CAKES, BREAD & BISCUITS

LARGE CAKES

An Organic Twelfth Night Cake and How They Pinched Your Christmas

Before the invention of the printing press we had architecture to tell us the stories of our past  Victor Hugo, in his novel Notre Dame de Paris, wrote eloquently of these 'stone books' but...read more

Organic Almond Paste & Icing From Scratch

The big problem I used to have with making large celebration fruit cakes is that the cost of decorating them with the traditional covering...read more

Courgette Zucchini Cake

I first made this some years ago for a village supper and asked everyone to guess what was in it...read more





SMALL CAKES & BUNS

Soul Cakes for Samhain 

In going out 'Souling', the children and adults of a village would visit the houses of the wealthiest families begging for soul cakes and in return offer to pray for the souls of departed relative They carried baskets in which to collect their booty and often wore masks and disguises...read more

Chelsea Buns - Bite into History

Cookery and recipes are all about people, not just about how and what they ate but how they lived, what they felt and how they amused themselves in their daily lives. The Chelsea Bun is no exception, it grew out of a time of  great upheaval and social change in which whole rural ..read more

The Ubiquitous yet Splendiferous Scone

As with many recipes, where humble origins precluded their inclusion in written texts, the history of the scone is shrouded in mystery and controversy. In Scotland this particular cake/bread hybrid or bannock is thought to have..read more

Baby Hedgehog Enriched Dough Breakfast and Tea Time Buns

Our garden is a haven for hedgehogs, in particular because it is a forest with plenty of natural hedgehog food, soinspired by these lovely creatures, I decided to make hedgehog-shaped buns and I'm going to fill them with a...read more

Lammas Loaf, Harvest Wheatsheaf Bread 

Take a deep dive into Celtic History, crossing over into the traditions of a Church's Harvest Home and rising up to the present day of Country Wedding Breakfasts and Farmhouse Kitchen Interiors. The word Lammas comes from the Old English hlaf maesse,, meaning loaf mass or loaf feast, it took place on the first day of harvest, 1st August, Farmers' wives would make bread from the first corn (wheat) cut and bring it into the Church to be blessed. This festival was adapted from the much earlier Celtic festival of Lughnasadh....read more

BISCUITS

Scottie Dog Shortbread Biscuits

Several of my Great Aunts used to breed Scotties and Cairn Terriers and big old family Christmases always meant, shortbread, crackling fires and fetching in holly to the tune of barking!.....read more

 

Scottish oatcakes, breakfast and cheese biscuit GLUTEN-FREE

'Oats n.s. [aten, Saxon.] A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.'... read more

Oatcake Farls and potato cakes, flatbreads for all occasions GLUTEN-FREE

Two delicious flatbread recipes for a elegant snack or a sumptuous meal... read more

 

Five Grain Cheese Biscuits

The five in question being a blend of wheat, rye, rice, barley and oats and although we do not use these, as often suggested, for a breakfast cereal, we do find them absolutely delicious when made into cheese biscuits ...read more