Holmesian Cat Buns

The other day, Mrs. Hudson's friend Judith commented on the popularity of social media posts that involve cats, food, or Sherlock Holmes. When the Facebook Brain Trust replied with the suggestion that a combination of all three would be the best of all, Mrs. Hudson attempted to break the Internet with some hot Holmesian cat buns. Here's how they turned out:

How to:
Prepare a shape-able bread dough. Mrs. Hudson used this recipe:
www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/turtle-bread/02a87ed3-d9ae-4488-8985-15ab094e1b97

Shape the dough into balls. Roll a cylinder of dough and make diagonal cuts to create ears. Add 2 ears to each ball, tucking them underneath a bit so they attach securely during the baking.

 

For Holmes cats, shape a deerstalker cap out of a circle of dough topped by two half-circles for the flaps. For Watson, omit the cap and add a couple of small pieces of dough for a mustache.

Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown. Add chocolate chips or raisins for eyes and drawn on facial details with piped icing or a food coloring pen. Add a small twine bow to the top of the deerstalker cap. Brush your buns with melted butter to make them shiny.

We can't all be Photoshopped, so old-fashioned lady that Mrs. Hudson is, she feels that honesty is the best policy and would like to mention that it's actually kind of tricky to form Holmes' hat. They tend to puff up strangely during the baking and quite a few of them turned out looking something like this:

Still good with butter and jam. Me-ow!

Magnifying Glass Cookies

Ho, ho, ho! In addition to baking her family's traditional favorites this year, Mrs. Hudson decided to give stained glass cookies a canonical makeover by creating a magnifying glass cookie. In the photo below the end product is taken through its paces by Mrs. Hudson's daughter Mrs. Turner:

How to:

1. Get hold of some blue-and-white candy canes or another appropriately-colored type of hard candy. Crush them up. 

2. Make or purchase some basic sugar cookie dough. Roll out, cut into circles and cut smaller circles out of the circles. Roll and shape the inner circle that you just cut out into a handle for the magnifying glass and press onto an edge of the circle. Fill the middle of the circle with the crushed candies.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies are slightly golden and the sugar is melted. Give the melted sugar a little swirl with a knife. Add a cocoa glaze if you want.

Benedict Cookiebatch

Mrs. Hudson probably could have done something more useful with her day off than creating a large cookie portrait of Benedict Cumberbatch in his role as Sherlock Holmes. However.

How to:
There aren't any cookie cutters for this, so you'll have to prepare a template. Draw one on cardboard or regular paper. Make it large since you'll be using an entire batch of cookie dough for one cookie. Sketch in some details about the face and hair to use as guidelines later. Don't worry too much about the resemblance--people are remarkably forgiving about portraiture when it means they get to eat a cookie. Mix up a batch of your favourite sugar cookie dough. Roll it out. Cut out the cookie using the template. Decorate with frosting. Use a food colouring pen for details. Put some curly chocolate hair on that bad boy. Share with your closest friends.

Sherlock's Smoky Apple Pie...pe

Mrs. Hudson does not usually deal in high-concept pies. A simple blueberry pie is all that her gentlemen lodgers usually require. However, one week, after Holmes had had 4 three-pipe problems in a row, she became intrigued with the idea of creating a smoke-inspired pastry. Adding smoked cheddar and lapsang souchong-infused raisins to a tart apple pie turned out unexpectedly well, at least according to her guests. This recipe provides a dessert pie which borders on the savoury. The smoke flavour is subtle, but evident. Serve with lapsang souchong tea or brandy.

How to:
Crust--
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold
4 oz grated smoked cheddar cheese
Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter until the mixture is fine crumbs. Mix in grated cheese. Sprinkle cold water (5-6 tablespoons) and work lightly until the dough holds together. Chill while you prepare the filling.

Filling--
Plump 2/3 cup raisins in strong lapsang souchong tea. Set aside. Peel and slice 4 lbs. tart apples. McIntosh or Granny Smith for example. Add 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/4 brown sugar. Mix. Add drained raisins. Sprinkle on 3 tablespoons flour and mix together.

Roll out crust and fill pie. Cut out a pipe-shape steam hole in the top crust. Bake at 375 until nice and brown. It might take 45 minutes. It might take an hour and 15. Mrs. Hudson has no idea what kind of oven you're dealing with.

Arthur Fondant Doyle

Greetings from Baker Street!

Mrs. Hudson has been thinking for some time now that she'd like to make a contribution to the ever-expanding realm of weirdness that is the Internet. Since most of the people she knows  really like Sherlock Holmes and ALL the people she knows really like food, a blog combining the two seems like a good idea.

Let's start things off with a tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Founder of the Feast. Or, in this case, his edible avatar "Arthur Fondant Doyle."

How to:
Make or purchase white fondant (sugarpaste.) Tint in colors suitable for a Victorian gentleman. Mold into the general shape of Arthur Conan Doyle. Don't skimp on the moustache.