Eccles Cakes
On the recommendation of many from this group I have been reading and enjoying Maisie Dobbs. My problem is that I tune into the food being eaten (even when reading Enid Blyton when I didn’t like hard boiled eggs but ate them because the Famous Five did☺️). So Maisie met someone for coffee and they ate Eccles cakes. My grandmother used to make brilliant Eccles cakes, and later my sister, but I haven’t tried my hand for at least 20 years. But this morning I tackled Nanna’s recipe and this is the product. Now back to the book 😎
Eccles cakes are rounds of thin puff pastry which you fill with a mixture of dried currants, butter, Demerara sugar and mixed spice. The cooked mixture is put in the middle of each round then you pinch the dough together like making a dumpling. Then turn it over (seam side down) and press it out thin. Sprinkle with a little caster sugar and bake in a hot oven. The recipe I used does not have citrus peel in it but many recipes do. My preference is to make the pastry as thin as possible 😁
Recipe:
Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup dried currants
¾ cup demerara sugar
2 tablespoons chopped candied mixed fruit peel
¾ teaspoon mixed spice
½ (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 large egg white, beaten
¼ cup white sugar for decoration
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Sprinkle a baking sheet with water.
Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add currants, demerara sugar, fruit peel, and mixed spice. Stir until sugar is dissolved and fruit is well coated, then remove from the heat.
Roll pastry on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Using a saucer as a guide, cut out eight 5-inch circles. Divide fruit mixture evenly among the circles. Moisten the pastry edges with water, pull over filling toward the center, and pinch to seal. Invert filled cakes on the floured surface and gently to make a wider, flatter circle, being careful not to break the dough.
Brush each cake with egg white, then sprinkle generously with white sugar. Make three parallel cuts across the top of each cake, then transfer to the prepared baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
