Tuesday 17 January 2012

Sour Cherry & Cinnamon Griddle Cakes


These are similar to Welsh cakes. Welsh cakes are traditionally cooked on a griddle and are similar to a cross between a scone and shortcrust pastry, packed full of currants and then tossed in sugar. They are delicious on their own warm, or cold with butter, jam or honey.

This recipe is a bit of a variation from the norm. I replaced lard with butter and mixed spice with vanilla. I changed the currants to chopped sour cherries and tossed in cinnamon sugar.

Absolutely delicious and the smell of the warm cinnamon sugar is intoxicating. 

I made the dough this morning and took the griddle cakes, uncooked on a tray to work. I planned to cook them on a new cast iron pancake pan, but forgot I had not seasoned it first. It took a considerable time to burn off the wax before the pan was ready to use for the first time. So much so, that these griddle cakes were literally ready as we were packing up to go home !

The photos were terribly rushed, and I can back into the office with the tray of griddle cakes to get my laptop. In the 30 seconds it took me to put my laptop in it's bag..... my colleagues had snaffled all but one of them ! I don't think I've ever seen anything disappear so fast !


Perhaps I should rephrase that. Actually - I missed the event. I didn't see even one of those griddle cakes leave that tray. I only know mice that big just DON'T exist.

These are simple, quick and easy to make.

Ingredients

225g plain flour
85g granulated sugar
100g salted butter
1tsp of baking powder
1tsp vanilla extract
75g dried sour cherries (chopped)
1 beaten egg.

1/3 cup caster sugar (fine granulated) mixed with 1tsp of ground cinnamon (for tossing)


Rub the dry ingredients together and mix in the chopped sour cherries. Add beaten egg and vanilla. 

Gently combine to form a ball of dough - similar to shortcrust pastry.

Roll to about 6mm thick (I rolled mine out on a silicone rolling mat) and cut out with 3" / 7.5cm cutter.

Mine made 15 griddle cakes.

Heat a frying pan and lightly grease. I used a cast iron pancake griddle (will be available very soon - we now have these in stock) and sprayed it with a little Frylight.


I cooked these 4 at a time on top of a cast iron wood burning stove in our showroom !

They take about 3 minutes on each side. They will rise a little - but really not much. These are MEANT to be very flat.


Remove from griddle pan and toss in the cinnamon sugar. Stand on a wire rack until cool enough to handle / eat. The only reason mine managed to make it as far as the rack is because staff know that eating before photos are taken would be a sackable  offence ......

8 comments:

  1. Sour cherry sounds very interesting in combination with cinnamon - and I've never had griddle cakes, either. Very intriguing recipe.

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  2. I think this recipe sounds delicious!!

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  3. I've never had a griddle cake but I have seen them pop up on blogs here and there. I need to try making some as they look so good and I am such a fan of stuff like this for breakfast with tea. Yours look wonderful.

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  4. Look delicious. I used to make griddle cakes a lot on our stove. You have just reminded me. Must make some more soon.

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  5. Yum! Wish I had one right now! They look and sound great and I have sour cherries in the freezer. Can't wait to try the recipe! Thanks!

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  6. Is that stove real?????
    Looks very easy to make, I have to try...!!!

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  7. These are really easy to make - just as easy as scones - but with the bonus there is no worry about how high they rise !

    You can eat them cold with butter or jam and they'll keep in an airtight box for about 4 days. I'll be surprised if they hand around long enough to get cold.

    Yes - it's a real wood burning stove. Not a cooker at all. All you need is a hot pan. No reason not to make them on a camping trip or on top of a woodburner !

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  8. they are so lovely! And they seem easy to make, thanks for the idea!

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