Aberdeenshire Rowies

I'd not made these for many years and eventually remembered what they were called, found the recipe and made them for post-church breakfast this morning. Some people asked for the recipe...
this is my version of the one in Elizabeth David's English(!) Bread and Yeast Cookery:
Ingredients:

• 500g white bread flour
• 250g butter
• 20g yeast
• c300ml warm water
• 3tsp salt
• flour/cornflour for dusting

Cream the yeast and make dough with the flour, yeast, salt and water to make a soft dough.
Let rise for 30-45 minutes.
Cut the butter into cubes of around 6mm
Roll out dough thinly c 36x24cm
Place half the butter cubes evenly over the dough, fold up in thirds and turn.
Rest it in the fridge for c 15 mins.
Roll out again as before, scatter the remaining butter over it and again fold the dough.
Let rest for 15-30 mins in the fridge.
Roll out again and cut into around 50 pieces around 3cm square
Put on floured cooking trays - they won't expand much so don't need to be very widely spaced.
Let rise for 30mins.
Cook in 220C oven for 15-20 mins - the rowies will leak butter so the cooking trays will need a lip at the edge!
Cool on rack, I cooked them the day before and they re-warmed pretty well.

Recipes on the web suggest the authentic version is to have c 120g lard in addition to the butter and cream them together! This version is definitely tamer!

Raisin Spice Cookies

I did these for after church coffee this morning, as I commented at the foot of this post my recipe book has for method - ' rub in marg' and that's it! I've attempted to add a few more hints..

Ingredients

1. 8 oz self raising flour
2. 1 tsp cinnamon
3. 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
4. 8 oz fine semoline
5. 8 oz marg
6. 8 oz caster sugar
7. 2 eggs
8. milk (!)
9. 3 oz raisins

Method

Mix dry ingredients, add (beaten) eggs and rub in marg, add milk if it's too dry - I hardly needed any when I made it yesterday.
Place in small balls (c. 1 raisin per ball) widely spaced on a baking tray and cook in 170deg C oven for c 15 minutes, let cool slightly before on a cooling rack otherwise the biscuits will sag! (Makes around 60)

Ginger shortbread

I cooked ginger shortbread yesterday for the during(!) morning service this morning and used a recipe from an old Scargill cookbook:

Ingredients

150g self raising flour
• 110g margarine
• 55g sugar
• 1/2 tsp ginger

For icing:
• 55g margarine
• 4 tblsp icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1 dessertspoon syrup

Method

Melt margarine and sugar.

Work in flour and ginger.

Bake in swiss roll tin in mod. oven 20-30 min (yesterday I found it was around 20).

Melt ingredients of icing and pour on shortbread while it is hot.

Cut when cold.

The cookies that were also cooked - I'd provide a recipe but my notes have the following as the instructions:
Rub in marg
and the ingredients say 'milk' with no quantity - so we're lucky they turned out well!

Harvest moussaka

I was struggling to think of a recipe for tonight that wasn't too similar to something we'd already consumed this weekend and that would go with the remains of a bottle of red (a Naked Wines Malbec) and I remembered this recipe I'd copied out from the winner of a Guardian cookery competition many years ago (back in the early 80's!) I couldn't find the recipe on the internet so here it is.

A veggie recipe but if you don't know you may not be able to tell!

• 4tsp veg oil
• 225g shallots/onions
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 115g mushrooms
• 115g cashews (1/2 milled 1/2 chopped)
• 115g walnuts (1/2 milled 1/2 chopped)
• 115g soft breadcrumbs
• 2 tblsp tomato paste
• 5 eggs
• 4 tsp chervil chopped
• veg stock to moisten
• gr pepper and marmite to flavour
• 2 large aubergines
• wholemeal flour
• oil for aubergine frying
• 115g grated cheddar
• 1/2 pt natural yogurt
• salt to season
  

