Parkin

It's fall, Amabel from Always and Forever is in Yorkshire...what does she eat? Parkin.

I've been waiting to try this one. Waiting until the right time of year. Evidently Parkin is traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night - November 5th...so this gives you just enough time to make it and let it age for a few days. I used the recipe found on About.com. I simplified the recipe here (just eliminated the metric stuff), but feel free to go to the original and compare. I made it Tuesday and now it's sitting in a Ziploc bag aging. I did make one goof - I was trying to multi-task (always a bad idea for me to do that when making an unfamiliar food) and left out the brown sugar. I'm not too fussed. If you look at the recipe you can see that it has 9 oz. of various syrups - so I'm pretty sure it will still be sweetish.

Yorkshire Parkin

Parkin is essentially the Northern English form of gingerbread. Different parkins are characterized by where they are made and Yorkshire Parkin, one the most famous, is made using oats. Yorkshire Parkin is eaten on Bonfire Night, November 5th, celebrating the famous failure of Guy Fawkes to blowup the Houses on Parliament in 1605. Guy Fawkes was a Yorkshireman.

This Parkin Recipe is easy to make and creates a moist sticky cake. However, you will need to store the cake for between 3 days to a week before eating. This allows the cake to soften and become moist and sticky. Delicious.

Ingredients:
• 4 oz soft butter
• 4 oz soft dark brown sugar
• 2oz black treacle/molasses
• 7oz golden syrup/ corn syrup
• 8 oz medium oatmeal**(I used regular rolled oats that I put through my mini chopper as the 'oatmeal' does not refer to rolled oats, but rather oat meal (think cornmeal))
• 4 oz all-purpose/plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 very large, or 2 medium eggs, beaten
• 1 tbsp milk
Preparation:
Heat the oven to 275°
• Grease an 8" x 8" square cake tin.
• In a large heavy-based saucepan over a gentle heat melt together the butter, sugar, treacle, golden syrup. Do not allow the mixture to get hot.
• In a large spacious baking bowl stir together all the dry ingredients. Gradually add the melted butter mixture stirring to coat all the dry ingredients.
• Add the beaten egg/s and mix thoroughly. Finally add the milk.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and cook for 1 ½ hours until firm and set.
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. Once cool store the Parkin in an airtight tin for a minimum of 3 days up to a week before eating; this allows the flavors to develop and the mixture to soften and become moist and sticky. The Parkin will keep up to two weeks in an airtight container.

Verdict: It was tough having to wait for the real taste test. The best way to describe my attempt at parkin is that in flavor it's similar to gingerbread, but in texture it's closer to a bar cookie - such as coconut bars. One thing I wish I had done was to line the pan with some parchment - it would have been much easier to remove from the pan.

I think parkin is one of those childhood comfort foods. Much better if you grow up with it. Dr. van der Stevejinck and I liked it - with applesauce. Will I make it again? Maybe. It was fine. Fine.