Parkin with Sally

We're now in December and I'm really missing the Autumn we've had, tas been a lovely one. And a lovely one especially filled with Parkin. All the beautiful colours of the leaves and sky..the reds, browns, even shades of purple of some leaves! and gorgeous reds/oranges of the sky..made me feel all warm inside and inspired me to make a parkin to go with those warm feelings inside.

My first attempt at it wasn't the best, it crumbled and wasn't as sticky as parkin should be, it still tasted nice, but I wanted to get that great sticky parkin like the ones like your nan used to make.

My last attempt at parkin was great, after an afternoon spent with my nan in Sheffield, visiting the market and going for a brew, I told her about my parkin experiements and she mentioned that after you've made it, try leaving it in the fridge in an air tight container for a few days to a week, maximum, and the flavours will have time to develop more and it'll become more sticky.

So, that's just what I did. And, it was amazing! The best parkin to date! 

Even Sally agreed!

Here's the ingredients..

1 cup wholemeal self raising flour

2 cups oatmeal

2tbsp molasses

halfcup dark brown muscavado sugar

6tbsp marg (vegan spread)

1tsp ginger (ground or fresh)

half tsp nutmeg

1tsp bicarb of soda

3 ripe mashed bananas

1 cup mixed peel 

1 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

melt the marg, molasses and muscavado sugar in a pan on a low heat. In a seperate bowl mix together all dry ingredients, then add the mashed banana and marg mixture, mix well until all combined then add to a well greased baking tray. Pop in the oven for 40mins on 180oC. You can tell when the parkin is ready by sticking a knife in the middle..if it comes out clean then tis ready. Leave to cool and enjoy, or, for a more moist and stickier parkin, leave in an air tight container for a few days to a week maximum, either in the fridge or somewhere dark and cool. The longer you leave it, the better in taste it will get..that's if you can sleep at night knowing there's tasty parkin in the fridge!

I shared a couple of slices with Sally in the late afternoon, and gave some slices to my friend Michael.

The rest I saved for my friend Rachael, it was her birthday so I thought it would be a nice gift for her, and a nice way to say goodbye to a lovely Autumn we've had.

Chow for now parkin, now December is here maybe it's time for rich, sticky fruit cakes!

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