Method

1. Chop & prick aubergines and set aside
2. Cook shallots & garlic in oil until golden, add mushrooms & cook stirring until juices run
3. Mix nuts & crumbs,stir into veg add tomato paste & chervil. Moisten mixture with stock, add pepper & marmite.
4. Dry aubergines, dust with wh flour and fry.
5. Place alternating layers of nut & aubergine in serving dish, finish with aubergine layer and sprinkle with cheese.
6. Whisk eggs add yogurt and mix well, season with s&p and sprinkle with cheese.
7. Bake in moderate oven c 40mins until top is golden

Bacon and Cheese Whirls

I had some nice things said about the bacon & cheese whirls I served at this morning's after service breakfast, here's a rough recipe:

Scone Dough

• 250g plain flour
• 250g Grated cheese
• 30g Margarine
• Pinch dry mustard
• 10g Baking powder
• 200ml semi-skimmed milk

Filling

• 175g streaky bacon, minced
• 50g grated cheese

Make dough - mix marg & flour add cheese, then the milk and knead.
Roll out, fairly thinly, into rectangle
Spread with filling, roll up across the shorter side and cut into swiss roll-like slices - use a sharp knife for cutting, a palette knife won't get through the bacon bits!
Arranged on a greased tray, bake 20-30 minutes in a hot oven.

Toffee Fruit Cake

By special request, here is the recipe for Toffee Fruit cake (also from the Scargill recipe book) - I cooked a fewof these last weekend!

• 4oz soft brown sugar
• 3oz margarine
• 1 egg
• 2oz glace cherries
• 3oz sultanas
• 4oz self raising flour
• 1 drop vanilla essence

Melt the margarine and sugar in a pan and allow to cool. Mix the beaten egg, essence, sultanas, cherries and when the hot sugar is cool enough (not to cook the egg!) add to the egg mixture. Then add the flour. Put in square tin and cook for 25 mins at 180C. Make sure it is cooked through before removing from the oven.
Don't put in a too small tin, it mustn't be deeper than around 1 inch or it won't set. Allow to cool and then cut into fingers - it doesn't slice well when warm.

Bran Loaf

I was on the rota to provide the after church breakfast this morning, as part of it I cooked a bran loaf - from an old Scargill recipe and as I had a few requests for the recipe, here it is.

• 3 cups All Bran (or equivalent)
• 3 cups soft brown sugar
• 4 cups mixed dried fruit
• 3 cups milk
• 3 cups self raising flour

(apologies for the non weight quantities!) I used this quantity for this morning but it's industrial quantites, you may want to cut it down a bit - it depends how hungry you are!
Mix all ingredients except the flour in a bowl and leave in the fridge - the recipe says overnight, I usually leave it for 3 hours or so. Then add the flour and mix, you may need a little more liquid for a mixture that isn't too stiff. Put into greased lined tin and cook for 1hr at 180C and then 45mins at 150C - test that it's cooked in the middle before removal. I left mine in the oven for an additional half hour with the heat turned off before it was cooked through.
Slice and eat! I think, at Scargill we spread it with butter but I now think that's a bit too much and usually just have it plain.
One of our cats - now deceased used to love this recipe! Here's a link to another recipe I did a few months back for after service breakfast!
I wrote the above recipe from memory but have just checked the book and it is correct!

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies

Bit of a departure for this blog but having cooked these late last night on noticing that I was down to provide breakfast at Church and had, until then, forgotten - the shops were then closed and I needed something home made and quickly! I got at least one request for the recipe, so here it is (it is supposed to make 5-6 dozen - though I got around 90!):
1 cup raisins
1 cup water
Simmer these over a low heat while continuing with the rest of the recipe. Eventually drain liquid making up, if necessary to 1/2 cup.
3/4 lb (330g) soft margarine
1.5 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence - cream these together, stir in raisin liquid.
2.5 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
0.5 tsp cloves (ground) - sift together, stir in and add 2 cups oats, 0.5 cup chopped nuts (I omitted these) and drained raisins.

Drop rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on ungreased baking trays. Cook for 8-10 minutes.
Notes
This is my aged copy of a Scargill recipe - obviously you're meant to merge the two sets of ingredients before cooking! I used a (fan oven) temperature of 160 degrees C.
When I cooked them at Scargill, so 30 years ago, I seem to remember that they came out as rather doughy, but last night's were lovely and crisp!