Parkin is a traditional Yorkshire bake. I suppose I’m taking a few liberties here by “adapting” the recipe, but as I’m a Yorkshireman I’ll risk it. These are dark, sweet and sticky, and they also have the added nutty crunch of walnuts. Great for round a bonfire, but you don’t need to wait until November, they can be ready all year round in just over an hour. Having said that, they get even stickier and yummier after a couple of days “maturing”.
Makes: 16 squares
Time: 15 – 20 minutes prep then around 45 minutes in the oven + cooling
Level: Easy
Need: A 20cm/8” square tin, with sides at least 5cm deep
Ingredients
- 150g/5½oz plain flour (either all white or half white/half wholemeal)
- 100g/3½ oz golden caster sugar
- 100g/3½ oz light brown sugar
- 225g/8oz porridge oats
- Pinch of salt
- 50g/1¾oz ground walnuts (or use ground almonds)
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 200g/7oz walnuts*
- 100g/3½ oz dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants)
- 150ml/5½fl oz milk
- 75g/2½oz golden syrup or treacle or a mixture
- 115g/4oz butter or baking spread
- Some diluted apricot jam and/or golden syrup to glaze – if required
* NB About 50g/1¾oz finely ground, 100g/3½ oz broken into pieces, the rest reserved for decoration. I actually used quarters as seen here, but on reflection I think walnut halves would look even better.
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 150°C / Fan 130°C / 300°F / Gas 2. Grease and line the tin. Grind 50g/1¾oz walnuts fairly finely and set aside.
2. Sift (or just tip) the flours into a large mixing bowl and add the sugars, oats, salt, ground walnuts (or almonds) and bicarb soda. Stir and mix well then add in the nuts and dried fruit and stir again, breaking up any clumps of fruit.
3. Put the milk, golden syrup/treacle and butter into a saucepan. Gently heat and stir until everything has melted together.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to mix thoroughly, making sure everything is coated.
5. Pour or spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. Tap it firmly on the work surface a couple of time to release any air pockets then bake for 42 – 48 minutes.
6. Allow the parkin to cool then either cut it in the tin or tip it out before cutting. You may need to invert the slab onto a suitable surface first.
7. To decorate, it may be possible to push walnut pieces into the still warm parkin. That was my original plan, but for some reason I left it too late and they went cold. Instead, I squeezed a drop of golden syrup onto each piece and stuck on the walnut pieces. It was only “semi-successful”, so I diluted some apricot jam, warmed it in the microwave and brushed the tops before re-sticking the walnuts. That was more successful.
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Ginger Millionaires Shortbread
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