Welsh Tea Cakes

Several years ago there was a coffee shop close to where my mother worked that sold the most delicious Tea Cakes I have ever tasted. My mother and I were quickly hooked and would often pick up an extra one to share with the each other when we were stopping there. When I gave birth to Big Brother, my mom brought a bag of these cakes to me in the hospital and I ate one every time I nursed him... and requested more as soon as they were gone! They made a great snack for those quiet nursing moments, as they were sweet but not too sweet, required only one hand to eat, and left few crumbs.

And then the shop went out of business! I was heartbroken... not so much at the loss of local business (though that, too, is sad... it's been replaced with a chain store now), but at the loss of these cakes.

Husband, hearing of my love for these cakes (and probably tired of my laments at the lack of them) did some searching online until he found just the right recipe for Welsh Cakes (here). He made our first batch for me not long after our daughter was born, and we devoured them in a couple days (he claims they weren't very good, but I know better... and somehow, not one member of our family was able to walk by them without snagging one!).

I tucked the recipe away and forgot I had it until recently when I wanted to make Lemon Curd and needed something to go with it. Big Brother wasn't that interested in helping me bake that day, so I went to work by myself in the kitchen (I won't lie... sometimes I like it better that way... just me and the mixing bowl, working out whatever it is that I'm pondering that day).


I started out with a bowl, but by the time I added all the flour, sugar and currants, I ended up needing a little more space and so dumped my ingredients straight onto the counter to mix them up (all by hand -- I imagine a pastry cutter would be handy here as well, but not necessary):

I adjusted the recipe slightly to use part butter, and part Smart Balance Buttery Spread. The purist in me groaned, but truthfully it was easier to rub in and the taste difference was undetectable... plus, when my last, super-tiny local egg left the dough just a tiny bit too dry and crumbly I was able to add a couple more tiny blobs of the spread and it quickly melted into the dough so that it had just the right consistency:

After the griddle was fully heated, I ended up needing only medium-low heat (about 2.5 on the dial), with a tiny touch of butter added between each batch for just the right browning on each side:

The recipe says it makes about 20. I feel like we made more, but I actually didn't count the yield, as we were eating them as soon as they were cooked, and the rest were gone in two days! Absolutely delicious... esp. when paired with a hot cup of coffee or Earl Gray tea, or some lemon curd, or even just grabbed while running out the door before breakfast (way better than donuts!).

(Yes, I should have used a contrasting plate color for that photo...)