Goji Berries Blog

Hey Everyone!

Easter is here! And what better way to celebrate it than with some special Goji Berry hot cross buns!!

This is a wholemeal hot cross bun recipe using wheat and gluten-free ingredients!

So there’s the video! Now here are the ingredients and the written instructions for you! Feel free to print them off!

Wholemeal Goji Berry Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients (makes 12 buns):

Bun Mixture:

• 200g Wheat-free Gluten-free White Bread flour
• 250g Wholemeal Rye Flour
• 1 tsp Sea Salt
• 50g Organic Caster sugar
• 1 tbsp Ground mixed spice
• 85g Organic Unsalted Butter
• 14g Active Dried Yeast
• 325ml Whole Milk, slightly warmed
• 4 Medium sized beaten Eggs
• 50g Currants
• 50g Tibetan Goji Berries (or more if desired)
• 50g Light Sultanas
• 50g Mixed Peel, chopped finely

Cross Mixture:

• 100g Wheat-free and gluten-free bread flour
• ½ tsp Baking powder
• 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Glazing Mixture:

• 2 tbsp Whole Milk
• 1 tbsp Organic Caster Sugar

1. Grease 2 baking sheets with some butter, then then cover with a light sprinkling of rye flour.
2. Mix together the rye and wheat-free flours, salt, sugar and mixed spice.
3. Fold and rub the butter until the mixture has been evenly mixed (it should look bread crumb like).
4. Now stir in the active yeast powder.
5. Pour the milk in gradually and then the beaten eggs. The mixture needs to be beaten (with a wooden spoon) until it is smooth.
6. Stir in the currents, sultanas, Tibetan Goji Berries, and mixed peel until distributed evenly.
7. Spoon the mixture onto the prepared baking trays, use a tablespoon dipped in water to avoid the mixture sticking. Place about 6 good heaps onto each baking tray. Use a knife dipped to shape them into rounds. Make sure they are not too flat as these wheat free buns do not rise as much as normal ones.
8. Cover the trays with some greased clingfilm.
9. They need to be left to rise in a warm place, this should take between 35-45 mins. They should roughly double in size and small air bubbles should form in the mixture.
10. Preheat oven to gas 6 or 200c.
11. The cross paste is made by mixing the flour, baking powder and oil together with 100ml water until smooth.
12. Use a foil bag from the Tibetan Goji Berries and cut as shown in video. Add the paste into the bag. Alternatively you could use a regular piping bag with a 3mm nozzle.
13. As soon as the buns have finished rising, pipe on the crosses.
14. Bake in the middle of oven for about 20 minutes.
15. After 20 mins, remove the buns. Mix the milk with the caster sugar and brush over the buns.
16. Put the buns back into the oven and bake for another 10 mins until golden.
17. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool.
18. Lightly butter and ENJOY!!! (also great toasted)

Hope you enjoy this and have a HAPPY EASTER!

Joe & Arthur
BuyGojiBerriesOnline

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Hi Everyone!

We thought it would be great to do something special for you as it’s Christmas!

So to get in the festive spirits we thought we’d create a brand new recipe for Goji Berry Mince Pies!

I don’t think these have been made before, and it’s a brand new recipe but the results were great! The mince pies we finished with were delicious!

So here is the recipe and we also made a video for you showing how they are made!

So you’ve seen how we did it! Here are the actual recipes (we’ve given you the option of making your own pastry and mince meat, or if you’re not a cook you can use ready made pastry and mince meat!):

Double-crust Goji Berry Mince Pies

Ingredients (makes 24 pies):

• 340g/12oz shortcrust pastry (either ready made or use pastry recipe below)
• butter, for greasing
• flour, for dusting
• 450g/1lb/2 cups mincemeat (If vegetarian make sure you get mincemeat with vegetarian suet)
• milk, for brushing
• icing sugar or caster sugar, for dusting
• 115g/4oz/⅔ cup Goji Berries (add more or less as desired)

