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Writer's picture52Steps

Bonfire Season: Warming Ginger Parkin.



- Makes 16 to 25 squares - Ready in 3 hours and 45 minutes (includes 2 hours of cooling time) -


This is warming and filling (despite being cut into small squares) thanks to the whizzed-up oats and the generous amount of ground ginger. It is not a traditional parkin, it is an updated quick version, slightly adapted from Sarah Cook's recipe on Good Food. The texture is rather grainy / chewy, yet strangely delicious.


Gather together for the cakes...

200g butter (sliced ready to melt).

200g golden syrup (approximately 10 tbsp).

85g black treacle (approximately 4 tbsp).

85g of brown sugar.

100g rolled (i.e. chunky) porridge oats.

250g self-raising flour.

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (sieved).

3 tbsp ground ginger (yes, three TABLEspoons - we want it to be 'warming'!).

1 medium egg, beaten (or use a large egg and reduce the quantity of milk by 1 tbsp).

5 tbsp (75ml) milk.


Get baking...

1. Line and butter-grease a 9" x 9" (23cm square) baking tin with greaseproof paper, or even better use a reusable silicone liner (I use one shaped like this Toastabag reusable liner designed for a 1lb or 2 lb loaf tin, but which works well in many different tins, including the one we are using now).

2. Put a LARGE saucepan onto your weighing scales and measure into it the 200g of sliced butter, 200g of golden syrup, 85g of black treacle and 85g of brown sugar.

3. Now put the saucepan on a LOW heat until the ingredients melt and the sugar dissolves (this will take 3 to 5 minutes), stir gently, every minute or so.

4. Meanwhile blitz the 100g of rolled (chunky) porridge oats in a food processor for about 30 seconds, until they are fine flakes (or use a stick blender in a large, deep jug). Add the 250g of SR flour and the 3 tbsp (yes, three TABLEspoons) of ground ginger to the blitzed oats, sieve in the 1.5 tsp of bicarbonate of soda (sieved to avoid unpleasant lumps) and stir (or blitz for a few seconds if you are using a food processor) to distribute the ginger flavouring throughout the dry ingredients.

5. Take the pan of melted ingredients off the heat and set aside to cool for 15 minutes (ideally on a wire rack and in a cool place) - you don't want to scramble the egg when you add it!

6. When ten minutes of the cooling time has passed, preheat the oven to 160 C (140 C fan) or Gas 3.

7. Once the pan has cooled for 15 minutes, add the dry ingredients to the pan and stir with a spoon until there are no floury patches (but don't over-mix or you'll have a rather tough cake).

8. In a separate jug , mix the medium egg and the 5 tbsp (75ml) of milk, until combined.

9. Tip the egg-milk liquid into the pan of mixture and stir to combine fully (this will take about 30 seconds using a spoon).

10. Pour the runny mixture into the lined tin and bake for 1 hour.

11. Once baked, cool the parkin in the tin, on a wire rack (ideally after the first 10 minutes of cooling let it continue to cool on the wire rack INSIDE a lidded cake tin or lidded plastic tub so it is kept moist by the trapped steam) for at least two hours before you attempt to cut it -it will crumble (yet still be delicious) if you cut it up when warm.

12. Once fully cooled, cut it up into either 16 pieces (4x4) or 25 pieces (5x5), depending on how large you'd like the slices to be. It will keep happily for up to a week, if kept in an airtight container in a cool room. It apparently gets better the longer you leave it, but we always eat it up too quickly so I haven't tested out this theory yet!


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