Not just Scones, we've got Fat Rascals in Yorkshire

Fabulous Fat Rascals

We like to think we know a thing or two about food in God’s own country Yorkshire and of course, top of the list is our own Yorkshire Pudding. 

But we don’t stop there. Where else could you find not just Scones but Fat Rascals, which have been around here in Yorkshire since Elizabethan times?  Fat Rascals are like Scones  but usually dome shaped with lots of variations with the dried fruit such as sultanas, raisins, currants, cranberries, apricots – whatever you like best! Here’s Grandma Abson’s recipe.

Fat Rascals

8 oz/225g (or 8 heaped tbsps) self raising flour

4 oz/110g butter

2 oz/50g caster sugar

4 oz/110g of a combination of raisins, sultanas, currants and glace cherries

1 oz/25g flaked almonds

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

Zest of 1 lemon or orange

7 tbsps milk or milk/water

2 eggs

1 oz/25g demerara sugar

Sieve the flour and salt and rub in the butter. Add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon or orange zest and dried fruit/glace cherries. Beat the eggs and milk and add to the mixture to make a soft dough. Roll out to ½ - ¾ inch thick and cut into rounds with a pastry cutter. This makes around 10 to 12. Place on baking tray and sprinkle a little demerara sugar on the top of each one. Bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes (425F, Mark 7, 220C).

Once you’ve baked Fat Rascals I'm sure you'll agree they deserve to be on the podium for a top prize! Tell me what you think of this recipe. 

A bit of a do ......

A celebration cake for a christening

Grandma’s Celebration Fruit Cake recipe is getting well used this year. My niece Sara and her partner Graeme had their lovely baby, Niamh, christened recently. At the church, our proud family and friends gathered to support the new addition to the family circle. The minister triumphantly poured water into the font from a great height, all adding to the drama. Our group all watched intently as Niamh was the first of the three babies to be christened. She cried out lustily when the minister poured water over her forehead and we all drooled affectionately and then clapped heartily when her turn was over. Ah!!!!!!  Niamh quickly recovered her composure and after the photos we all went off to a buffet lunch at a nearby pub.

  

The focus of everyone’s attention (as well as the beautiful baby) was the cake. Sara had requested a traditional fruit cake and her mum used Grandma Abson’s traditional Celebration Fruit cake recipe - but double the quantities - to make a large square cake. Another friend did an amazing job with the icing and decoration.  

Celebration Fruit Cake (8 inch /21 cms)

8oz/225g brown sugar

8oz/225g butter

1 tbsp black treacle (warmed)

1 tbsp golden syrup (warmed)

5 eggs (beaten)

9oz/250g self raising flour

3-4oz /100g glace cherries

4oz/110g mixed peel

10oz/275g each of sultanas, raisins, currants

1tsp each of cinnamon and mixed spice

2oz/50g nut mix +1oz/25g ground almonds or 3oz/75g ground almonds

1/6 pint/100ml stout 

Cream the butter and sugar and add the treacle and golden syrup. Add the eggs and half of the flour and spices. Beat the mixture. Stir in the almonds and cherries and then the rest of the flour and dried fruit. Add the stout. Bake for 3 – 3 ½ hours. Start warm for 30 minutes and then gradually reduce and finish in slow oven. (325F, Mark 3, 170C to 250F. Mark ½ 130C)



Proud mum and dad with Niamh 

We all love ‘a bit of a do’ in Yorkshire!

Go Dutch to celebrate Easter

Easter Celebration Stick

There is a significant Dutch influence in Yorkshire cooking since Dutch engineers came across to build the dykes to drain the flood water from the fields in the Vale of York and on the banks of the Humber. My Dutch friend, Cobi, who has lived in Yorkshire for over 30 years, remembers her Grandma’s baking. She writes …

‘My Grandma was born in a small village, in the North of Holland, in a county called Friesland and lived there all her life until she died. She was married to a fisherman and they had their own fish shop. Grandma only baked on birthdays and special days like Christmas and Easter because there was very little money and baking was classed as a luxury. Grandma was always busy in the fish shop selling the fish Grandad had caught. Friesland had its own language. In Dutch the word for grandma is Oma (I'm Oma to my grandson), but the Fries word for Oma is Beppe and that is what my brother and I called her.

This is Oma’s recipe for Celebration Stick. It’s delicious!

For the marzipan (almond) filling:

125g ground almonds

125g sugar

½  egg

Finely grated rind of a lemon

Juice of a lemon (If a stronger flavour is preferred, then use more lemon zest).

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, cover and leave to stand for an hour or so.

For the decoration:

Apricot jam

Glazed cherries

Strips of orange peel

For the pastry:

Puff pastry is used in this recipe, so make your own or use readymade frozen puff pastry.

Roll out the pastry thinly, about ½ cm thick, into an oblong shape of about 35-40 cm long and 12-15 cm wide.

Roll the almond mixture (marzipan) into a long sausage shape, slightly shorter than the oblong.  Place the almond mixture on the pastry oblong and roll the pastry over the marzipan. Slightly wet the edges and stick together.  Do the same with both ends.  Place the long roll on the baking tray with the stuck side down. Brush with beaten egg and place in a hot oven, about 225C, 430F, for about 30-40 minutes or until baked.  Do not open the oven for the first 15 minutes.  Take out and allow to cool. 

When completely cold, warm 4-5 tbsps of apricot jam in a pan until very runny.  Spread the runny jam over the baked roll.  For final decoration use glazed cherries and orange peel strips. Decorate with Easter eggs or Easter chicks.

Cut into small slices

Happy Easter!