[Sca-cooks] Digby's Small Cakes

[AEllin Olafs dotter]

OK, so, anyhow... this is what I did...

> Take three pound of very fine flower well dryed by the fire, and put to it a pound and a half of loaf Sugar sifted in a very fine sieve and dryed; Three pounds of Currants well washed, and dryed in a cloth and set by the fire; When your flower is well mixed with the Sugar and Currants, you must put in it a pound and a half of unmelted butter, ten spoonfuls of Cream, with the yolks of three new-laid Eggs beat with it, one Nutmeg; and if you please, three spoonfuls of Sack. When you have wrought your paste well, you must put it in a cloth, and set it in a dish before the fire, till it be through warm. Then make them up in little cakes, and prick them full of holes; you must bake them in a quick oven unclosed. Afterwards Ice them over with Sugar. The Cakes should be about the bigness of a hand breadth and thin; of the cise of the Sugar Cakes sold at Barnet
> 
> My version 
> 
> 
> 3 c White all purpose flour
> 1 c  Sugar
> 1 lb. Currants
> 1/2 lb. Sweet butter 
> 3 – 4 T cream (adjust as seems needed.) 
> 2 t nutmeg, fresh ground
> (1 T sherry, opt.) 
> Sugar for icing. 
> 
> Mix flour and sugar. (And nutmeg??) Mix in currants, so they are well floured and separated. Blend in butter. Beat the egg yolk and cream (and sherry, if used) together, blend it in well. Let sit in a warm place until warm through. 
> 
> Drop by tablespoonful on baking sheet. Pat down into thin cakes,  under 1/4”. Prick all over with fork. 
> 
> Bake at 400 for 12 minutes.  

Comments.

I haven't iced them yet, I'll do that tomorrow.

Wow, that's a lot of currants!

I thought I had sherry, turned out not to. Decided I didn't "please" to 
have it enough to go out in the thunderstorm we were having, since Digby 
says it is optional. Next time, I think I'll use it.

I happily thought I would weigh the flour and sugar - and then couldn't 
find my scale. I did find several different "equivalent" measurements... 
not sure how accurate this was.  Next time, I hope to find the scale.  I 
did add the nutmeg with the dry ingredients, though Digby lists it later.

I sort of creamed the butter in. Got a nice homogenous mass. Added 4T 
cream, since I wasn't using the sherry, and that was enough. Let it sit 
while I was preheating the oven - the kitchen was pretty hot even before 
I lit it (I don't have a/c.)  More liquid would have been too much, I 
think.

At 10 minutes, they were starting to brown around the edges, but the 
middles were raw. At 12 minutes, they were lightly brown all over.

I couldn't tell that they were pricked, so I tried not doing it to one 
sheet, and couldn't tell the difference. I also tried just dropping a 
couple, without flattening, but they didn't come out as well. Not 
blazingly obvious, but they didn't quite flatten, and the middles didn't 
quite cook as well. The dough was too soft to roll. I didn't think of 
it, but these would be a good candidate for the Flatten with the Bottom 
of a floured Glass method.

I like them. They turned out crisp and buttery, with lots of currants. 
They aren't greasy and heavy, which seemed the danger with warming it. I 
have put them in a zip loc, because they were already picking up the 
humidity after an hour (It's 96% right now) but tender and crisp when 
they first cooled. I wasn't consciously aware of the nutmeg, but it 
wasn't bland. Might add a bit more, might not want to with sherry. We'll 
see how they go over with other people!

So, thanks for listening to me work through it, and making 
suggestions... It's the first thing I'm redacting and then serving to 
innocent bystand... I mean... people at an event. (Or could you tell... *G*)


AEllin