First grease a basin or pudding bowl and put jam in the bottom. Cream butter and sugar, add rind and egg yolks, beat well. Fold in stiffly-beaten egg whites. Sift and fold in flour and baking powder. Cover bowl with foil and steam for 1½ (one and a half hours). See BBC website for steaming technique.
Serving:
Carefully remove bowl and tip Mysterious Pudding onto serving platter. Serve portions hot with extra jam, cream or custard sauce.
The origin of the word pikelet stems from the Welsh bara pyglyd or pitchy bread, which was a dark, sticky bread. The word spread into England and was anglicised to Pikelet.
Very easy to prepare and cook, pikelets are traditionally small yet a similar version to pancakes.
Gradually the basic pikelet recipe travelled far and wide through the world, adapting to different ingredients and varying from family to family.
Australian Pikelets
1 egg 1 cup self-raising flour 1/4cup sugar 1/2 cup milk One drop vanilla essence – optional
First beat the egg then add flour, sugar, milk, vanilla essence. Combine all ingredients and mix lightly and evenly. More ingredients can be added to batter for preferred consistency. Tablespoon mixture onto a greased, heated frying pan or griddle. Cook until pikelets rise and turn light brown, flip once.
Pikelets are cooked plain then served with a topping while hot and fresh.
My photograph shows a rather lavish topping needing a knife and fork. Pikelets are normally finger food topped with jam and cream, or buttered, or a squeeze of lemon and dusting of icing sugar.
Children have been known to colour the batter with food dye for a holiday event.
Study Reading Wales #Dewithon22 Reading List—eat, read, enjoy!
Pancake Recipe from 1984 ‘Country Hospitality’ Cookery Book
This is an straightforward recipe, you can juggle amounts and type of ingredients to suit. I use whatever is available in the fridge. When you are hungry, you cannot afford to be too serious with pancake-making batter. My secret ingredient is camel milk.
PANCAKES
Ingredients
1 cup self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
1 egg
1 cup camel milk (or other)
1 tablespoon butter (or other)
1 lemon
I have tried different milks, e.g. cow milk, soy milk, almond milk, goat milk (considered sheep milk) to versatile camel milk. The Summer Land camel milk makes consistently fluffy pancakes which keep well (if you have any left over) and they take a variety of spreads or toppings.
Method
Sift the flour and salt; make a hole in the flour and break the egg into it, gradually stirring in as much flour as the egg will take;
Add half the milk by degrees and continue stirring until all the flour is absorbed;
Continue beating until bubbles rise, then stir in the rest of the milk gradually and stand batter aside for at least half an hour (I never do);
Take a small piece of butter and melt into the frying pan. Pour butter out and wipe the pan with paper (not necessary with non-stick pans) then put another piece of butter in, and when it has melted pour in a little of the batter and fry till it is light brown and tiny bubbles form;
Turn with a spatula, and when cooked on both sides, slip pancake onto a piece of paper. Continue in the same way until all the batter is used.
Serve
The ICPA serving suggestion is “sprinkle with castor sugar, roll up. Serve hot, garnished with slices of lemon.” However, I love them spread with soy margarine, honey and slices of banana. Try seasonal fruit, peanut butter, savoury mince or a soft square of camel fetta.
Note: Summer Land camel milk (1 litre bottle) available at organics grocery stores, and also in milk powder formula. Use it with your own favourite recipe!
Thanks
This recipe is courtesy of Mrs L Nicholas of Solferino, Clermont, Queensland Australia. Recipe published in ‘Country Hospitality’ compiled by Clermont Branch of the Isolated Children’s Parents Association 1984 with illustrations by Branch member Margaret Finger of Redrock, Clermont, Queensland Australia. Metric conversions are approximate.
Home-grown Kent Jap Pumpkin ready for cooking – June 2020
Pumpkin scones are a traditional morning tea favourite in Queensland. Unsophisticated yet delicious, these golden scones were much-loved by the late Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen, politician and wife of former Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and she often baked them for public occasions.
Seen as tea-time treats, they are available by the half dozen in bakeries and displayed in the cookery section of annual shows and exhibitions. For home cooking, pumpkin scones have stood the test of time due to their quick preparation and adaptability. They can be eaten sweet with strawberry jam and whipped cream, or savoury with cheddar cheese and chutney.
For full flavour, pumpkin scones are best eaten warm from the oven, but they store well and a quick turn in the microwave gives them a boost on a chilly morning.
Packed and ready for visiting family – June 2020
Grandma’s Pumpkin Scones
3 cups self raising flour
pinch salt
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup mashed pumpkin – cooled
1 egg
milk
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, add mashed pumpkin. Sift in flour alternately with enough milk to make soft, light dough. Pat out or roll on floured board to desired thickness. Cut with round cutter. Place on tray and brush with milk or lightly dust with flour. Bake in a hot oven. Serve warm; plain or with topping.
Above recipe is adapted from Jenny Purvis, “Kilmarnock” Clermont, Queensland. Courtesy of “Country Hospitality: A Comprehensive Cookery Book” compiled by the Clermont Branch of Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association 1984 edition.
Plain, buttered, chutney or jam topping?
A prayer follows the foreword by former Executive Officer, Queensland Council ICPA, Mr E C Powne MBE, and reprinted below:
My Kitchen Prayer
Bless my little kitchen, Lord,
I love its every nook, And bless me as I do my work, Wash pots and pans and cook.
May the meals that I prepare, Be seasoned from above, With thy blessing and thy grace, But most of – thy Love.
As we partake of earthly food,
Thy table Thou has spread, We’ll not forget to thank thee, Lord, For all our daily bread.
So bless my little kitchen, Lord, And those who enter in, May they find nought but joy and peace, And happiness therein. Amen.
Nature’s winter bounty brightens our day – June 2020
♥Gretchen Bernet-Ward
ADDENDUM: Kent pumpkin (also known as Jap pumpkin) has ribbed, grey-green mottled skin and golden yellow flesh. This pumpkin is of the sweeter variety, perfect for pumpkin scones, salads and baked dishes. Great mashed, roasted or steamed and mixed with a variety of sweet or savoury foods. Pumpkin is an excellent source of beta carotene and contains dietary fibre, potassium, and vitamins C and E for good health.
When you are stuck at home for weeks on end, the stuff and junk around your home can become unbearable.
It does at my place.
Shelves seem crowded, cupboards appear to bulge, clothes hang on available doorknobs, and too many cardboard boxes hold bits and pieces of my memories.
During my Covid-inspired clean-up, I unearthed one particular item decades old.
Sieve flour, rice flour, sugar into basin, rub in butter and knead until smooth paste formed. Turn on to floured board, make shape or shapes as desired, prick with a fork. Place on cold greased slide, cook in a slow oven ¾ hour to an hour, until a pale brown.
MY FATHER’S FAVOURITE SHORTBREAD RECIPE
Reproduced in original style from my mother’s PWMU Cookery Book 1976 Printed in Australia by Simpson Halligan Co Pty Ltd Distributed by Jolly Book Supplies, Brisbane Twenty-first edition revised and enlarged with over 200,000 copies issued
Mix 227g (1/2 lb) butter and 113g (1/4 lb) fine white sugar or icing sugar; add pinch salt and .45kg (1 lb) plain flour; knead all well together; roll out to the thickness of about half an inch, cut into rounds or finger lengths; prick with fork. Note 340g (¾ lb) flour and 113g (1/4 lb) rice flour may be substituted for .45g (1 lb) flour. Bake in slow oven about 40 minutes until fawn colour.
Thoughts Become Words 
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