Honey Bombs

I'm often attracted to baking things that I have never heard of before and these honey bombs come under that bracket. I think there's something so intriguing about trying new foods and flavors that you've never seen or tasted before! The opportunity as you grow older, comes far and few between but nevertheless, still, it's very exciting when it does happen. 

I was flicking through my Scandinavian Baking book by Trine Hahnemann and came across these honey bombs for the first time. Just the name alone calls out 'make me!' so I did. It's rare that I stick to a recipe, plain and simple as it is, and if I do, I don't really see the need to share it with you guys on here, because you can just go and get the original recipe for yourselves. However, like I said, it is very rare that I stick to any recipe EXACTLY and this one, I adapted slightly but successfully so I thought it was worth sharing with you. 

They resemble somewhat of a cake and scone in form, with the spices and dried fruit adding to its teacake-like qualities. I added in additional dried fruit of sultanas and raisins along with the traditional mixed peel in Trine's recipe as I'm not a huge fan of mixed peel on its own.
 I can really picture Scandinavians enjoying these baked beauties for a mid morning treat, sat in a coffee shop, served slightly warm, halved and generously slathered with butter. The use of honey combined with the cinnamon and cloves goes back centuries in Scandinavian baking according to Trine, it's a match made in heaven, so I can see why it has been carried on as a tradition all this time! 
Have a nosy on over to my blog post from way back in 2015 for Danish Custard Pies (Linser), another recipe from Scandinavian Baking by Trine Hahnemann. 

Honey Bombs

Makes 8

Ingredients:

Cooking oil spray for greasing 75g (3 ½ tbsp) honey 75g ( ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp) soft brown sugar 75g (⅓ cup) butter 2 eggs 200g (1 + ⅔ cup) plain flour 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 2 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground cloves 100g (⅔ cup) mixed dried fruit such as candied mixed peel, sultanas, raisins

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F/ Gas 4. Grease 8 individual, non-stick loose bottomed fluted tart tins (about 8-9cm in diameter) with cooking oil spray. Using a pastry brush, brush the oil into all the fluted ridges to grease it completely. 
Put the honey, sugar and butter into a saucepan and gently heat up until it has all melted together. 
Leave the mixture to cool slightly by pouring into a mixing bowl and then beat in the eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, bicarb, spices and mixed dried fruit. 
Beat the dry flour mixture into the wet batter until thoroughly combined. Fill the greased tart tins with the batter, so that it lies about 1cm deep. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a deep golden brown colour. 
Leave to cool for 5 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack. Store in an air tight container, they can last up to 2 weeks.