Welsh Cakes

Welsh Cakes - for St David's Day (or ANY other day of the year)

by Charlotte, fan of the biscuit house

Two things happened last week; I realised it was St. David's Day (1st March), and I got given an unexpected gift - a small china cottage to keep biscuits in. The said biscuit house has caused a divide as two members of the kitchen (they shall remain nameless) do not like it. So, Welsh cakes were made and the biscuit house was filled much to the delight of everyone.

Try this recipe out for size - it is easy and quick and the fact that you cook them on a griddle really made the whole experience rather exotic.

Ingredients:

225g/8oz self-raising flour, sieved

110g/4oz (preferably Welsh) salted butter

1 egg

Handful of sultanas

Milk if needed

85g/3oz caster sugar

Extra butter, for greasing

Preparation method:

Rub the fat into the sieved flour to make breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, dried fruit and then the egg. Mix to combine, form a ball of dough, and use a splash of milk if needed.

Roll out the pastry until it is a 5mm thick and cut into rounds with a 7.5-10cm fluted cutter.

You ideally need a griddle but a frying pan will do the job. Rub it with butter and wipe the excess away. Put it on to a direct heat and wait until it heats up, place the Welsh cakes on the griddle, turning once. They need about 2-3 minutes each side. Each side needs to be caramel brown before turning although some people I know like them almost burnt. They cook quick keep your eyes on the pan!

Remove from the pan and dust with caster sugar while still warm. Some people leave out the dried fruit, some people use cherries instead of sultanas, and some people split them when cool and sandwich them together with jam!