Welsh cakes

With St David’s day coming upon Thursday and the English loosing to the Welsh at rugby at on Saturday I have decided that I will do some welsh recipes.  Now I do not know how Welsh this recipe actually is as I know it’s a sort of pancake but not a pancake, its more a griddle cake as I know them but I am assured that these are also called welsh cakes.  Now when making any thing like this I always say use a heavy cast iron pan if you have one put it on a low heat for a long time and it will work really well.

The ingredients you will need are,

225g/8oz self-raising flour, sieved

110g/4oz salted butter

1 egg

handful of sultanas

1 to 3tbsp of milk

85g/3oz caster sugar

Now start by sifting your flour in to a bowl then rub the butter in to the flour to make a fine breadcrumb.  Then add the sugar, dried fruit and mix that in to the dry mix.  Mow add your egg and the milk, now you only need the milk that you need you are looking to make a dough but not a batter, so that is why this is not a pancake. So work every thing in to a nice firm dough that you can roll.

Now roll out as if you would pastry until it is a 5mm/¼in thick, and now you need to cut it in to rounds or squares whatever shape you like really.

Now you have to get your iron pan or griddle nice and hot. Rub it with a little butter you do not want to much just to get a thin film over the pan , you are not frying them in butter, just stopping them from sticking. And do not use oil, always use butter it also give it flavour.

Place the cut dough shapes on the griddle and let them cook for about 2 to 4 minutes then turn so it can cook on the other side . Now if its me I would say you want then nice and dark brown, but I have been told that you should do them so they very dark almost burnt, that is up to you.

Then take off the heat and dust with icing sugar.  Have them hot or cold as they are or split in two but always with lots a butter jam or whipped cream.