Welsh Cakes for St David’s Day

This recipe first appeared over on my food blog ‘Life is Delicious’ last year. I had planned to whip up some Welsh cakes today and update it but ‘other stuff’ took over as it so often does! I will be making them tomorrow, along with Leek and Potato Soup and Red Dragon Pie but, in the meantime, here is how to do it!

I can’t let the first of March pass without sharing my Mother in Law’s Welsh cakes with you! I’m not Welsh but Mr TS  is, we met in Wales and I first tasted these delicious squashed scones nearly 25 years ago courtesy of his lovely Mum. When she retired from teaching and lecturing she and my father in law took the opportunity to travel to some of the places they had dreamed about. Everywhere they went a batch of Welsh cakes went with them – they took Welsh cakes to The Pyramids ‘just in case’, it makes me giggle a bit but only because it is so ‘them’ and I love them.

It’s Mr TS’s birthday on Saturday, if he had been born a day earlier he would have been David!

Ingredients

Makes about 16

225g Self Raising Flour, sifted

60g Caster Sugar

1tsp Mixed Spice

120g Butter, diced

75g Sultanas (I usually chuck them in, so that is a rough weight)

1 Egg, beaten

A little milk

Method

• Combine the flour, sugar and mixed spice in a large bowl
• Rub the butter in with your finger tips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
• Add the fruit and egg
• Mix to a dough adding a little milk if necessary
• Roll out on a floured surface and cut into rounds with a 6cm fluted cutter
• Heat a heavy based non stick pan or a skillet until very hot (I have always wanted a skillet, tradition says you can’t make Welsh cakes properly without them. It’s not true but I’d still like one) add a dash of rapeseed/sunflower oil and cook the Welsh cakes in batches. They need 2-3 minutes on each side until richly brown but make sure they don’t burn.
• I keep mine in a tea towel while I cook the rest of them. Eat them warm with a nice cup of tea or let them cool and pop them in a tin for later.