A recipe for Welsh Cakes
Welsh Cakes are such a simple tea time treat to put together, a great recipe for children and adults alike. They can be ready on the table to eat within half an hour, provided you have the ingredients of course!
The Food at Twelve team love this recipe because it's one that doesn't require an oven for the cooking process, just a good non-stick frying pan and you're set to cook up a delicious batch. Great for this Summer when no-one wants to be heating up the kitchen more than necessary!
If you're making this recipe with a little kitchen helper - get them to really explore the rubbing in method where you incorporate the butter and flour together, it's such a key stage. Remember you don't want to start melting the fat and ending up in a sticky mess - light movements so it resembles breadcrumbs.
Welsh Cakes
Ingredients:
• 225g plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 110g salted butter (cold)
• 1 egg, beaten (or 55g buttermilk/soya milk)
• 85g caster sugar
• raisins (A handful of dried, or dried cranberries - can use a mixture)
• butter for cooking and serving (you could use a little sunflower oil on kitchen roll to grease the pan lightly)
Method:
1. In a medium bowl, pour the flour, baking powder, add the butter cut into cubes.
2. Using your fingertips, incorporate the butter into the flour until dough resembles a coarse meal. This is our rubbing in method. We don’t want the butter to melt and stick together so work lightly.
3. Add the egg, sugar, and raisins, keep mixing with your fingers to get a smooth ball of dough (if necessary add a few drops of milk, working the dough for 3 to 4 minutes, so it becomes more flexible).
4. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and press down to a 0.5 cm thickness.
5. Cut circles of dough with a cookie cutter.
6. In a frying pan, heat the butter, wipe the excess and fry the welsh cakes for 3 minutes on each side.
Serve warm and fresh with a little butter, if that’s what you like.
