Treats from Auntie Doris

Sharon´s Auntie Doris, who lives in Sedbergh in North Yorkshire, is fine cook and she has provided a couple of her favourite recipes.

Ginger Shortbread.

Four ounces of margarine
Two ounces of sugar
Five ounces of self raising flour
One level teaspoon of powdered ginger

Cream the margarine and sugar together and then mix in the flour and ginger. Press into a Swiss Roll tin before cooking in a slow oven.

For the topping:

Two ounces of icing sugar
One ounce of butter
Three teaspoons of syrup
One small level teaspoon of powdered ginger

Warm these ingredients in a pan and mix well together. Spread on the. shortbread before it cools.


Peppermint Crumble

Four ounces of margarine
One dessertspoon of sugar
Four teaspoons of drinking chocolate
Two tablespoons of syrup

Melt these ingredients in pan. .Add three quarters of a pound of digestive biscuits (crushed with a rolling pin). Mix well together. Press into Swiss roll tin and cover with half a pound of icing sugar mixed with one teaspoon of peppermint essence and a little warm water and a few drops of green colouring. Spread over the biscuit mixture. Leave to set then cover with half a pound of cooking chocolate.

Sharon said: “I used to spend a lot of time in Sedbergh with my grannie when I was a little girl. She was a fantastic cook and we always had lots of little treats to eat. She was always baking and I can remember many a morning spent sitting in her kitchen. She used to grow lots of her own fruit and vegetables and I remember picking raspberries and strawberries in the Yorkshire sunshine. Nothing like that ever grew where I lived in Nairobi – it was far too hot for soft fruit. We only ever grew corn on the cob and tomatoes in our little back garden, the shamba.”

©Phillip Bruce 2009