One of Shannon Todd Booth’s favourite holiday recipes happens to be one passed down from generation to generation – in her husband’s side of the family.
“These Welsh cakes are a favourite of my husband’s family, always made at Christmastime by his grandmother, Joyce Elgaard,” recounted Todd Booth, who heads up the communications and funds development for Langley Hospice Society.
“This was a recipe she brought with her from England, when she married Paul’s grandfather, Tage Elgaard,” she elaborated, noting Tage was an injured Canadian paratrooper and Joyce was a nurse in the war.
“This recipe became one of her many annual holiday traditions, and when I joined the family almost two decades ago, we regularly received a tin of these tasty cakes each Christmas, along with other homemade treats,” Todd Booth said.
Joyce is now in her 90s and is resides in assisted living in Kelowna, and has passed this holiday tradition on to her great grandchildren.
“This year my youngest daughter, Hope, will be making these tasty treats, and sending along a tin full to her great grandmother, who requests them each Christmas.”
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Welsh Cakes
Sift together:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
Add 1 cup currants (these can be pre-soaked if you like them to be moist).
Cut in 1 cup shortening.
Add 2 beaten eggs blended with six tbsp. of milk.
Mix well and chill for at least 2 hours. Divide dough into 3 or 4 parts and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness on a floured surface.
Cut with a round cookie cutter and cook on a griddle, slowly until the tops puff up and turn shiny.
Cool on a wire rack.
Yields three dozen.
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