Lets Eat Blog Hop

Welcome to the Lets Eat Blog Hop and you should have arrived here from Beverley over in North Carolina.

My chosen recipe is from my childhood growing up in very rural Radnorshire (in Mid Wales - now known as Powys but I prefer the original name.)

Welsh Cakes (picau ar y maen) are a traditional Welsh tea time treat made from flour, butter or lard, eggs, sugar and currants - not particularly healthy but where would the fun be if they were good for you?

I can remember my Mum making these and finally this year she taught me how to make them when we went down to Wales for a visit. But I'm afraid that whenever I make them in this house they don't stick around for long - but then again I am married to a Welshman so I shouldn't be surprised!

Here is the list of ingredients:

225g/8oz self-raising flour, sieved
110g/4oz salted butter
1 egg
handful of sultanas
milk, if needed
85g/3oz caster sugar
extra butter, for greasing

And the method:

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




Roll out the pastry until it is a 5mm/¼in thick on a floured surface and cut into rounds with a 7.5-10cm/3-4in fluted cutter. I love mt set of pastry cutters from Lakeland - so much easier to keep clean that the old metal ones and they come in their own little case.





























Ideally you now need a heavy iron griddle but I use a flat bottomed frying pan. 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. I always find I manage to burn the first few - but luckily has a husband who seems to like burnt offerings so they never go to waste!



Remove from the pan and if you want to you can dust with caster sugar while they are still warm.

They are delicious served warm - but have to be spread with butter and you have to eat them with a cup of tea.



(PS - thought I would show you the "burnt offerings" - in my defence I always find it hard to get the pan at the right heat to begin with.)
























Now you should pop over and visit Furrypig (it sounds rude using that name but I'm afraid I don't know your real one!!)