I have been enjoying the survey of traditional u.k. goodies taking place in Baking for Britain, which I have only recently discovered. I've been trying to pre-make some sweet and savory treats , to serve at my Boxing Day party. These Banbury Cakes seemed in the spirit of the thing, and also gave me an idea. I had been contemplating the mincemeat I made this fall, assuming that I would make mince tarts. But I have nearly two quarts of this stuff; mince tarts take so little, they won't get me far.
The filling for Banbury Cakes seemed quite mincemeat-like; the cakes were said to smell like mince tarts. A rum and mincemeat-like filling also appeared in my other source on the topic- Jane Pettigrew's National Trust Book of Tea-Time Recipes. There is a hefty dose of rum in my mincemeat already- and rum is rumored to be a component of a "secret" local Banbury recipe. I still had nearly a pound of homemade
rough puff pastry. So, I decided to take it easy and use my already made pastry and mincemeat, and make some Banbury Cakes.
Quite simply, I rolled out my sheet of puff pastry to 1/4" thickness, and cut 4" circles. In the centre of each, I put a hefty spoonful of mincemeat. I very carefully brushed all edges with water and pinched them well closed, mindful of the dangers of ruptured pastry warned of in BFB. I then turned them over, seam on bottom, and gently coaxed them into the characteristic torpedo shape. Three diagonal slits, then off to the freezer to bake when the time comes. Except for this one, which I baked for you (well,okay, for me) so that we can see what they will look like. I plan to bake them directly from the frozen state on Boxing Day.
This particular Banbury cake is no more. I ate it immediately after I took the picture, and it was good. I think probably the homemade all butter puff pastry (last of my first ever batch) is the main reason it was so nice. The mincemeat is tasty, too, though the difference from storebought is less obvious there. Nonetheless, you could easily make these from purchased puff pastry-if you can find some you like, and a good brand of bottled mincemeat, spiked with some rum. Or, you could follow the link to anapestic's excellent rough puff pastry lesson, if you are in the mood. It was so much less difficult than I thought it would be, and I'm going to be making more soon.
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