Dorset Puddle Bacon Cakes

"Bacon cakes?!" I hear you exclaim. Yes bacon cakes! As soon as I heard of this bacon and cake combo I just had to give it go. They were originally called Piddle Bacon Cakes, after the river Piddle that runs through Dorset, but the Victorians thought it too vulgar so renamed them Puddle Bacon Cakes. I haven't a clue what the original recipe is so I made one up, it's basically a cheese scone with bacon and what's not to like about that!

Ingredients:
(makes 4)

150g Self raising flour
40g Butter, cubed
1tsp Baking powder
40g Cheddar cheese, grated
4x Back bacon rashers, fat removed and chopped up
50-60ml Milk
Pinch salt
Pinch white pepper

Method:

1. Chop up your bacon and fry until just cooked then allow to cool.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the butter and work it through the flour with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs.
3. Add the salt and pepper then pour in most of the milk and mix together until it forms a dough. If it's too dry add a bit more milk.
4. Mix in the bacon and cheese, being careful the cheese doesn't melt with the heat of your hands.
5. Form 4 scones out of the dough with your hands and brush the tops with milk. Dust a baking tray with flour, pop on the cakes then bake on the centre shelf in the oven on gas mark 8 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Tip: You can add more grated cheese to the tops to make them super cheesey but in this case I didn't as we served them up cut in half, buttered and topped with poached eggs.

Yorkshire Fat Rascals

Fat rascals are a type of fruit scone that originated in Yorkshire in the 1800's. Traditionally they are topped with almonds and cherries but as Mrs Larry doesn't like almonds, and isn't particularly fond of cherries either, I've topped mine with left over cranberries from our Wensleydale and Cranberry Mash the other night. As the name suggests the scones are full of a big blob of fat in the form of lard but if you are a vegetarian please substitute the lard with an equal amount of butter. I don't often bake cakes as we could easily be a bunch of fat rascals ourselves, but these are 'reight tasty' and were well worth doing as a holiday treat. We are in Yorkshire after all.

Ingredients:

150g Plain flour
150g Self raising flour
1tsp Baking powder
65g Lard, diced
65g Butter (unsalted), diced
150g Dried fruit mix
1/2tsp Cinnamon powder
1/2tsp Nutmeg powder
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
100g Caster sugar
50ml Milk
2 Eggs, beaten
Dried cranberries


Method:

1. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
2. Add the butter and lard and work it through the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Pour in one of the beaten eggs and the milk followed by the dried fruit, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon and orange zest, and sugar. Mix well.
4. Pull the dough apart into 6 large pieces (or 8 smaller) and form into rascals with your hand.
5. Place the rascals on some grease proof paper on a baking tray then brush the tops with the remaining egg.
6. Finish off with a sprinkling of cranberries then pop in a gas mark 6 preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Watch the temperature of that caravan oven though as the tops of the rascals can easily burn with the bottoms remaining a bit soggy.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving with real butter.


Tip:
They will be quite crumbly when served hot from the oven but if you allow to cool they will take on a denser texture, just like cold scones.