Experts were able to identify over one hundred individual varieties of plum stones on Henry VIII’s flagship the Mary Rose, which sank in 1545 and was raised in the 1980′s – so there!!
- Plum Eccles Fillin’
I LOVE LOVE LOVE eccles cakes but in the spirit of the Baking Birds pioneering culinary development I just had the fancy to try making a plum one! Needless to say, I was egged on by my baking buddy Bekki (or Bakey as I once accidentally referred to the girl in question).
If you go with shop bought puff pastry these little darlings are a breeze – if you want to make your own puff pastry (I don’t get out much) just find a recipe by someone you trust (I’m a Roux Brothers girl myself but I bet good old Delia has a reliable one).
Eccles Tummy (that’s the filling)
A punnet of plums – the red ones give the best colour and are better if they are ripe) – stoned and cut in to eight pieces. Scatter them in a roasting tray and sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons of soft brown sugar (I like the dark best)
Roast in the oven until tender but not mushy or burnt (15 – 20 mins)!
Whilst they are warm add approx 100g Dark Brown Sugar, 1 (or 2 depending on your taste) teaspoons of cinnamon and approx 200g currants, and 125g butter and mix together and leave to cool. This will keep a day or two in the fridge.
A spoonful of filling
Roll out the puff pastry not too thin and cut in to squares – size isn’t too relevant – I usually go for about 4 – 5 inch square. If they spring back I just re-roll the squares to extend them a bit. Spoon on the filling (about dessert spoonful) – too much and you’ll have a devil of a job getting the eccles to seal and they’ll burst – they taste as good but they weld themselves rather dramatically to the baking tray.
- Fold corners in to middle
Now comes the folding ….
Don’t stretch the pastry otherwise you’ll have pebble dashed oven walls as they EXPLODE – great fun, very entertaining but not usually edible!
Then turn them seam side down and shape gently just to round them up.
Pop them in the fridge and leave them for as long as you like …. at least 30 mins.
Have a bowl of water and a shallow bowl of granulated sugar ready …. dip the eccles cakes in the water (seam side up) and then dunk in the sugar and whack them on a baking tray (I would line the tray with parchment otherwise the Eccles cakes may cling like limpets after cooking to your tray and you might require the aid of a stone mason to chip them off)
Ready for t'oven
In the pre-heated oven Gas 6 after a little gentle piercing – I’m a three short slashes person but as you please ……
for approx 30 mins – you want them golden and cooked through. Leave to rest for 5 or 10 minutes and then get them on the baking tray – DON’T make the mistake of sampling them straight out of the oven – as you’ll probably require surgery – the filling is bloomin’ hot!
The Plum Eccles
Serve with a nice cup of tea!
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