The Little Teashop of Lost and Found by Ashley, Trisha (47)

Recipes

You’ll be everyone’s favourite if you copy Alice’s example and whip these up for afternoon tea …

Little fat rascals

Fat rascals are a Yorkshire delicacy, somewhere between a rock cake and a scone, and no one can come close to those baked to a secret recipe by Betty’s Café in Harrogate. However, this recipe was devised by a friend, the late author Angela Dracup, and is quick, easy and delicious.

I have added a couple of tweaks – instead of currants, I have used raisins, added a little more spice and then divided up the mixture into afternoon-tea sized morsels: Little rascals, in fact!

I love these split while warm and buttered, but they are also good spread with jam and cream, as you would a scone.

Ingredients

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200°C/400°F and line an oven tray with baking paper.
2. Put the butter into a large mixing bowl and sift in the flour and spices. Add the pinch of salt.
3. Mix together using the rubbing-in method until it looks like very fine breadcrumbs.
4. Add the dried fruit and sugar and mix well.
5. Stir in the egg and milk mixture one spoonful at a time, until you have a stiff dough.
6. Divide the mixture up into twelve small rounds on the baking tray.
7. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until pale golden brown, then remove from the oven and put on a cooling rack.
8. They are irresistible warm from the oven, but they can be stored in a cake tin once cooled.

Welsh rarebit

A true Welsh rarebit is a tasty and luxurious version of cheese on toast and there are many opinions on the best way of making it: some like to use bread toasted on one side only, while others prefer it made with English mustard, rather than dry mustard. But this is how I make mine – and luckily, living in Wales, I can even use lovely Welsh cheese for greater authenticity!

Ingredients

1. Toast the bread and butter it.
2. Mix the mustard powder and flour together.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a very low heat and stir in the flour and mustard mixture to form a roux.
4. Now, slowly stir in the beer.
5. Add the cheese and stir till it is melted.
6. By this point it should be a nice, thick paste, so add the pinch of pepper and mix in the Worcestershire sauce.
7. Divide the mixture between the slices of bread and spread it out. Then toast under the grill until it goes brown and bubbly.
8. Serve immediately!

Sticky ginger cake loaf

A delicious sticky, dark and spicy ginger cake. Fragrant and warming for even the rainiest of Yorkshire days, this classic northern recipe is perfect with a nice cup of tea!

Ingredients

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/160°C/320°F and line and grease a cake loaf tin.
2. Mix the spices together with the flour and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.
3. Add the cubes of butter and rub together between fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4. Put the sugar, treacle, syrup and milk in a medium saucepan and heat gently, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved.
5. Turn the heat up but do not allow mixture to boil.
6. Add the stem ginger to the flour mixture and mix in to distribute evenly.
7. Slowly pour the syrupy mixture into the flour mixture, stirring as you go with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients are combined and of a smooth texture.
8. Add the beaten egg to this slowly, and beat vigorously until combined and mixture now resembles a thick pancake batter.
9. Pour mixture into cake tin, filling to just below the rim, and bake in the centre of the oven for 50 minutes to an hour until it is well risen and firm to the touch. You can additionally check if it is cooked in the centre by inserting and removing a skewer which once pulled out should be fairly clean.
10. Once cooked, remove the cake from the oven, allowing it to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning it out.
11. If possible, store it in a cake tin, still in its lining, for 24 hours before eating to allow the flavours and stickiness to really set in!

Very cheesy cheese straws

If Welsh rarebits aren’t enough to satisfy your cheese cravings (and to be perfectly honest, can you ever have too much cheese?), try this recipe for incredibly moreish cheese straws. If you prefer them without heat, then simply leave out the paprika and cayenne pepper.

Ingredients

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 7/220°C/425°F. Lightly grease a large baking tray.
2. Put the cheese into a mixing bowl. Sift in the flour and then add the paprika, cayenne and black pepper, and mix.
3. Cut the butter into little cubes and rub them into the flour mix with your fingertips, until the butter has disappeared into the flour and you have a crumbly mixture, then stir in the egg yolk to reach a dough-like consistency.
4. Next, still in the bowl, knead into a ball.
5. Dust your work top with plenty of flour to avoid any sticking, then carefully roll out the dough with a rolling pin into a roughly square shape about ¼ inch thick. You can square up the edges gently by patting with your hands.
6. Taking a sharp knife, cut the dough square into vertical strips about 1 inch thick, then cut sideways to halve the length. Twist each straw into a spiral pattern.
7. Gently place straws on to the baking tray, leaving a little space between each one as they will expand whilst cooking.
8. Whisk your egg white, then taking a pastry brush, coat the straws with this mixture.
9. Place the baking tray in the oven and bake for about 8-10 minutes. The cheese straws should be a very pale golden brown when cooked.
10. The straws may be fragile once removed from the oven, so leave them to sit for about 5 minutes before you remove them.