Parkin

Ingredients:

6 oz black treacle
4 oz brown sugar
5 oz butter
3/4 pint of milk

6 oz plain flour
10 oz medium oatmeal
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1. Put a pan on the stove and add the treacle, sugar, butter and milk. Heat until the mixture is melted.
2. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a bit.
3. Weigh up the dry ingredients together.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the pan and stir briskly.
5. Add the beaten egg to the pan and beat well until smooth.
6. Grease a large loaf tin or deep square tin (7" square), and line it with greaseproof paper.
7. Pour the mixture into the tin.
8. Bake for one hour at 350º F, 180ºC, Gas 4, Fan oven 160.
   

The parkin is supposed to be stored for two weeks before you eat it, but this seems rather unlikely to happen and really it doesn't matter that much.

Annie's chickeny pumpkin soup

One chicken carcass with almost all meat taken off already
One small/medium pumpkin
Four carrots
1/4 pint double cream
Spices

1. Put chicken carcass in a pan with approx. 2 pints water, salt and a few herbs. Boil for 45 mins or 1 hour. Remove bones and assist any remaining bits of meat to fall off into the water.

2. Peel pumpkin, remove seeds and chop into small pieces. Peel and grate carrots. Place pumpkin and carrots in the chickeny water, and add salt, pepper and "steak spices" (something reasonably hot and pungent) to taste.

3. Boil until pumpkin turns entirely mushy. Add cream, and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

4. Serve with crusty brown bread.

Roasted Pumpkin

Peel pumpkin, remove seeds and cut into approx. 2cm cubes.

Place in bowl with salt, pepper, fresh rosemary, 3 cloves of chopped garlic and 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil.

Shake around and tip into a roasting dish.

Place in moderate oven and leave there for 40 minutes.

Eat.

(This recipe may also be made with beetroot, turnips, squash etc)

Lemon squares

Ingredients:
8oz plain flour
2oz icing sugar
1/4tsp salt
6oz cold butter or margarine
1tsp cold water

For the lemon layer:
4 eggs
1lb caster sugar
1oz plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1tsp grated lemon rind
2 floz fresh lemon juice
icing sugar, for sprinkling

1. Rub butter into flour, icing sugar and salt until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water and toss until starting to sort-of form a ball.
2. Tip mixture into a lined and greased 13"x9" baking tin and press down evenly.
3. Bake at 180C/350F/Gas 4 for 15-20 mins until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
4. Meanwhile, beat together the eggs, caster sugar, flour, baking powder, lemon rind and juice. Use of electric mixer advised.
5. Pour the lemon mixture over the baked base. Return to the oven and bake for 25 mins.
6. Remove from oven, allow to cool, sprinkle with icing sugar and cut into squares with a sharp knife before serving.

Makes 12 large squares, or more smaller ones. Quite convincing as a pudding as well as at tea time.

Kentish apple tart

Ingredients:

6 oz shortcrust pastry
2 large cooking apples
3 oz sugar
1 egg
2 oz softened butter
rind and juice of one lemon

1. Line a pie plate with the pastry. (We use the pyrex pie plate or a small flan dish)
2. Peel the apples
3. Grate the flesh of the apples into a basin (it's best to leave the apples whole for grating: don't quarter them).
4. Add the sugar, beaten egg, butter, lemon rind and juice and mix well.
5. Put this mixture into the pastry case.
6. Bake at 375ºF, 190ºC, gas mark 5, Fan oven about 170º, for circa 35 minutes.
   

Fondant au Chocolat (version with chocolate)

200g (8oz) Dark Chocolate
3 tbsp water
150g (6oz) Butter
150g (6oz) Sugar
50g (2oz) Plain Flour
3 eggs

Icing sugar to dust

Break up chocolate, place in bowl with 3 tbsp water. Melt using bain marie or microwave. While melting, cream together butter and sugar, then carefully add eggs and flour. Fold in melted chocolate.

Line & grease bottom of large springform tin or equivalent. Pour mixture into tin and bake in preheated oven at 150ºC for 25-30 mins.

When done, the cake should be slightly crispy on top, soft in middle. Cake tester doesn't need to be clean.

Turn upside down and dust with icing sugar. Serve cold or warm with creme anglaise.

Date slices (Jeromy's recipe)

Ingredients:

A Cake mixture

• 6 oz self raising flour (Jeromy says "I use 10 oz")
• 6 oz semolina
• 6 oz butter
• 3 oz demerara sugar (Jeromy says "I use mostly white and a bit of brown)

B Date mixture

• 1/2 lb dates, stoned and chopped
• 4 tablespoons of water
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

Grease a tin, 8" x 12"

Method

1. Mix the B ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently stirring occasionally.
2. Boil it until smooth (2 minutes. Allow to cool.
3. Now do the A ingredients. Heat the butter in another pan with the sugar.
4. When it is melted add the flour and semolina, and mix.
   
