Hooray March is here at last. It’s the first day of spring, and even though the bulbs have been up for a while, now the nights are getting lighter too, winter seems to be on it’s way out. The 1st of March is also St David’s Day and these Welsh Cakes are a delicious way to mark the Patron Saint of Wales special day. These scone like pastries are cooked on a heavy bottomed frying pan or griddle until golden and risen. They are fragrant and soft, packed with sultanas or currants and crying out for a slathering of butter and teaspoon of jam. Using simple store cupboard ingredients, these Welsh cakes could be on your table, and inhaled, within the hour.
This recipe will feature on lucyloves.uk.com this week
Welsh Cakes Recipe
Makes 10 good sized cakes
You will need a heavy bottomed frying pan or griddle
225g self raising flour
a pinch of salt
100g butter, chopped into pieces
50g caster sugar
75g sultanas, raisins, currants, whichever dried fruit you have to hand
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
A teaspoon of butter or two to put on the griddle
Jam and butter to serve
Put your flat griddle pan or heavy cast iron frying pan on the stove to heat up over a medium heat.
Take a large bowl and weigh in the flour and pinch of salt. Add the butter and rub into the flour, using light fingers to combine the ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Tip in the caster sugar and sultanas and stir. Whisk together the egg and milk, then pour this into the flour mixture. Stir until a soft dough is formed. Turn this out onto a floured work surface and roll out to the thickness of approximately half a centimetre but no need to be too precise. Cut out your Welsh Cakes with a fluted round cutter if you have one, or a glass if not. Re-roll the scraps until you have around 10 cakes.
Put a knob of butter onto the hot griddle or pan and move it around so the pan is lightly buttered. Place your Welsh cakes onto the griddle and leave to cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until lightly browning and starting to rise. Turn them over and cook again until well risen and cooked through. Keep these warm while you cook the rest of the batch. Serve warm, buttered and jammed. These keep for a couple of days, pop in the oven to re-warm or for a few seconds in the microwave.
This recipe is adapted from one from the Great British Chefs website.
