Apple Parkin Slice

Apple Parkin slice is an old Yorkshire/Lancashire recipe by way of Australia. Growing up in the north of England every bonfire night we partake of parkin - a chewy, oaty, dense, molassesy slice ( a 'slice' is halfway between a cake and a scone I'd say) - recently I espied this recipe in British Country Living for a similar 'slice' but with no molasses, lighter in texture and with the addition of apples through the middle (something I am not unhappy about as I am not a big fan of molasses or as we call it in the UK treacle- a nice onomatopoaeic word that sounds like the treacle being spooned from the jar!)

THE RECIPE - as usual in weights which nowadays I am translating from metric to imperial as I only have a weighing scale with ozs so the amounts may seem odd!!

INGREDIENTS:

7oz butter

9oz sugar plus extra for sprinkling

2 large eggs whisked together

12.5 oz white flour

3.5 oz rolled oats

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

3-4 apples of your choice peeled and chopped

A little milk for making the batter a little softer.

METHOD:

1. Heat the oven to 350F/180C

2. Butter a square baking dish - about 8" 

3. Beat butter and sugar together until light and pale.

4. Gradually beat in the eggs - I do this in about 4 goes with goodly beating in between so I don't go down the road of curdling.

5. Fold in the sifted flour, nutmeg and oatmeal and blend nicely.

6. The mixture will be quite stiff at this point - put half of it into the greased dish and press evenly.

7. Strew apples atop this evenly.

8. To the remaining mixture add a couple of tablespoons of milk or more to make the dough come to a dropping consistency - so spoonfuls plop onto the apples as below -

 9. Smooth out the plopped spoonfuls to look like the pic below - and sprinkle with some extra sugar before popping into your pre-heated oven.

 10. Bake for about 30 - 40 minutes until the 'slice' is golden and firm to the touch - again as below.

This is a hearty sweet - another good keeper which tastes better the day after baking - but who can keep desserts around that long I ask you? You can serve this hot, warm or cold - with or without ice cream, lashings of cream or custard or on it's own with a good hot cuppa!

HAPPY BAKING!!! and do enjoy Great Maine Apple Day tomorrow October 23rd.