I have no idea when I last ate a Welshcake, but I knew, as soon as I ate the first of this batch the other day, it just tasted of home. Can it be that all those taste memories derive from my first nine years spent in Wales? I would have had to scoff a lot of these little curranty marvels for the memories to come flooding back like that (no change there then). Or maybe it’s just that magic combination of butter, flour and sugar hitting a hot griddle which makes the kitchen smell like the best place on earth, even if you’ve never been within 1000 miles of Wales. This is one of those recipes to fill a small hole (no tittering in the back seats) and, if you have a food processor, can be put together in the time it takes for a pan to heat up on the stove. Slather – how I adore that word – with honey and convey to waiting open mouth.
Welshcakes
Recipe by Beth at A Welsh Girl in Australia (we get all over, we do). Makes about 16 2-inch-cakes.
-
225g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
120g butter
90g sugar
90g currants or sultanas
1 large eggs
splash of milk
Heat up a flat griddle or a couple of frying pans on the hob over a low-medium heat. Make like for pastry – either process the butter with the flour and baking powder until it looks like sandy breadcrumbs or rub the butter in to the flour with your fingertips. Stir in the sugar and currants and add the egg. Bring the mixture together with your hand, adding a splash of milk as necessary to make a dough. On a floured worksurface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch, or 1/2 cm thick. Cut out rounds about 2 inches across with a cutter. Transfer to the griddle or pans in batches, cooking for about 3 minutes on each side until well browned. Best eaten warm (with butter and honey if you like) but good cold the next day too, and Beth says they freeze really well too, although clearly mine didn’t get that far.
