Yay baked goods!
Eccles Cakes (by way of The London Ritz Book of Afternoon Tea by Helen Simpson. The stuff in italics is all me.)
175 g/1 cup currants
200 g/1 sheet frozen puff pastry
125 g/1.5 cup caster sugar (regular sugar will do just fine)
a little milk and sugar for glazing
Oven: 220 C/ 425 F
Grease a baking sheet. Pour boiling water over the currents, enough to cover them and leave them to steep. Meanwhile, roll out the the pastry quite thinly until it is about 30.5 cm (about 12 in) square. This will be made easier if you roll the pastry between sheets of wax or greaseproof paper. (I just flour the rolling surface and put a bit of flour on the top to keep the rolling pin from sticking.)
Stamp out 10 cm (4 inch) rounds with a cup of that diameter. Strain the water from the currents and stir in the sugar. Place a little spoonful of this mixture in the middle of a pastry circle. Damp the circle's edges with water and draw them together, pinching and nipping them closed so that it becomes a pouchy little bag of currants. Turn the bag over and with a rolling pin gently press the cake so that its diameter grows to 7.5-10 cm (3-4 inches) again. (Or as big as you can get it, I have a hard time getting them this flat. Also, be aware that the pastry may give and a little bit of currant juice may... spurt.)
You will see the currants through their pastry veil. Brush over one side, the better looking smoother side, with a little milk, then press it onto a plate of sugar. On this glazed sugared surface make three parallel slits with the tip of a sharp knife, (these are said to represent the Holy Trinity), and currents will peep through them, (make sure they do "peep through" or they won't quite rise right). Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden.
Now, fenikkusuken , make with the chocolate oatmeal cookie recipe. I *love* oatmeal in baked goods.
175 g/1 cup currants
200 g/1 sheet frozen puff pastry
125 g/1.5 cup caster sugar (regular sugar will do just fine)
a little milk and sugar for glazing
Oven: 220 C/ 425 F
Grease a baking sheet. Pour boiling water over the currents, enough to cover them and leave them to steep. Meanwhile, roll out the the pastry quite thinly until it is about 30.5 cm (about 12 in) square. This will be made easier if you roll the pastry between sheets of wax or greaseproof paper. (I just flour the rolling surface and put a bit of flour on the top to keep the rolling pin from sticking.)
Stamp out 10 cm (4 inch) rounds with a cup of that diameter. Strain the water from the currents and stir in the sugar. Place a little spoonful of this mixture in the middle of a pastry circle. Damp the circle's edges with water and draw them together, pinching and nipping them closed so that it becomes a pouchy little bag of currants. Turn the bag over and with a rolling pin gently press the cake so that its diameter grows to 7.5-10 cm (3-4 inches) again. (Or as big as you can get it, I have a hard time getting them this flat. Also, be aware that the pastry may give and a little bit of currant juice may... spurt.)
You will see the currants through their pastry veil. Brush over one side, the better looking smoother side, with a little milk, then press it onto a plate of sugar. On this glazed sugared surface make three parallel slits with the tip of a sharp knife, (these are said to represent the Holy Trinity), and currents will peep through them, (make sure they do "peep through" or they won't quite rise right). Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden.
Now, fenikkusuken , make with the chocolate oatmeal cookie recipe. I *love* oatmeal in baked goods.