Pancakes
Snow Pancakes
Welsh Cakes
Crempog
Bara Brith
Bara Sinsir
Pwdin Lump (Christmas Pudding)
Pwdin Mynwy
Teisen Lap, substituting for Teisennau Bach
Presented for educational purposes from:
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Ffroes (Pancakes, also called Crempog)
Sift the flour into a bowl. Melt the butter and lard and pour into a well
in the center of the flour. Beat the eggs, add a little milk and
gradually pour into the flour, beating well to make a thick, creamy
batter. Then add a little water and beat again for a few seconds to make
it light in consistency.
Melt an ounce of fat on a frying-pan or on a bakestone and pour on it half
a cupful of batter. (A few currants may be added at this stage, if
desired.) Allow the pancake to bake until small bubbles appear on its
surface, then turn and bake on the other side.
Place on a plate and spread with butter and a little sugar. Continue to
bake the remainder of the batter, and pile the pancakes on the plate to keep warm.
_Welsh Fare_, S. Minwell Tibbot,
National Museum of Wales, 1979, p.28.
ISBN: 0-85485-040-6
one pound plain flour
one ounce butter
one ounce lard
four eggs
a little milk
a little water
(currants, if desired)
Ffroes Eira (Snow Pancakes)
Take a cupful of clean snow instead of the water in the above recipe and
fold it into the batter. The snow helps to give a light consistency. From Dowlais, Glamorgan.
It was a general tradition to prepare pancakes for afternoon tea when
celebrating the birthday of any member of the family in Dowlais, as in
many other districts on south Wales.
Welsh Cakes
Rub the lard into the flour and add all the other dry ingredients.
Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the sour buttermilk and work into the
dry ingredients to make a soft dough. Turn out on to a floured board,
roll out until it is about a quarter of an inch thick and cut into small
rounds. Bake both sides on a very lightly greased bakestone over a moderate heat.
one pound plain flour
six ounces lard
half a teaspoonful salt
one cupful sugar
one cupful currants
half a teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda
half a pint sour buttermilk
Crempog (Pancakes)
Melt the butter in the warm buttermilk, pour gradually into the flour and
beat well. Allow this mixture to stand for a few hours, if possible.
When ready to bake the pancakes, stir the sugar, the bicarbonate of soda
and the vinegar into the beaten eggs. Pour this second mixture into the
first one and beat well to make a smooth batter. Drop the batter from a
tablespoon on to a well greased and hot bakestone or griddle. Bake over a
moderate heat until the pancakes are golden brown on both sides.
Then spread butter on each pancake whilst hot and serve warm. (A cupful
of sour cream stirred into the batter acts as a further raising agent.)
From Llanfachraeth, Anglesey
Pancakes were an essential part of the welcome given to visitors when
invited for afternoon tea in the counties of Caernarvon and Anglesey.
They were also prepared there on Shrove Tuesday. On this occasion three
kinds of pancakes were prepared in the farmhouses. For the master and his
family crempog wen and crempog furum were served, while the servants were
given crempog surgeirch (see the book). It was also a general
custom in the Lleyn peninsula on Shrove Tuesday for the children to go
around from house to house singing a suitable verse at the door while
begging for pancakes:
ten ounces plain flour
half a teaspoonful salt
two ounces butter
three quarters of a pint of warm buttermilk
two eggs, well beaten
three ounces sugar
one teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda
one tablespoonful vinegar
(Please may I have some pancakes?
My mouth is parched for pancakes
My mother is too poor to buy flour
My father is too lazy to work
Please may I have some pancakes?)
Bara Birth ("speckled" bread: Currant Bread)
Put the flour in a mixing bowl and allow to stand in a warm place for a
short while. Rub the butter into the flour, add all the other dry
ingredients and mix thoroughly. Cream the yeast with a little sugar in a
smaller basin and blend it with half a cupful of warm milk. Make a well
in the center of the dry ingredients, pour the yeast mixture into it and
sprinkle a little flour over it. Cover and allow to stand in a warm place
for a few minutes. Beat the eggs, pour them on the yeast mixture and
proceed to knead the ingredients to a soft dough. Melt the treacle in a
warm water and gradually add it to the dough, as required, when kneading.
Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise for and hour and a half in
a warm place. Then turn out on to a well-floured board, divide it in equal
parts and put into warm greased tins. Bake the loaves in a moderately hot
over for an hour to an hour and a half. From Bala, Merioneth.
two pounds plain flour
one ounce yeast
twelve ounces butter
six ounces soft brown sugar
six ounces currants
six ounces sultanas (yellow raisins)
three ounces raisins
two ounces candied peel
quarter teaspoonful nutmeg or mixed spice
half a teaspoonful salt
two eggs
one dessertspoonful black treacle
a little warm milk and warm water
Bara Sinsir (Gingerbread)
Melt the treacle, butter and sugar over a low heat. Sift the flour,
ginger, spice, and soda into a bowl and pour in the melted treacle
mixture. Beat the egg and milk together, add them to the
other ingredients in the bowl and mix all together thoroughly.
