Friday 24 September 2010

Eccles Cakes

One of the hardest parts I find in cooking at the moment is finding a good use for those odds and ends that hang around in the fridge and cupboards – lurking. The hard rind of cheese, a lemon with no zest, an end of cucumber or deserted half pot of pesto. It is a lot harder to find inspiration when things look a little but dreary or half-empty, as opposed to looking at shiny new ingredients and packets. But when the UK throws away 8.3 billion tonnes of food every year, costing the average family £680 a year – I definitely realise that using up odds and ends is important. Plus, when bakes as delicious as these come out of it, what’s the problem!?DSCF7754 Today I avoided wastage by turning a leftover ‘wodge’ of puff pastry into a delicious batch of Eccles cakes. Eccles cakes are not a cake at all, but a dried fruit and sugar mixture wrapped in puff pastry and baked. Eccles cakes are also an old-fashioned British treat so I thought they would be an appropriate bake during British Food Fortnight! The Eccles cakes were delicious – consisting mainly of butter, sugar and dried fruit how could they not!? The filling was almost good enough to eat on its own, but when surrounded by crackly, slightly caramelised golden pastry it went to another level. Quite addictive!DSCF7752 This Delia recipe here is very similar to the Rachel Allen one I used – the difference being I used some all-butter puff pastry instead of making some flaky pastry. Enjoy :)

 

7 comments:

Dewi said...

Wow Lucy, this pastry sounds absolutely superb. I think I am going to try something to participate in this event.

Danielle said...

Cute! I've never heard of those before.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

I love that treat! Your Eccles Cakes are so tempting and delicious looking!

Cheers,

Rosa

La Table De Nana said...

I appluad all your talents:) Always~

Nisrine said...

I've never had eccles.Thanks for letting me discover them. They look tasty!

Faith said...

I agree, wasting food really bothers me too! And you're right, fantastically delicious dishes come out of using leftover odds and ends so there's really no reason to waste. Your Eccles cakes are beautiful!

George@CulinaryTravels said...

They look gorgeous Lucy. I made Eccles cakes a while back (on the blog). Totally agree about the using of leftovers, I hate food waste.