increase the speed to 4, knead for 2 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough. If it is not OK, when knead it at speed 4 for another 2 minutes. Again check the consistency. If needed, knead again for 1 minute and when check consistency of the dough.
5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place it on the kitchen table sprinkled with flour.
6. Let the entire dough raise for approx 20 minutes under a damp cloth.
7. When you evaluate, that the dough has raise enough, divide the dough into smaller pieces with a weight of 85 g each.
8. Shape the dough pieces into bun shapes. Place the bun pieces on the baking tray covered with baking parchment. 
9. Let the bun raise for second time for approx 40 minutes under a tea towel.
10. Heat up the oven to 200'C.
11. Bake the bun at 200'C for 20 minutes.
12. Cold down the buns, before serving them with a nice cup of tea/coffee.

Cashmere yarn for new knitting projects

While I was getting close to finish my recent knitting project in form of this little knit shawl I saw, that you could buy some cashmere yarn at Garnudsalg at a very attractive price.

So, I decided to knit an identical version of the little knit shawl, but in a much lighter version, as I estimate, that 800 m yarn weighing 80 g in total should be enough. I will knit this shawl in light rosa colour. In more pink-like colur I would either be knitting a lighter version of this neck tube or a knit shawl for my mother ?

This cashmere yarn is made from 68% cashmere & 32% mulberry silk.

Classic plum jam

I have again being picking fresh fruit in the garden of my good friends in Horsens, this time is was plums, so I could make som plum jam. I decided to use pectin as gelling agent this time, so I could use less sugar to gel the jam, as I wanted to have more of a fruit flavour in the final jam. If you to try to make a plum jam without the addition of a gelling agent, then have a love at this plum jam recipe.

Plum jam: - 8 glasses

• 1400 g plums - washed, de-stoned and cut into half
• 450 ml water
• 700 g sugar
• 8-10 g pectin per 1000 g jam (fruit and sugar together)
• 1-2 teaspoon citric acid per 1000 g jam (fruit and sugar together)
• Potassium sorbat - optional

1. Prepare the plum by washing, de-stone and cut into half. Place the plum pieces into the cooking pan and pour the water in as well.
2. Put the cooking pan on the stove, heat up the content, so the plums are simmering. 
3. Let the plums simmer until they become pulpy in texture, it takes between approx 20-30 minutes.
4. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
5. Stir in the pectin and citric acid, let it simmer for 3-5 minutes before adding in the sugar.
6. Add the sugar to the plum mass and stir until it is dissolved.
7. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
8. Test of set after 3-5 minutes using the flake test.
9. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx. 5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
10. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
11. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
12. Store at ambient temperature.