Name: Eccles Cakes
Yield: Makes 12–14
Ingredients: 175 g/6 oz cold unsalted butter, divided into 4 pieces; milk, to glaze; 115 g/4 oz currants; 15 g/½ oz caster sugar, plus extra for glazing; pinch of salt; 225 g/8 oz plain flour, sifted, plus extra for rolling out pastry; large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg; 40 g/1½ oz unsalted butter

Preparation info

Makes
12–14

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Let's Eat

By Tom Parker Bowles

Published 2013

About

The late Winnie Swarbrick was a magnificent lady and an incredible baker. Her ginger cakes, butter biscuits and chocolate cake, cooked in her small Goosnargh kitchen, are seared in my memory. And her Eccles cakes were the best in the world. She died last year, and is much missed.

Ingredients

For the Pastry

225 g/8 oz plain flour, sifted, plus extra for rolling out pastry
pinch of salt

Method

To make the pastry, mix the flour and salt in a bowl, then rub a quarter of the butter into the flour. Add just enough water to form an elastic dough. Turn this out onto a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll it out into a rectangular strip about