HEAVY CAKE
Contributed by Liz Jenkin
(Apparently so called because men would shout "heave" with each pull when hauling in the fishing nets on arrival at the village/port and when the wives heard this they knew the men would be home for tea soon)
8 oz flour with a pinch of salt (optional - I don't like it)
2 oz lard
3 oz sugar
6 oz currants
2-3 tbsps milk
2 oz butter
Rub lard into flour. Add sugar and currants. Mix to a dough with currants.
Using a floured board, roll out to a long strip about 6 ins wide and 3 times as long. Dot half butter over the top two-thirds of the pastry. Fold the bottom third, without fat, upwards. Then fold the top third down over it. Give the pastry a half-turn so that folds are at sides. Roll out again into a thin strip and spread the rest of the butter as before, repeating the folding in the same way.
Glaze with milk and bake above the middle of a moderately hot oven 200'C for about 25-30 mins. Important to eat fresh.
SOUR MILK COOKIES
Contributed by Robert Richards Peeples
Although this recipe came down in two Cornish lines, I can't guarantee this is a Cornish. It may be "Early Californian." The recipe helped to use up sour milk which everyone had around at the time. Now, of course, our milk is so pasteurised and homogenized that sour milk is harder to come by. You may need to add a tsp of vinegar to the 3/4 cup of milk and let it sit overnight.
Cream together:
3/4 c. butter
1-1/2 c. sugar
Add 2 eggs and beat well.
Mix together:
3-1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
Add to creamed mixture alternately with 3/4 c. sour milk + 1 tsp. baking soda in the sour milk
Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes on a greased cookie sheet.
JUNKET
Contributed by Liz Jenkin
1 pint of milk - the creamier the better
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tsps brandy or rum (optional)
1 teaspoon of rennet (don't ask! you don't want to know!! you might get it in a chemist/pharmacy)
Cinnamon
Grated nutmeg
Put milk in pan with sugar and warm gently till blood heat. Stir to dissolve sugar. Remove pan from heat, stir in brandy/rum and pour into a serving dish. Without delay stir in rennet and put dish aside to set at room temperature (1 half to 2 hours)
When set sprinkle on cinnamon and nutmeg then chill in fridge (optional)
Serve with sugar to taste and clotted cream (which is truly delicious too good to be wasted on junket really)
CLOTTED CREAM
Contributed by Liz Jenkin
(1 gallon of rich, creamy milk makes 1lb clotted cream.)
Put fresh milk in a shallow bowl and leave at room temperature (55oF) for 12 to 24 hours until cream rises to top.
Stand bowl over a pan of boiling water till a crust forms on top of milk. Do not let water touch bowl (this takes about 1 hour).
Leave bowl in cool place till next day.
Skim off thick creamy top. Underneath the scalded mild is what we would call skimmed milk and can be used in sauces, soups and puddings, etc.
CLOTTED CREAM
Cornish Cream - or the inferior 'Devon' variety :-) can be made as
follows. Choose a wide, shallow earthenware pan. Strain very fresh
whole milk into this and leave to stand, overnight if summertime or
for 24 hours in cold weather. Then slowly, and without simmering,
raise the temperature of the milk over a low heat until a solid ring
starts to form around the edge. Without shaking the pan, very
carefully remove it from the heat and leave overnight, or a little
longer, in a cool place. The thick crust of cream can then be skimmed
off the surface with a large spoon or similar - thus the description
'clotted'. Clotted cream contains far more fat than virtually all
other types of cream - approx 55% fat (two thirds of which is
saturated) - just the thing for a coronary!
PLUM PUDDING
Contributed by Violet L. Sunderland
2 cups sifted flour
1 lb. raisins
2 tsp. double-action baking powder1/2 lb. currants
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. candied fruit and citron
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 lb. coarsley ground suet
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 lb. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. allspice
3/4 cup strong black coffee mixed
1/2 tsp. vanilla with 1/4 cup dark jelly
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Sift dry ingredients. Add fruit, nuts, and suet. Mix liquid with eggs and beat well. Pour into bowl of dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Fill pudding pan 2/3 full and cover with cloth (a piece of old sheet works well).
Steam 3 to 4 hrs.
