Bara Brith
This is not the original yeast Bara Brith, but it still makes for a lovely bake. It’s just the kind of loaf that Mrs Shepphard might bake and keep in the larder ready for a snack during lambing season.
Ingredients
250g self raising flour
100g muscovado sugar
300ml hot tea
400g mixed fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants)
1 tsp mixed spice
1 egg, beaten
honey to glaze
Method
1. Take a large mixing bowl and put in the mixed fruit.
2. Add the sugar to the fruit.
3. Pour the hot tea over the fruit and sugar, mix, and allow the sugar to dissolve. Leave the fruit mixture overnight or for at least 6 hours so that the fruit absorbs the sugar and tea.
4. When you come back to the mixture, add in the flour and mixed spice, and stir in the egg. Mix well. The tea will soon soak up the flour and spices.
5. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 (180°C ) and prepare and line a 900g loaf tin.
6. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin.
7. Warm a little honey and pour over the surface of the loaf for a glazed finish.
8. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until the mixture seems cooked.
9. Leave the loaf to cool and better still, don’t eat for the next two days.
10. Serve the loaf sliced with butter. The loaf will easily keep for the next 7 days.
Welsh Cakes
Ingredients
8oz self raising flour
2oz castor sugar
4oz butter or margarine
2 handfuls of sultanas
1-2 eggs
Method
1. Take a large mixing bowl and sieve the flour into it.
2. Add the butter or margarine to the flour and rub with your fingers until crumbly.
3. Add the sugar and sultanas to the mixture.
4. Next, add 1 egg and mix together. If the mixture seems a bit on the dry side and not combined, then add the second egg and continue to mix.
5. Sprinkle some flour on a clean surface and turn out the mixture from the bowl. Roll it out to 1/4 inch thick or thereabouts.
6. Use a 2 inch cutter to cut out the discs from the dough.
7. Place the dough on a hot grill or greased pan and cook on both sides until brown. It should take 4-5 minutes per side on a medium heat. You want them to be cooked right the way through.
8. Serve with a sprinkling of castor sugar.
Welsh Crempog (Ffroes)
Mrs Shepphard likes to bake these on Shrove Tuesday as a special treat for her husband. A little bit like American pancakes, best served warm.
Ingredients
2oz butter
2 eggs
10 oz plain flour
3 oz sugar
15 fl oz warm buttermilk
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
Method
1. Put the warmed buttermilk into a bowl, and add the butter, stirring until all of the butter has melted completely.
2. In a separate bowl, add the flour to the bowl, make a well in the middle and slowly pour in the melted butter and buttermilk. Mix as you go. Then beat well.
3. Leave the mixture to stand for at least 30 minutes, ideally a couple of hours.
4. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl.
4. Add the sugar, bicarbonate of soda, vinegar, and salt to the eggs and stir well.
5. Pour the mixture into the bowl of flour and milk and mix well. It should start to form a nice, smooth, lump free batter eventually.
6. Lightly grease a hot stone, griddle, or frying pan, and once hot enough, drop a spoonful of the batter onto the surface.
7. Cook over a moderate heat, turning as necessary until both sides are golden brown.
8. Repeat the process until all of the mixture is used up.
9. Serve the crempog hot and spread some butter on the top of them. They also taste great with syrup, bananas, chocolate spread, or jam.
Mad About Cozy Mystery Books
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Culinary Cozy Mystery - Oct 2018
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Historical Cozy Mystery - Nov 2018
Christmas Cozy Mystery - Dec 2018
Paranormal Cozy Mystery - Jan 2019
Animals Cozy Mystery - Feb 2019
Ageing Sleuth Cozy Mystery - Mar 2019
Easter Cozy Mystery - Apr 2019
British Cozy Mystery - May 2019
First Book in the Series Cozy Mystery - Jun 2019
Travel and Destinations Cozy Mystery - Jul 2019
Honeymoon, Wedding, Romance Cozy Mystery - Aug 2019
Medieval Cozy Mystery - Sep 2019
Halloween Cozy Mystery - Oct 2019
Other Worlds Cozy Mystery - Nov 2019
Thanksgiving Cozy Mystery - Nov 2019
Christmas Cozy Mystery - Dec 2019
Hogmanay, Scottish, New Year Cozy Mystery - Dec 2019
Knitting, Quilting, Crafts Cozy Mystery - Jan 2010
Butlers, Maids, and Slaves Cozy Mystery - Feb 2010
Fashion and Shopping Cozy Mystery - Mar 2010
Part VIII
Have you read…
Madeleine and her best friend Eloise are working at a coffee shop in the Austrian ski resort of Val D’Isera, saving up for uni. Both are nervous but excited as this is their first time away from home and both are looking forward to the adventure.
When a customer dies after eating one of Madeleine's doughnuts, Madeleine and Eloise are thrust into a mystery that they must solve.
Failure to clear their names could spell disaster for the whole resort.
After ‘borrowing’ a watch from murdered pastry chef Audrey Flandin, ski resort bartender Karl Rehn finds himself accused of stealing watches from tourists visiting the Val d'Isaria ski resort. It’s up to Madeleine and Eloise to help Karl clear his name before he gets sent to prison for a crime he did not commit.
When the body of a man is discovered at the Empire Cinema in Hartlepool, England in 1926 - rumoured to have died from fright - 11 year old Thomas suspects that there is more to this case than meets the eye. It’s up to Thomas and his pet mouse Oliva to look for clues in his father’s funeral home down stairs below the house.
The year is 1818 and Eliza Buskin is sailing west with her children after the death of her husband in Sri Lanka. Unable to leave her cabin for long periods of time, Eliza must somehow solve the mysterious death of one of the sailors on board, before there’s a mutiny and her protector, the Captain faces the same demise.
Recently married Rynelle is on her honeymoon with her new hubby, astronaut, Joe Johnson on a Caribbean cruise. But the vacation is rudely interrupted, when one of the passenger dies after a fancy dinner.
With the boat on lockdown until the cause of death has been established, its up to Rynelle and Joe to solve the case so that they can all get back to normality.
A COZY MYSTERY SPIN-OFF STORY FROM THE ROMANTIC COMEDY ‘COCKTAILS IN CARRIACOU’.
Baa'd to Death: A Cozy Mystery Novella (Cozy Mystery Dogs Book 1) Page 6