Traditional New Year Recipes

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30634, 28 December 1964, Page 2

Traditional New Year Recipes

A Scottish reader living in Nelson has asxed for the recipe for a traditional New Year cake by “Elizabeth,” published in the cooking page of “The Press” about three years ago.

She probably means New Year Nutmeg—a golden brown mixture of raisins, walnuts and nutmeg baked on a sugary base. She may. however, be thinking of Dundee Cake, which some Scots regard as a New Year special.

Recipes for both these cakes appeared at the same time, so we reprint them today. For good measure we also give another traditional recipe, Almond Shortbread.

New Year Nutmeg Cake Ingredients: Boz flour Boz sugar 4oz butter 2 level teaspoons baking powder i teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg 6oz raisins 2oz walnuts 1 egg 1 eup milk 1 teaspoon soda. Method: Into a bowl sift flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and sugar and rub in 4oz butter until the mixture resembles fine, soft crumbs. Measure out lj cups of these crumbs and turn them into the bottom of a well buttered Si-inch round cake tin. Cover with 6oz of raisins spinkled over. To the remaining crumbs in the bowl add one beaten egg, one cup of milk with a teaspoon of soda stirred into it and whisk with a rotary beater to a thin smooth batter. Pour over the

raisins and sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Bake at 375 degrees for one hour and 10 minutes. Turn out on to a tea towel to cool. Dundee Cake For New Year Ingredients: jib butter jib castor sugar Grated rind of 1 lemon 4 eggs jib self-raising flour Pinch of salt lloz currants lloz sultanas 6oz chopped candied peel soz halved glace cherries 2oz split blanched almonds Milk to glaze. Method: Line an 8-inch cake tin. Beat the butter, sugar and lemon rind thoroughly together. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the sieved flour and salt, with the prepared fruit Turn the mixture into the prepared tin, arrange the almonds on top. brush over with milk, and bake in a moderate oven (350 deg. F„ mark 3) for about 2j hours, reducing the heat to slow (325 deg. F, mark 2) after one hour. ALMOND SHORTBREAD Ingredients: Boz butter 4oz sugar 12oz flour 4oz ground almonds Blanched whole almonds Method: Work the butter into the ingredients, kneading until smooth. Press out into a tin and mark lightly into oblongs. Press bleached almonds into position, one in the centre of each. Bake about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Cut into neat bars when it comes from the oven > and leave in the tin to become .quite cold before lifting out.