(I've steamed 2 at a time in the granite water bath-type canner, or single ones in the 12 qt. stockpot. Screw-on type canning jar rings in the bottom keeps the pan off the bottom of the pot and it needs water at least an inch up the side of the container so it doesn't boil dry in the length of time the pudding requires to steam. Test for doneness with a toothpick, same as for cake. It used to be that the batter was put in a clean cloth salt sack and suspended over the water. I suppose that is how it came to be called a "son-of-a-gun in a sack".
If you don't like tallow in the roof of your mouth after eating the pudding cold, 1/2 lb. butter or butter-flavored shortening can be substituted for the suet, but margarine contains liquid now and that throws off the ratio of [fat/grease/oil] to other ingredients. I've never tried cooking oil. In substituting for suet, cream whatever youuse with the brown sugar, then add the other liquid and beat it together to get it mixed well.
AUNT ELLY'S PLUM PUDDING
Contributed by Dean C. Young
1/2 C Sugar
3 C Sifted flour
1 C Suet (chopped fine - I use a grater)
1 tsp.soda
1 1/2tsp. salt
1/2tsp.ginger
1/2tsp. cloves
1 1/2 C Milk
1/2tsp.nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 C Molasses
1/2 C. chopped nuts
1 C. raisins (soaked overnight in whiskey)
Sift together dry ingredients. Add nuts and raisins. Add the milk to the molasses and suet. Combine the two mixtures. (I also add any of the whiskey left over from soaking.) Pour into mold (you may use jello mold or coffee cans, etc.), and steam for 3 hours. If not eaten immediately, soak a cloth in brandy and wrap pudding in a sealed container. (I don't use metal, as this combination will corrode some metals.) Serve with hard sauce or Hot Brandy Sauce.
HARD SAUCE (for Plum Pudding Above)
1/2 C. Butter
2tsp.vanilla (I make my own)
1/2tsp. Salt
2 1/2 C. powdered sugar
Beat until fluffy. Keep cool.
BRANDY SAUCE (for Plum Pudding Above)
1/4 C. Butter
1 C. confectioners sugar
2 egg yolks
4 Tbs. Brandy
1/2 C Milk
2 Egg Whites
Cream butter and sugar. Add beaten yolks. Add brandy slowly. Mix well. Add milk and cook over hot water until mixture coats a spoon. Pour over stiffly beaten whites. Serve hot. Mmmmmmm, good!
CORNISH TRIFLE (not to be confused with an English Trifle)
Contributed by Nancy Jonckheere (and her Nana) in Michigan, USA
What you need first is plenty of Cornish cream, one of the most sinfully fattening delights known to man. If you can find it to buy, consider yourself very lucky. The last time I bought any was several years ago and I found it in Eaton's basement in Toronto. It was imported >from St. Ives. For those of us not so lucky, this is how you make it:
First, find yourself a good cow (who has lots of cream) or a farmer who will sell you raw milk. It can be pasteurized, but NOT homogenized. You will need at least three gallons. If you can't find either of these, you can use whole store-bought milk with about 5 or 6 pints of coffee cream or whipping cream added to it, but it won't be the same.
Get yourself a big kettle that will hold all of your milk and dump it in. Put it on the back burner, since you might need to use your other burners for cooking during the next two or three days you're making the Cornish cream. Turn on your stove to the lowest setting and leave it, uncovered. You may have to turn it up slightly if it isn't hot enough. What you are aiming for is just BELOW the simmering point. DO NOT BOIL. After a number of hours, you will notice what almost looks like a kind of scum on top of your milk. This is the Cornish cream. It is very thick, almost sticky. Very carefully, skim it off and place in a container that you can refrigerate. Stick it away in the frig. Every few hours, skim off more being careful to only skim off the cream, not the milk. You don't want anything runny. Repeat this for the next several days until there is nothing much coming to the top.
Now, make yourself a good sponge cake, or any type of light cake. When it's completely cool, break it into one or two inch pieces.
You will also need a high, pretty glass bowl and whatever fresh fruit you can find. At different times, Nana used strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, currents, peaches, apples, cherries, oranges, etc., mostly what was available. Wash, cut if necessary, and put on a towel to dry as much as possible.
