The town of Keighley in West Yorkshire has a traditional food champion in the form of Mike Armstrong (‘Baker Mike’), a professional baker who writes a recipe column in the Keighley News. He recently hit the spot with a recipe for Yorkshire Parkin biscuits, which is a variant on the traditional Yorkshire favourite of Parkin – the regional cake that has been associated with November bonfire night for yonks.
These biscuits, I can tell you, are delicious. They have a crunchy exterior, a soft centre, and lovely kick of ginger. What’s not to like? This recipe will make 15 – 16 biscuits, and I defy you not to gobble the lot down in one sitting!
Ingredients:
- 175g/6oz plain flour
- 175g/6oz fine oatmeal or oats (I used Quaker Oats and these were fine).
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 60g/2oz butter
- 60g/2oz dark brown sugar
- 60g/2oz black treacle (in the US and elsewhere, you could use molasses if black treacle is not available)
- 175g/6oz golden syrup
Method:
1. Line two baking trays with baking paper and preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/ Gas Mark 6.
2. Add to a mixing bowl the flour, oats, ginger, bicarbonate of soda and butter, then rub in to resemble fine breadcrumbs.
3. Add the brown sugar, black treacle and golden syrup and mix with your hands until the dough comes together. (I found it helped to wet my hands first to avoid excessive stickiness)
4. Roll into 16 balls x approx. 40g/1.5oz each and place onto the baking trays, allowing room to expand and bake.
5. Bake for around 15 minutes or until golden brown and set. (Keep an eye on these in your oven, I over-baked by a minute or so and managed to singe the ends of some – although it added to their crunch.)
6. Leave to cool on the baking trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Source: Mike Armstrong’s column and examples of his recipes can be found here: Friend in Knead
