When the Welsh Cookies were ready to eat, I figured a spot of tea would do nicely to accompany them.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Our test cook made a double batch, and they went fast
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
One of the first steps involved cutting the shortening (I’m using butter and cutting it with a pair of knives) into the flour until it resembles large bread crumbs.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
The currants, which I’d soaked in hot water and then drained, went into the bowl after the sugar, baking powder and nutmeg had been added to the flour/shortening mix.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Here I made a well in the dry mixture for the beaten eggs.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
This is a portion of the dough, rolled out to 1/4-inch thickness. Perhaps I overdid the flouring of the board.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
A water glass, turned upside down, served to cut round cookies from the dough.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
I was able to fit about seven cookies at a time on my old-fashioned griddle. If you don’t have a griddle, you could probably use a frying pan.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Mary Therese Biebel
Times Leader Test Kitchen
“OK,” I told myself. “I’m going in.”
What I meant by “going in,” one recent afternoon in the kitchen, was that I took off my rings, gave my hands a good scrubbing and then used them to mix a small amount of wet ingredients (4 beaten eggs) into a large amount of dry ingredients (made up mostly of 4 cups of flour.)
And I think the dough for my Welsh cookies turned out pretty well.
So, why didn’t I use an electric mixer?
Well, sometimes it seems to me like it’s more fun to cook in a simple, old-fashioned way, using a wooden spoon, or a paring knife, or my own two hands, instead of gadgets.
For me it makes the whole kitchen experience more of an adventure, kind of like an action movie — but a very low-tech one.
My latest low-tech exploit, which involved Welsh cookies, began with a quest for currants.
The stores closest to my home in Wilkes-Barre did not have that particular dried fruit, but alert reader Carol Wolosz of Edwardsville told me Gerrity’s keeps them in stock.
I found the sweet little beauties in the baking needs aisle of Gerrity’s in Luzerne, with the Sun-Maid maiden smiling against an orange background, just as she smiles against a red background on the raisin containers.
Some people might reach for the red box and use raisins in Welsh cookies, but I wanted to use the traditional currants as I (more or less) followed the recipe for Welsh Cookies published in the Dr. Edwards Memorial Congregational Church 150th anniversary cookbook.
I say “more or less” because, as regular readers know, I just can’t resist tampering with recipes.
So with apologies to Betty Jones of Trucksville, who supplied the recipe — and who, I know, is a wonderful baker — I made a few substitutions.
This recipe called for margarine; I like butter better.
It called for all-purpose flour; I substituted whole-wheat flour for one quarter of the entire amount.
Then there’s the sugar quandary, which requires a bit of explaining. As printed in the cookbook, the recipe called for a tiny 1/4 cup of flour. But, Carol, who belongs to Dr. Edwards Memorial Congregational Church, told me that had been a misprint. It was supposed to say 3/4 cup.
Oh, dear — and I’d liked the idea of using only 1/4 cup per batch … but I compromised and made it 1/2 a cup per batch. (I say “per batch” because I ended up making a double.)
Once the dough was mixed I rolled it out and, absent a round cookie cutter, I used a water glass to cut circles.
Then I baked the round cookies, about seven at a time, on a vintage cast-iron griddle that I had forgotten we had; I think it belonged to my Great-Aunt Rose.
When I realized the hottest part of the griddle was in the middle, I started shuffling the cookies around, giving each one a turn in the center as if they were little kids huddling near a stove on a cold day.
My dough started out slightly darker than standard dough, because of being part whole-wheat. But I still was able to tell when the cookies were firm enough and golden enough to declare them done. And, of course, the recipe says you should “try one to make sure inside is cooked.” Now, that’s one part of the recipe with which I would never tamper.
Today we’re publishing the recipe from the cookbook, which advises that it can easily be doubled or tripled.
I made a double batch in the test kitchen because I figured the cookies would go fast. And they did, with thumbs up all around.
WELSH COOKIES
1/2 cup currants
2 cups flour
1 stick margarine
pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 large eggs beaten
Soak the currants in hot water. Drain and set aside.
Put the flour, margarine and salt into a bowl and cut in the margarine until the mixture looks like large bread crumbs.
Add the sugar, baking powder and nutmeg, stir together.
Mix in the currants.
Beat the eggs and add to the dry mixture until it makes a dough.
Roll out, a portion at a time, on a floured board to 1/4-inch thick and cut with a round cookie cutter.
Banke on a dry griddle or electric frying pan at about 340 degrees for 3 minutes on each side, until they are golden brown. Try one to make sure the inside is cooked or if the temperature needs adjusting.
Remove cookies to a tray or large plate to cool. You may sprinkle them with sugar, and you can stack them so there is no need for paper sheets.The recipe makes about 2 and 1/2 dozen cookies.
