Mrs Jenkins Welsh Cakes
Mrs Jenkins was Auntie Joan’s housekeeper and very Welsh. She had never been further than Swansea. These little griddle cakes are simple and delicious to eat, still warm spread with good salted butter. The ones you can buy all over Wales are wrapped in plastic, obviously not made the same day, and nothing like the real thing.... To cook these you really need the traditional heavy, flat iron griddle but any heavy frying pan will do.
Rub the butter into the sieved flour to make a breadcrumb texture. Add the sugar, sultanas and mix. Add the lightly beaten egg and combine to form a ball of dough, using a splash of milk if the mixture looks too dry. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and roll out to 1/4 inch (5mm thick). Then using a 2 1/4 inch (6.5 cm) plain or fluted cutter, cut the dough into rounds, re-rolling the trimmings until it is all used up. Heat the pan, rub it with butter and when hot, cook the Welsh cakes for about 3 minutes each side. If they look as if they are browning to quickly turn the heat down as they must cook all the way through but you want to end up with a nice dark caramel colour. Repeat until they are all cooked. Serve them warm, with some butter and, if you like, some Welsh honey.
Theo Hodges
Theo Hodges was born in Kent. After a degree in Graphic Design she joined J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency as an Art Director working on accounts such as Rowntrees, Kraft and The Butter Council. While she was at University in Perugia, Italy she started collecting recipes from friends and family. In 1980 she set up her own design agency: Theo Hodges Design Consultants. For many years when they were young Theo, her sister and six cousins used to spend vacations at her Grandmother’s Victorian vicarage in Kent. ‘The thing about remembering childhood’ she says, is ‘there’s a whole lot of oblivion, and then out of it something floats up, quite sharp and clear. Many of the meals I can still see vividly and various recipes of mine were originally from Granny’s kitchen. ‘The kitchen garden was stuffed with raspberries, huge red dessert gooseberries, strawberries, runner beans, peas and much more with the hens in a shed at the back. But Granny only ate chicken breast and runner beans, followed by raspberries and Jersey cream - and therefore so did we. When raspberries were out of season, and in those days the season was much shorter, Granny made Victoria sponge cakes sandwiched with cream and home-made raspberry jam. On this limited but delicious diet we all thrived’. Theo’s mother was an excellent cook as well, and had been taught by the house- keeper at their house in Mougins, South of France. And once rationing was withdrawn in England in 1952 and good, fresh ingredients became available again, she amassed an enormous number of recipes which has formed the basis for Theo’s collection of family desserts.