Putting it together should be done as close to serving time as possible. Start with a layer of the cream, adding the fruit, cake, and any nuts (especially hazelnuts) with more cream in between each layer. Refrigerate if not serving immediately. This is not only pretty to look at, but soooo good to eat! No one ever wrote down a recipe for this in my family, so exact amounts can only be guesses. My Nana had a glass bowl that looked like a big brandy snifter. When this came to the table, you should have heard the oohs and ahs.
Contributed by Jane Rodda, West Penwith, Cornwall
Ingredients:
8 ozs self raising Flour.
3/4 teaspoon Baking powder.
3/4 " Bicarb
3/4 " Ginger
1 rounded teaspoon Cinamon
1 " " Mixed Spice
4 ozs Granulated Sugar
4 ozs Margarine
Method;
Mix dry ingredients except sugar. Rub in fat, add sugar. Heat syrup add to mixture, and form into a dough. Roll into small balls, slightly larger than walnut size.
Place on a greased tray, and bake at Gas mark 6 or 400 F for about 15 minutes, at top of oven.
Makes about 22/24. Will keep in an airtight tin. If you enjoy these fairins, and want to make more, please do not be tempted to double the ingredients, for some reason it will not work. Make two batches instead.
ENJOY!
For Cake Decorators~Contributed by John Zimmerman
ROYAL EGG WHITE RECIPE
three (3) egg whites (room temperature)
four (4) cups confectioners (powdered) sugar (approximately one (1) pound)
one half (1/2) teaspoon cream of tartar
Yield: two and one-half (2 1/2) cups
Beat the ingredients at high speed for seven (7) to ten (10) minutes. Use immediately! It hardens like a rock, and re-beating will not make it soft again. That's why they needed someone to keep beating this stuff.
ROYAL MERINGUE RECIPE
three (3) level tablespoons meringue powder mix (Wilton makes this)
four (4) cups sifted confectioners sugar (approximately one (1) pound)
six (6) tablespoons water
Yield: three (3) cups
Beat all ingredients at low speed for seven (7) to ten (10) minutes, or ten (10) to twelve (12) minutes at high speed for a portable mixer) until icing forms peaks. When using a large counter top mixer, or for stiffer icing, use one (1) less tablespoon of water.
When working with Royal icing, keep the bowl covered with a damp cloth at all times. Store it in the refrigerator an air tight container (with little air space in the container as well).
Royal icing breaks down when it comes in contact with any type of grease. It is important that your utensils and bowls be absolutely grease-free. That means if you have made butter cream icing in them, they must be very thoroughly cleaned before working with Royal icing. When placing Royal icing decorations on top of cakes covered with butter cream icing, it is a good idea to place a button of Royal icing between the decoration and the butter cream icing.
Flowers, etc. made with Royal icing, can be stored on waxed paper in the refrigerator for months, but must be air-dried, before storage. If you want to use Royal icing to make delicate string work
WILTON'S ROYAL ICING
Contributed by MWesc61640
(good for decorating gingerbread houses)
3 room temp egg whites,
1 pound confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar.
Combine and beat at high speed for 7-10 minutes. Keep covered as this dries very fast. Makes
about 3 cups. Good for those hard decorations and flowers everyone loves.
Also known as cake cement to attach decorations or glue the cake to the plate.
WARNING-any grease at all will break this icing down.
Contributed by Roger Buckingham
4
oz butter
4 oz sugar
4 lemons
4 eggs
or any number of lemons. same number eggs, oz of sugar and butter
Put eggs, butter and sugar into a bain marie or one saucepan inside another.
The larger pan having water which should be just at boiling point (i.e. do
not allow water to slop into mixture in smaller pan.)
Heat the mixture stirring all the time.
Squeeze lemons and pour into the heated mixture together with zest of the
lemon. (I usually grate some of the lemon skin into the mixture or peel
some off with a potato peeler).
Now comes the tricky part and it can only be correct with experience (which
is a nice way of saying you can utilize a fair percentage of the lemon crop
which, in turn, is a nice way of saying that you'll think you've died and
gone to heaven!). Eventually the mixture will thicken sufficiently
for the
cook to stop the process and pour into (preheated) jars. The thickening
process will continue if left to cool. For many years I couldn't
take that
step as it was all gone before it had gone cold.
Eat on freshly baked bread with butter.