Dornoch Dreams
(sent in by Jenny Cunningham, Edinburgh)
Ingrediants:
2 oz butter or margarine, 4 oz plain
flour, 6 fluid oz water, 3 eggs, 12 ounces raspberries, 4 oz honey, 2 tablespoons Drambuie,
half pint double cream, icing sugar for decoration.
Method:
Place the butter (or margarine) and water
in a saucepan and heat until the fat has melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour.
Beat until the mixture forms a ball (and leaves the edges of the pan cleanly). Beat the eggs
and slowly add them, a little at a time, beating well between each addition. Spoon the pastry
mixture into a large piping bag with a plain nozzle and pipe 12 round cakes onto a lightly
greased baking sheet (cookie sheet). Bake in the centre of a preheated oven at 200C/400F/Gas
Mark 6 for 20/30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven, pierce to allow the steam
to escape and then leave to cool. Mix the raspberries and honey. Stir the Drambuie into the
whipped cream. Split the buns and fill with the raspberries and cream. Dust with the icing
sugar (frosting) and serve immediately.
Christmas recipe:
Dundee Cake
(Sent in by Jenny Cunningham,
Edinburgh)
This cake is popular
throughout Britain as an alternative to Christmas Cake. It is originally
a Scottish Christmas cake from Dundee.
Ingredients:
8 oz butter, 8 oz sugar,
4 eggs, 10 oz flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, some salt, 2 oz ground almonds,
1 lb mixed dried fruits, 4 oz candied peels
Method:
Line an 8" cake tin
with baking parchment. I prefer to use springform tins, as they are easier..
Set aside. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat
in the eggs, one at a time, with a little flour taken from the total weight
of 10oz. This stops the eggs curdling. Stir in orange rind, finely grated.
Sift together the rest
of the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Use plain flour and baking
powder if you can, as it gives a better stability for the heavy fruit.
Now fold the flour
mix into the creamed mixture and add the ground almonds, the mixed dried
fruits and the candied peels. Spoon into the prepared tin, smooth the surface,
hollow it slightly in the middle so that when it rises it will not peak.
Arrange whole blanched almonds around the top. Brush all over with beaten
egg white. Bake in a pre-heated oven 325 Fahrenheit/170 Celsius for about
three hours. After the first hour, put a sheet of baking parchment on top,
to prevent it going too dark and burning. Test with skewer, when it comes
out clean the cake is ready.
Christmas recipe:
Scottish Black Bun
(Sent in by Jenny Cunningham,
Edinburgh)
is a cake in a crust
and is the traditional Christmas/New Year cake in Scotland.
Ingredients:
1lb short crust pastry,
1teaspoon each of cinnamon, ground ginger, 1/4 fresh grated nutmeg, 1/2
teaspoon white pepper, 10 oz plain flour, 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda,
4 oz sugar, 4 oz flaked almonds, 1 lb raisins, 1 lb currants, candied peel,
2 eggs, 5 tablespoons buttermilk or milk, 2 tablespoons whisky.
Method:
First make the short
crust pastry your usual method. Leave to chill. Take a cake tin, and line
with baking parchment. Set aside. Mix together the spices. Weigh into large
bowl the plain flour and the bicarbonate soda, mix well. Add the sugar,
then the spices, and the currants, raisins, almonds and candied peel.
Mix altogether well.
Now add the eggs, the milk and two or three tablespoons whisky. Mix to
a stiff sticky dough.
Roll out 2/3rds of
the pastry and line the cake tin with this. Press the fruit mixture into
the pastry shell so that it is filled densely. Roll out the rest of the
pastry to form a lid, and put on top in the usual way, moistening the edges
with water to make then stick. Take a long skewer, and pierce several times,
right through the cake till you feel the tip touch the tin bottom. Brush
the lid with a mixture of egg and milk, and bake in a pre-heated oven at
325 Fahrenheit/170 Celsius for about three hours. Test with skewer, when
it is done, the skewer will not have any cake mix sticking to it.
Serve with coffee,
or as the Scots do, with a wee dram of whisky!
Wholemeal Bread
Ingredients:
1 lb wholemeal flour,
1 teaspoon salt, 1 dessertspoon brown sugar, 1 dessertspoon dried yeast,
1/2 pint warm water.
Method:
Put the flour and salt
to warm in a bowl. Add sugar to the water and stir in the yeast. Stand
in warm place until frothy. Pour liquid into the bowl of warmed flour.
Mix everything well until a smooth dough is formed. Put dough into a greased
and floured 2 lb tin, cover with a cloth and leave to rise, by about one
third, in a warm place. Bake at Gas 6, 200°C (400°F) for 45 minutes.
