07767 768534 joy@joyskipper.co.uk

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What a life-safer my friend Guinevere is…..whenever I need to get away from it all and chill out for a few days, she insists I get myself down to Wales, to stay in her beautiful little converted chapel in Llangennith on the Gower Penninsula.

Forget all that flying abroad stuff (especially when there is volcanic ash floating around!), Wales can be absolutely stunning and luckily for myself and a couple of girlfriends, this weekend was exceptional. The sun shone for the whole weekend, so the surfers were out in force (giving us a little eye-candy for amusement), and we spent our days walking the beach, or over the hills, with pub lunches and the odd Welsh cake here and there! Unfortunately the local pub The Kings Head was very disappointing on the food front, with a very big menu, including lots of curries and the usual pub grub type food, but not very well done. Which meant we had to extend our search a little further, ruining our plan of spending the whole weekend not using a car.

Luckily after a trip to the local flea market on Monday morning we drove past the King Arthur Hotel, which was a different standard and served great food. Again there were lots of curries (is curry eating some old Welsh tradition that I’ve not heard of?), but these were much more imaginative and certainly more tasty – I had chickpea and vegetable Thai curry which was great and only let down by the addition of microwaveable rice!

IMG_5451But if cakes is what you like (and I do), then homemade Welsh cakes are a must. There is debate about whether you eat them with butter or jam, or just plain (I go for the plain option), either way they are one of the easiest cakes to make especially as they don’t even require an oven. I have memories of making them for my father when he was living abroad and had no oven but was craving homemade cakes – I cooked them in a wok!

This recipe uses a griddle pan, but if a wok is all you have then get cooking anyway!

 

225g self-raising flour

110g butter

85g caster sugar

75g mixed dried fruit

1 egg

a little milk

 

  1. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
  2. Stir in the sugar and mixed dried fruit then pour in the egg and mix to a dough, using a little milk if needed.
  3. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll the dough to a thickness of about 8-9mm. cut rounds with a biscuit cutter.
  4. Heat a griddle and wipe with a little oil. Cook the cakes over a low heat until golden on both sides and cooked through the middle. Serve warm or cold.
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