5. Parlies

Parlies are a type of gingerbread baked as biscuits. Although soft when you remove them from the oven, they firm up as they cool to become crispy but slightly chewy in the centre. It is important not to overwork the dough or they will be tough.

‘Parlies’ is short for Parliament Cakes; the name is said to be derived from their popularity with members of the Scots parliament. In late eighteenth-century Edinburgh, a lady called Mrs Flockhart ran a shop and tavern in Po