5. Press half the A mixture into the tin.
6. Spread the date mixture over.
7. Add the remainder of the A mixture.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes (NB what temperature?)
9. Cool and cut into bars.

Queen Mother's Favourite Cake

I found a tattered copy of this recipe in Grandma's handwriting on the floor of the study.

8 oz chopped dates

Add one breakfast cup of boiling water and 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Allow to stand

8 ozs sugar
3 ozs butter
10 ozs plain flour
1 egg beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 ozs chopped walnuts

Mix all the above.
Add this mixture to the date mixture.

Put in a greased tin, 9" x 12"

Bake at 350º F for 35 minutes

Topping

5 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cream from top of milk

Mix the above and boil for 3 minutes
Spread on cooked cake.
Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

No flour chocolate cake

250 g bitter/plain chocolate
2 tbsp milk
6 tbsp sugar
6 eggs separated
240 g ground almonds

(For some reason the hand written version of this recipe also has [butter & flour) written on the bottom of the left column of ingredients... possibly it means butter and flour the tin before you pour the stuff in)

Preheat oven, 180ºC.

1. Melt the chocolate with the milk in a bain marie vel sim.
2. Mix melted chocolate with almonds, sugar and egg yolks and beat well.
3. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites and pour into cake tin, preferably with removable base. [no size given...]
4. Bake in preheated oven for 3/4 to one hour.
5. When cool, turn out and sprinkle with caster sugar/icing sugar to decorate.

Icing:

125 g plain chocolate
50g unsalted butter
1 egg, beaten
175 g sifted icing sugar

1. Melt chocolate and butter in bain marie
2. Mix with wooden spoon
3. Add egg and beat until smooth
4. Remove mixture from heat.
5. Stir in icing sugar and beat until smooth and glossy.
6. Pour straight on for smooth thin icing or leave to cool for thicker icing (recommended)
   

Cottage Cheese Griddle Cakes

Ingredients:

1 tbsp melted butter
4 oz (100 g) cottage cheese
2 eggs
2 oz (50 g) Self raising flour
1 tbsp milk

1. Add the melted butter to the cottage cheese and gradually whisk in the eggs (a hand whisk or fork is fine for this).
2. Stir in the flour and milk, and mix to a smooth thick batter.
3. Grease the griddle or frying pan.
   
4. Heat the griddle or frying pan.
5. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the griddle. Turn them over with a wooden spatula or with a knife and wooden spoon. They should be golden on both sides by the end.
6. Serve freshly cooked with crisp hot bacon, honey, jam or jelly.

"These scones are very light and digestible, and particularly good for anyone who does not want much starch in his diet."

Roast potatoes

Potatoes, at the rate of about 6oz per person.
Goose fat, a dob or two.

1. Heat the oven to medium or hot.
   
2. Peel the potatoes (or leave the skins on if you like). Cut them into even sized pieces.
3. Put the fat in a roasting tin, and put the tin in the oven to get hot. If you haven't got goose fat, you can use the fat collected from any other roast joint, or roast them round a joint you're roasting for dinner.
4. Take the tin of fat out of the oven and place the potatoes into the hot fat carefully. Use cooking tongs to turn them over a few times so all sides are coated in fat. If there isn't enough fat to do this you may need to add a bit more, but don't overdo it!
5. Put the tin in the oven and keep the heat as before, medium to hot.
   
6. After about 20 minutes take it out and turn the potatoes with the tongs. You can do this again once more later in the cooking if you like.
7. The potatoes should be cooked in about 45 minutes to an hour.
8. Garlic cloves or pine nuts and other root vegetables can be roasted along with the potatoes.
   

English Muffins

1 lb flour
1 tsp salt

half an ounce of fresh yeast
1 tsp sugar

1 oz butter
1 egg at room temperature
8 fl oz milk

1. Put the yeast into a cup and add the sugar. Stir them together a bit and then leave them to get excited.
   
2. Weigh up the flour into a large bowl and add the salt.
3. Rub the butter into the flour.
4. Measure up the milk in a measuring jug and warm it in the microwave to a bit more than lukewarm.
5. Add the egg to the warm milk and beat them. If the liquid now measures less than half a pint add a little more milk to make it half a pint.
6. Add this liquid, together with the now excited and liquified yeast mixture, to the flour and mix well together. Get your hands in and knead it to a soft and smooth dough.
7. Leave the ball of dough in the bowl and put the whole bowl in a plastic bag. Leave it somewhere warm to prove for an hour.
8. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about half an inch thick. Cut out muffin sized rounds with the largest pastry cutter or a large tumbler.
9. Heat the griddle to a good heat and bake the muffins on the griddle for at least 10 minutes each side. NB they are horrid if undercooked! Make sure the griddle is hot before you start.
   

Serve hot, or cool them on a wire rack and then split them and toast them to serve hot with butter and cheese or jam.