WEST COUNTRY TRADITIONAL EASTER BISCUITS

Easter Biscuits are traditionally made to be eaten on Easter Sunday.  The West Country recipe often has the addition of a few drops of Essence of Cassia.  This is available at most Health Stores but, if preferred, mixed spice or cinnamon can be used instead. I believe the use of Cassia originated in the Bristol - Bath area and spread to the west country counties.

Ingredients

275 g/ Plain flour

200 g softened butter

150 g caster sugar

50 g currants

2 egg yolks

6 drops Cassia oil

Method

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and soft. Beat in the egg yolks and add the drops of Cassia oil.

Mix in the flour and currants until everything is well combined and comes together in a ball.

Roll out on a lightly floured work top until it is about 1/2 cm thick.

Use a biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits and place on a baking tray covered with a sheet of baking paper.

Cook in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes until the biscuits are a light golden colour. 

Leave on the tray for a few minutes to cool and set.
Transfer them to a cooling rack to cool and crispen.
Dust lightly with caster sugar.

Delicious served with a cup of tea

Happy Easter

A variation:

Use 1/4 teaspoon mixed spice or cinnamon instead of the Cassia oil.
Use fancy Easter cutters to make different shapes, e.g. rabbits, chicks, easter eggs etc.
If you have children/grandchildren you can encourage them to decorate the biscuits with ready made icing. Messy but great fun!

COLLEGIATE PUDDING

I am a great believer in "Waste not, want not".  Here is a good recipe to use up bread.  You will need to make it into breadcrumbs.  This is easy these days with a food processor.  Just pop in chunks of bread and whizz for a couple of minutes and you have perfect bread crumbs.

Ingredients

100g/4 oz breadcrumbs
50g/2 oz currants
50g/2 oz sultanas
50g/2 oz sugar
100g/4 oz shredded suet
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
Level teaspoon mixed spice
and some freshly grated nutmeg



Make the breadcrumbs and mix in all the ingredients until combined. 

Place in a greased pudding basin and press down gently.

Cover with a piece of baking parchment or greaseproof paper with a folded pleat in the middle to allow for the mixture to swell. Cover with foil and twist around the rim or tie, if preferred.

Place in a steamer or in a saucepan of simmering water coming halfway up the sides of the basin.

Steam for one and a half hours.

If using a saucepan, keep an eye on the water level, do not let it boil dry.

When cooked, remove the paper and foil and turn out onto a plate.

Serve with custard or a white sauce.
I made a sweet white sauce with a good dash of sherry.

Delicious. Enjoy!

CHEESE SCONES

Friends popped around for a coffee so I made a few cheese scones to go with it. This is a quick and easy recipe and the scones are light and delicious. They also keep well if you don't eat them all on the day they are made.

Ingredients

225g/8oz Self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon each of mustard powder and cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt

25g/1oz diced butter

50g/2oz mature cheddar cheese or hard goat cheese

150ml/1/4 pint semi-skimmed milk

Extra milk to glaze

Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Stir in the grated cheese.

Beat the egg with the milk and add to the dry ingredients.

Mix to a soft dough and turn onto a lightly floured work surface.

Pat out to about 2.5cm/1inch thick and cut out discs with a cutter.

Place on a baking sheet and brush the tops with milk.

Cook in the centre of a pre-heated oven 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 for ten to twelve minutes until risen and golden.

Cool on a wire rack.

Serve split in two with butter.

Alternative:

Add chopped black olives to the mixture.

Cut into very small scones to make canapes.

Spread each half with creme fraiche and ribbons of smoked salmon.

Garnish with a small sprig of parsley.

They look great and taste delicious!

VICTORIA PLUM CRUMBLE

Last autumn I  froze several bags of Victoria plums. Today I took out a bag to make a plum and cinnamon crumble.

Ingredients:

Plums - equivalent to one punnet

4 oz/100g S R Flour

3oz/ 75 g Butter

3 oz/75g Sugar

Oats/Crunchy oat cereal

Level teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

Lightly poach the frozen plums in a light syrup (granulated sugar and water).

To make the crumble topping:

Whizz together the flour, butter, sugar and cinnamon in a food processor (or do it by hand rubbing the butter into the flour until is resembles breadcrumbs, then stir in the other ingredients).

Use a slotted spoon to remove the plums from the syrup and place in an ovenproof dish.

Spread the crumble topping over the plums.

Sprinkle some oats, museli or crunchy oat cereal on the top to make a crunchy topping.

Bake in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes.

Serve with custard or cream.

Delicious!

CHRISTMAS CAKE - GOLDEN JEWELLED CAKE SLICE

I have just downloaded some photos and here is a slice of my Golden Jewelled Christmas Cake.

A delicious recipe full of fruit and nuts. It certainly made a change from the usual dark, rich Christmas cake recipe. Lovely with a nice cup of tea or a glass of sherry!

SEVILLE ORANGE MARMALADE

When once Christmas is behind us I always look forward to the second week in January when the new season Seville oranges appear in the shops. Well, this year I have had great difficulty in tracking them down and had to go to a neighbouring town to find some in a traditional greengrocers.  The best and tastiest marmalade needs Seville oranges to provide that bitter sweet taste. I always make a couple of batches to ensure that we have enough to last the year, with a few pots to give to family and friends.

Ingredients:

2 lb/ Seville Oranges

1 lemon

4 lb Granulated Sugar

4 pints water

Method:

Scrub the fruits to ensure they are really clean and remove the little stalk at the top

Cut them in half, horizontally, and squeeze out the juice and pips

Place a strainer over a bowl and pour the juice and pips into this.

Measure the water into a large preserving pan, stock pot or saucepan.

Add the strained juice.

Cut the peel into quarters and shred - finely or chunky - the choice is yours.

Add the shredded peel to the pan and leave overnight to soften.

The next day, place the pips in a piece of muslin or gauze and tie to the pan handle so the bag of pips just hangs in the pan.  This will release the pectin which aids setting. Bring the pan to a simmering point and simmer for 1-3 hours until the peel is really soft.

Take the pan off the heat.

Remove the bag of pips and squeeze out the gooey pectin using a saucer and a spoon.

Measure the sugar and add to the pan, stirring until dissolved.

Bring the pan back to the boil on a high heat and allow to bubble quickly until a set is obtained - about 20 minutes

Spoon a little onto a chilled saucer and place by the open window, it will wrinkle if a set is obtained.

Heat the clean jars in a low oven and pot the marmalade when cool enough to handle.

Cover with waxed discs and cellophane tops, cling film or lids.

Label and date.

Store in a cool dry place.

Enjoy with delicious home made bread, toast etc.  A real breakfast treat.

SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

This is a traditional recipe for Christmas time. Scottish shortbread is made in one piece in a tin and cut into wedges after baking.

Ingredients

175 g butter
75 g caster sugar
175 g plain flour
75 g ground rice or fine semolina
Caster sugar for dusting

Method

Soften the butter and beat in the sugar followed by the flour and ground rice or semolina.
Keep working the ingredients together until they bind together.
Roll out into a circle
Place in a sandwich tin and crimp the edges
Prick all over with a fork
Mark out wedges
Cook in a moderate oven until lightly browned
When cooked, mark the surface again into wedges and when cool remove from the tin
They will crispen as they cool
Dust with caster sugar

Store in an airtight container