Baking funtimes

I love to bake. If you know nothing else about me (I bite my nails, I have a degree in botany, I listen to ridiculous music), please know that I love to bake. I like cooking too, but my true love is baking.


The problem is, now that I'm trying not to eat all the things ever and actually, you know, not eat so many carbs and possibly drop some weight, I cannot bake all the time.


(Exhibit A: There is nothing I would love more this Easter weekend than to spend the whole four days baking. Oh my goodness. I bought a new piping nozzle set and some gel food colours off www.bakingpleasures.com.au last week, and I secretly want nothing more than to spend the entire weekend trying them out. But I cannot, because there is no one who will take the baked goods off my hands afterwards).


So here is a recipe. A recipe, that every time I make it when we have One's mates over,  there is never any left.


Jam Roly-poly


Preheat the oven to 180C.


Then, make a scone dough. You will need:


500g plain flour
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt


Sift into a mixing bowl.


75g cold butter, cubed.


Rub butter into flour mixture with your fingertips until it resembles wet sand.


300ml milk.


Pour in, mix together with wooden spoon until a dough begins to form. Tip out of bowl onto a lightly floured surface, knead.


Roll out to ~1cm thickness in an approximate rectangle. Spread liberally with whatever type of jam takes your fancy (I have used cherry, with canned cherries and slivered almonds sprinkled generously on top, or peach, with walnuts and choc chips - but feel free to try out whatever combinations you like!), and add nuts or sultanas or fruit - I think grated apple and sultanas and a marmalade might be a really nice combination?


Roll up, just like a swiss roll, place in a baking pan, and pour over a quick caramel sauce - oops, sorry, forgot that bit. Melt a knob of butter in a saucepan, add a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar and let simmer until butter and sugar dissolve. Dilute by about half with warm water, stir in until you get a sauce, then pour over the roly-poly in the baking dish. (No exact quantities for that bit, sorry, I usually do it by eye).


Bake for 35-40 minutes at 180C, serve warm with custard or ice cream or on it's own.