Turn out and cool on a wire rack.
Carrot Cake
(Sent in by Margaret
Carrington, Glasgow)
Ingredients:
8 oz (2 cups) wholemeal
flour, 8 oz (2 cups) brown sugar, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons
cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt, half a cup melted butter or oil, 4 eggs, half
cup chopped walnuts, 14 ounces (3 cups) finely grated carrot, zest of an
orange. FOR ICING: Half pound (two cups) icing sugar, 3 oz cream cheese
(under half a cup), one teaspoon vanilla extract, 3 oz butter (three quarters
of a cup)
Method:
Mix the dry ingredients
together and then add the walnuts and carrots, mixing well. Beat the eggs
and them and the butter (or oil) and mix well. Pour the mixture into two,
one pound rectangular loaf tins or one, two pound loaf tin. A nine inch
round cake tin can also be used. Bake for an hour in a pre-heated oven
at 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4. Make the icing by beating the ingredients together
and, once the cake has cooled, decorate the top and the side with the icing.
Oatcakes
(Sent in by Jenny Cunningham,
Edinburgh)
Oatmeal was for a long
time the most important meal in Scotland and still produces best known
Scottish dishes like porridge and oatcakes. There are almost as many recipes
for oatcakes as there were mills in Scotland, but this one, provided by
Mrs. Jenny Cunningham, who already sent in a lot of other recipes, is particularly
easy to make and tastes delicious.
Ingredients:
2 handfuls plain flour,
1 lb medium oatmeal, 6 oz cooking fat, 1 cup cold water, 1 teaspoon salt.
Method:
Put oatmeal, flour
and salt in a basin and mix. Make a hole in the centre and pour in the
hot melted fat and cold water. Mix well and then roll into small balls
with floured hands to prevent sticking. Roll out each ball and cut into
four pieces. Bake in moderate oven Gas 5, 190°C (375°F) for about
20 minutes.
Scones
(Sent in by Jenny Cunningham,
Edinburgh)
Scones are similar to
oatcakes but consists of wheatened meal instead of oatmeal.
Ingredients:
1/4 lb plain flour,
1/4 lb wheatened flour, 1/2 oz butter or margarine, 1 tablespoon caster
sugar, 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of Soda, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, 3/4
teaspoon salt and a little milk.
Method:
Sieve the plain flour
and add the other dry ingredients. Rub in the butter and add enough milk
to form a soft consistency. Roll out on a floured board to 3/4 inch thick.
Cut in rounds of 2 inches and bake in the oven Gas 6, 200°C (400°F)
for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Sweet Brodick
Bannock
(Sent in by Muriel
Shaw, Inverness)
Ingredients:
6 oz brown flour, 2
oz oatmeal, 1 oz butter, 2 oz sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 egg,
3 tablespoons milk.
Method:
Mix together flour,
baking powder and rub in the butter. Add sugar and oatmeal and mix well.
Make a hole in the centre of the mixture, add the egg and milk and mix
to a soft dough. Shape into a flat round bannock shape about 1/2 inch thick.
Cook in a hot oven at Gas 6, 200°C (400°F) for 15-20 minutes.
Shortbread
Shortbread is traditionally
associated with Christmas and Hogmanay but is now made throughtout the
year. Today it is sold to tourists in fine Scottish wrapping and is also
exported to the continent and the USA where you can buy it in almost every
well-stocked super market.
Ingredients:
12 oz flour, 4 oz sugar,
8 oz butter.
Method:
Sieve the flour and
add the sugar. Rub in the butter and work the mixture into a ball with
a knife. Butter a baking tray and spread in the mixture or press into a
floured mould. Bake in pre-heated oven at Gas 5, 190°C (375°F)
for 25 minutes or until browned. Remove from oven, cut into squares from
the tray and sprinkle with caster sugar.
Gingerbread
Gingerbread is always
popular on a picnic and particularly liked by stalkers and shepherds on
the hill, who carry their gingerbread in their pocket for the little hunger.
Ingredients:
2 eggs, 1/2 cup beer.
Put into a pan and
slowly melt: 1/2 lb butter, 1/2 lb soft dark sugar, 2 level tablespoons
treacle, 2 level tablespoons syrup.
Into a mixing bowl
sieve: 10 oz plain flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon mixed spice,
1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg.
Method:
Beat two eggs and add
half cup of beer. Add this to the melted ingredients in the pan, and add
this gradually to the flour mixture and beat well. Put in a roasting tin
well lined with greased and floured paper. Bake in moderate oven at Gas
4, 180°C (350°F). After 45 minutes lower to Gas 2, 150°C (300°F),
until cooked.
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