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry as thin as you can on a lightly floured board. Once rolled, cut out 24 circles, using a 7.5 cm/3in plain round cutter or simply a glass as we used in the video. Then cut out another 24 circles with a 5cm/2in plain round cutter or a smaller glass. Lay the circles carefully aside.
2. If you want to make your own mincemeat, mix the ingredients in the separate recipe provided below. If using ready made mince meat, then empty the mince meat into a bowl and add your Goji Berries until the desired mix is acheived!
3. Grease 24 muffin tins and then dust them with flour. Then line the tins with the larger of the circles you cut earlier. Fill each one with the mincemeat you prepared, then brush the edges with milk (to help the lids stick - this is the step we forgot in the video!). Press the smaller circles on top and seal the edges with your finger/thumb as shown in the video. Brush the tops with milk.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes in the oven until the pastry is looking golden brown. Leave to cool in the tins, then transfer the pies to wire rack or plate. Dust the pies with a little icing sugar before serving for that final touch! They taste great served warm!

Goji berry mincemeat

Ingredients:

• 115g/4oz/⅔ cup Goji Berries (or more as desired)
  
• dessert apples, peeled, cored and coarsely grated
• 115g/4oz/⅔ cup raisins
• 115g/4oz ready-to-eat dried apricots, chopped
• 115g/4oz ready-to-eat dried figs or prunes, chopped
• 225g/8oz green grapes,halved and seeded
• 50g/2oz/½ cup chopped almonds
• 30ml/2tbsp lemon juice
• finely grated rind of 1 lemon
• 30ml/2tbsp brandy or port
• 1.5ml/¼tsp mixed spice
• 115g/4oz/generous ½ cup soft light brown sugar
• 25g/1oz/2tbsp butter, melted

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Add to the mince pies as above.

Tip: Mincemeat can be made up and kept in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Special Shortcrust Pastry

Ingredients:

• 225g/8oz/2 cups plain flour
• 10ml/2tsp ground cinnamon
• 50g/2oz/⅔ cup finely ground walnuts
• 115g/4oz/½ cup butter
• 50g/2oz/4tbsp caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 1 egg
• 2 drops vanilla essence
• 15ml/1tbsp cold water

1. Put the flour, cinnamon and walnuts in a food processor. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcumbs.
2. Turn the mixture into a bowl and stir in the sugar. Using a fork beat the egg with the vanilla essence and water. Gradually stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients.
3. Gather together with your fingertips to form a soft, pliable dough. Knead briefly on a lightly floured surface until smooth.
4. Then wrap the dough in clear film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Tip: For regular pastry simply leave out the extra ingredients of cinnamon, walnuts, and vanilla essence.

OK so that’s it! I really hope you enjoy this recipe and have time to try it out! We really enjoyed eating ours (so did the rest of my family… in fact I think they ate more than I had!)

Please let us know how you got on with the recipe by leaving a comment below!

Happy Christmas!

Arthur & Joe

1 Comment »

There are always those of us who have a real weakness for a nice bowl of ice cream - and I’m definitely one of them!

This ice cream recipe is a delicious way of using goji berries and satisfying my ice cream cravings at the same time! You definitely don’t want to miss this one

Rum, Goji Berry & Chocolate Ice Cream

• 3 egg yolks
• 175g sugar
• 300ml milk
• 100g Plain chocolate, grated or chopped small
• 100g Goji Berries soaked in rum for four hours
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 450ml whipping cream, softly whipped

1. Whisk egg yolks, sugar, and milk in a bowl over a bain-marie (hot water) till it coats the back of a spoon, don’t boil
2. Stir in the chocolate and goji berries
3. Fold in the whipped cream
4. Transfer to a rigid plastic container and freeze for one hour
5. Beat well and freeze for another hour
6. Beat again and finally freeze till needed
7. Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving

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This is a classic goji berry recipe that you just have to try!

Goji Berry Muffin

• 450g butter
• 450g brown sugar
• 225g honey
• 6 eggs
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1tsp salt
• 3tsp baking powder
• 3tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 800g flour
• 180g wholemeal flour
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp nutmeg
• 225ml milk
• 180ml single cream
• 200g chopped pecans
• 250g dried goji berries soaked in stock syrup

1. Cream the butter, sugar, and honey
2. Add the eggs gradually
3. Add the cream
4. Add the milk gradually in alternation with the flour and other dry ingredients
5. Fold in the goji berries and nuts
6. Spoon into cases and bake for 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees
7. Enjoy!

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