Fly cemetery, a UK baked treat.
While in the UK I have been observing and occasionally tasting baked goods, especially any that seem different to those common in Canada. Scones are traditional in the UK and in my family where we call them baking powder biscuits. Scones are central to the cream teas common in some parts of England. I had a cream tea in Cornwall.
Cheese scones above and some with raisins below.
Scones in a Cornish cream tea.
Then there is the famous Cornish pasty, a folded and crimped pastry with a filling that is traditionally beef and vegetables. I had an okay version with veggies one time and a delightful apple and custard one another day.
Apple and custard filled this less traditional Cornish pasty.
In Orkney I learned about bere, an ancient variety of barley still grown there and still ground by water power at the Barony Mill in Birsay. Beremeal is used in a variety of baked goods and I enjoyed beremeal bannock and oatcakes with beremeal added.
Beremeal bannock on the Orkney breakfast menu.
Beremeal biscuits or cookies on Orkney along with the famous Scottish shortbread and a tea loaf.
Another regional specialty is the Banbury cake which has been made in that Oxforshire town since at least the early 17th century. It is similiar to the Eccles cake that we get in Canada but more oval. Banbury cakes are made with puff pastry and filled with currants, fruit peel and spices.
Banbury cakes were on the breakfast buffet in Banbury and we had these in a picnic.
I tried a few cakes and tarts. Rhubarb seems to be used a great deal and I ate a black current tart for the first time. It was good but I prefer saskatoons in my pies. In my family we used black currents only for jam.
Rhubarb cake and lemon curd muffin - sharing half of each.
Rhubarb tarts were on offer here.
Black current tart.
There are plenty of squares or slices to try here as well as biscuits or cookies. My favourite slice so far is the caramel slice my cousin Jean made and brought along on our trip to Orkney. Given the name, I had to try the Scottish fly cemetery aka fruit slice, full of raisins and currants. The one I had was a disappointment though, tasting as if it contained molasses.
Jean's caramel slice was a treat with tea from the flask on our Orkney trip.
Flapjacks are not pancakes as in Canada but squares made with golden syrup and rolled oats although I bought a commercial package of biscuits called flapjacks that contained coconut and raisins. One of the big department stores has a chocolate coated ginger biscuit that my sister and I look for each time we visit the UK. Scottish shortbread is delicious too.
This version of flapjack is a biscuit or cookie with coconut and raisins.
Fortunately I am doing a great deal of walking on this trip as I shall no doubt see other tasty treats I want to sample as part of my ongoing research project.