Cakes & Bakes: Goosnargh cakes

Goosnargh is a village to the north of the city of Preston in Lancashire, not that far from where we used to live. So, surely, I should have heard of Goosnargh cakes then!

It was while we were listening to the Radcliffe & Maconie programme on 6Music a couple of weekends ago that Stuart discussed Goosnargh cakes; my curiosity was piqued! They’re not cakes, but biscuits; shortbread rounds spiced with caraway and/or coriander seeds. I wasn’t completely sold on the flavours, but thought I’d give them a try.

What are tosset cakes. Granny? Well, tosset cakes is the same as Goosnargh cakes, Garstang Fair cakes, Stalmine Club Cakes, and Pilling Cakes. They’re all the same, but different sizes and different names. Butter and sugar and flour, with spices and seeds, and not too much cooking, that’s all they were and very good and wholesome they were, too, I can tell you.
_{Lancashire Evening Post – Wednesday 27 July 1932}

Usually, I associate caraway seeds with savoury bread or crackers and coriander seeds with curry… not sweet biscuits. As it was a completely new taste experience, I decided to divide the caraway and coriander seeds into two separate batches.

Justin took his first bite (of the caraway seeded version) and exclaimed, “That’s a surprise!”. He explained that he wasn’t expecting a sweet shortbread to have that kind of flavour. However, after a couple more bites, surprise had given way to pleasure!

Once I’d tested both versions, I had to agree. I wasn’t really expecting to enjoy them, but I really did! I’ll be making them again… and perhaps even mix the caraway and coriander seeds next time!

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Goosnargh cakes

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Cook Time 20

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Ingredients

225 g/8oz unsalted butter
125 g/4½oz golden caster sugar plus more for sprinkling
350 g/12⅓oz plain flour
½ tsp ground coriander seeds
1½ tsp caraway seeds

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Grease or line two baking sheets with parchment paper
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Sift the flour over the creamed mix, add the coriander and caraway seeds, mix with wooden spoon until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs
Using your hand, work the mixture together to form smooth paste
Take out of the bowl and onto a floured work surface and knead gently so that dough is smooth and ready to roll out
Roll out to about ¼" thickness and, using a circular cutter, cut out rounds of dough
Place the rounds onto the baking sheets and sprinkle the tops with caster sugar
Put the baking sheets into the fridge for 30 minutes/1 hour until well chilled
Pop into oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until just turned golden brown
Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a little more caster sugar
Leave to cool slightly then transfer to a wire rack

Keyword biscuits, shortbread

Cakes & Bakes: Vegan gluten-free shortbread

Having specialist dietary requirements has become so much easier to live with in the past couple of years. If you’re vegan or gluten-free, you’re thankfully much more catered for in supermarkets and restaurants.

Since moving to Wales, I joined the local Women’s Institute in the village. The members take it in turns at each meeting to make the tea and provide the cake & biscuits. This week, it’s my turn! In the group, there are a few vegetarians, a vegan and someone with Coeliac disease. I decided I’d make two different things; one biscuit-y and one cake-y. The former would be vegan gluten-free shortbread. The latter, I’ll share on here next week.

Doves Farm produce a huge range of flours, one of which is a gluten-free plain white flour. It’s a blend of rice, potato, tapioca, maize and buckwheat flours. The lack of gluten means that the mixture can be unworkable and the biscuit too crumbly. To combat this, a minuscule amount of xanthan gum is added to the flour to help bind the dough and subsequent biscuit. In addition, I used Trex as the shortening. The brand doesn’t make it apparent on the packaging, however, it is completely vegan.

I used my favourite antique wooden mould, dusting it with rice flour which is gluten-free.

The recipe worked well; the dough came together and moulded with no trouble. The round released from the mould easily and slicing it into triangular ‘petticoat tails’ was a breeze.

If I were to make these again, I’d up the sugar content, perhaps sprinkling some granulated over the top just before they went into the oven.

Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest

Vegan gluten-free shortbread

2020-01-14 18:11:13

Serves 8

Cook Time

45 min

Cook Time

45 min

Ingredients

200g/7oz gluten-free plain Flour
75g/2⅔oz caster sugar
¼ tsp xanthan gum
pinch of salt
1tbsp water
150g/5¼oz vegan block margarine (e.g. Trex)

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Instructions

Line a 15cmx20cm/6"x8" baking tray with parchment
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas mark6
Put the flour, sugar, xanthan and salt into a blender and pulse to mix
Add the water and pulse to mix it with the flour
Chop the margarine into cubes, add this to the bowl and pulse until the dough holds together
Tip the mixture into your prepared baking tray/mould, pressing it into the corners and smoothing the top
Cover the dough and leave it to rest for 20 minutes
Cut the dough into rectangles. If you're using a mould, turn the dough out on to a parchment-lined baking sheet and cut into portions
Press the prongs of a fork into each slice
Bake for 20 minutes
Remove the tray from the oven and carefully cut the slices again, following the original lines
Press the fork prongs into the holes again
Return the shortbread to the oven and bake for a further 25 minutes
Allow the shortbread to cool on the baking tray for 20 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to finish cooling
Store cold biscuits in an airtight container

Adapted from Doves Farm

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Melting moments

We made a trip to Lancashire last week to visit Justin’s family and to collect a few of the things we had stored there during our house move.

Justin’s sister Rachel, the other regular baker in the family, had just made a batch of melting moments when we arrived at the house. She’d picked up the recipe when she took Justin’s mum – Granny Glittens – to her weekly knitting group.

We sat down for a cup of tea and a couple of melted moments each; what a discovery! They truly did melt in the mouth in a mater of moments. It’s probably down to the super-fine consistency of the icing sugar and cornflour. They reminded me of Danish butter cookies – every household had a tin at Christmas!

I loved them so much, I copied the recipe down so that I could bake some when we have our new oven installed. Watch this space!

Melting moments

2019-09-05 15:25:28

Yields 32

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

30 min

Ingredients

350g/12oz unsalted butter
85g/3oz icing sugar
½tsp vanilla extract
300g/10½oz plain flour
50g/1¼oz cornflour

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper
Put the butter and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl and beat together until light and fluffy
Beat in the vanilla extract
Sift in the flour and cornflour and mix thoroughly
Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle
Pipe the mixture on to the lined baking sheets, spaced well apart
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until they begin to go golden brown
Leave to cool on the baking sheets

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Farmer’s wife’s pecan cookies

This Farmer’s wife’s pecan cookies recipe is taken from Maida Heatter’s Cookies book. Heatter is an award-winning American chef and author who specialises in cakes, cookies and desserts. She’s 102-years-old – so she must be cooking and eating something right!

I chose it as this week’s Cakes & Bakes dish because they could be made in a jiffy. We’ve been away from home for a spell – spending a few days in rural Wales – returning yesterday afternoon.

The recipe makes 36 cookies – way too many for the two of us. Rather than scaling the recipe down, I’ve reserved & refrigerated about half the cookie dough. When the 15 that I’ve baked off have been eaten (the way things are going, it may be as soon as tomorrow) I can rustle up another batch in about a quarter of an hour. They’re absolutely delicious – and perfect with tea, coffee or glass of milk.

Click here to save Maida Heatter’s farmer’s wife’s pecan cookies recipe to Pinterest

Farmer's wife's pecan cookies

2019-03-27 17:13:59

Yields 36

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

13 min

Total Time

33 min

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

13 min

Total Time

33 min

Ingredients

200g/7oz plain flour, sifted
¼ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
115g/4oz butter
250g/9oz light brown sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
64g/2¼oz pecans, touch chopped
36 pecan halves

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Instructions

Adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside
Cut the butter into 2½cm/1" pieces and place in a heavy 2- to 3-litre (70-105 fl oz) saucepan. Melt slowly over a low heat, stirring occasionally.
Remove from the heat and, with a heavy wooden spoon, stir in the sugar, then the vanilla and the egg
Add the sifted dry ingredients, stirring until smooth
Mix in the chopped pecans
Transfer to a small bowl for ease in handling
Use a rounded teaspoon of dough for each cookie. Place them 5cm/2” apart on the sheets
Place a pecan half on each cookie, pressing it gently and lightly into the dough
Bake for 12-14 minutes, reversing the position of the sheets top to bottom and front to back to ensure even browning. When baking only one sheet at a time, use the higher rack
With a wide, metal spatula, transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool

Notes

These will rise during baking and then will settle down. They should be medium brown - don't underbake

By Maida Heatter

Adapted from Maida Heatter's Cookies

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/