Grease a shallow cake tin and line with greaseproof paper. Put the
mixture into it, spread evenly and bake in a moderately hot oven for
approximately forty minutes. From Llanybyther, Carmarthenshire.
half a pound plain flour
two teaspoonfuls ground ginger
one teaspoonful mixed spice
two ounces butter
eight tablespoonfuls black treacle or syrup
one ounce soft brown sugar
one egg
quarter pint milk
half a teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda
Pwdin Lwmp (Christmas Pudding)
Dice the suet finely and work it into the flour. Add all the other dry
ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour the eggs into a hole in the center
of this dry mixture. Dissolve the treacle and soda in the warm buttermilk
and add gradually to the other ingredients to give a moist consistency,
stirring well with a wooden spoon. Put the mixture into greased bowls,
cover with greaseproof paper and clean cloths, and tie securely. Boil in
the usual way for four of five hours. From Mynytho, Caernarvonshire.
The old traditional method was to boil the mixture in one large lump in a
linen bag the custom that gave it the names pwdin lwmp (lump pudding),
pwdin clwt (rag pudding) or pwdin cwd (bag pudding). The mixture was
placed on a large damp cloth, the edges of which were then bunched
together and tied securely with strong cord to form a bag. This bag was
then suspended from a stick placed across the top of the boiler or
cauldron and immersed in boiling water. This pudding was prepared for
dinner on corn threshing day on the farms, as well as for Christmas day.
As a second course on threshing day, it was served with warm rice pudding,
whereas it was served with menyn melys (sweet butter) on Christmas
day.
one basinful plain flour
one basinful suet
one basinful currants
one basinful sugar
one basinful candied peel
a little salt
one tablespoonful treacle
one or two eggs, well beaten
warm buttermilk
one teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda
Pwdin Mynwy (Monmouth Pudding)
Presented for educational purposes from:
Pour the milk and (half the) sugar over the breadcrumbs. Leave to absorb
the milk. Separate the yolks and whites of eggs. Whisk whites with half
the sugar. Pour half the breadcrumb mixture into pudding dish - spread
the base of the dish with the sherry-soaked dried fruit (soak overnight
for best results). Spread the jam over the breadcrumbs and finish off
with the final amount of breadcrumb mixture.
Bake in a slow oven for 30 minutes or till set. Bring out and pour over
whisked whites of eggs. Bake in very hot oven for 5 minutes until meringue
is browned.
_Celtic Cookbook_, Helen Smith Twiddy,
Y Lolfa, 1979, ISBN: 0-904864-50-2
½ lb. white breadcrumbs
4 small eggs
4 tablespoons sugar (flavored with 4 drops of vanilla essence)
1/4 scant cup of hot milk
½ lb. strawberry jam
3 tablespoons melted butter
½ lb. chopped dried fruit
a little sherry
Three recipes from Lady Elysant and her Mum as a substitution for
Teisannau Bach. Many thanks, dear ladies.
Teisen Lap (version 1)
Rub the fat into the flour and add the dry ingredients. Add the well
beaten eggs and enough milk to have a soft mixture. Bake in a moderate
oven (375 degrees), using a shallow tin.
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Teisen Lap (2) (this may be the oldest of the three)
Rub fat into the flour, add sugar, fruit, spice; mix wekk together. Add
the beaten egg and the milk and beat to a soft dough. Divide the dough and
roll out to an inch in thickness; bake on a bakestone or hotplate; time
about 15 minutes, when nicely brown on one side, turn them over.
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Teisen Lap (3)
This cake should be baked in a Dutch oven before an open fire to make it
the traditional Welsh way but the results are just as good if you bake it
in a well greased oblong tin (spread the mixture thinly) in a moderate oven
(375 degrees) for about 35 - 40 minutes.
Sieve flour, baking-powder, salt and nutmeg. Rub in lightly butter, add
sugar and fruit, whisk the eggs, and add to mixture. Gradually add the
milk, mixing all with a wooden spoon. The consistency should be soft
enough for the batter to drop from the spoon.
1 lb flour
4 oz lard
4 oz margarine
2 heaped teaspoons baking powder
7 oz sugar
8 oz currants
3 eggs
a little nutmeg
1 lb flour
4 oz fat
4 oz brown sugar
4 oz mixed fruit
1/2 teaspoonful of spice
1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda (dissolved in milk)
1 egg
1/2 pint of buttermilk or sour milk
1 lb flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
A little grated nutmeg
4 oz butter
4 oz sugar
4 oz dried fruit (sultanas and currants)
3 eggs
1/2 pint milk (sour milk is delicious)