St John’s Eccles Cakes

Oh how I miss St John.

I miss those sneaky mid week lunches at Bread and Wine and buying my Eccles cake before I ate just in case they were all gone by the time I finished.

This year has been the year for conquering recipes. Finally having a kitchen to myself makes me feel much more free to hog it all day, make a huge mess and use every pan in the place. I can give time to those recipes I have put on the back burner.

Making rough puff pastry is one thing I’ve had a bit of a head block on. You think, it’s too hard, too time consuming and you decide won’t attempt it.

In reality, it’s not that hard and it’s not that time consuming. More than that, it’s very satisfying to realise you can do it. Although I did have to watch a youtube video to make sure I understood the pastry rolling and folding instructions correctly.

These cakes originate from a small town called Eccles which used to be in Lancashire but has since been enveloped as a suburb of growing Manchester. Purists would include lard in the pastry although St John have omitted it. Traditionally the three slits in the top represent the Holy Trinity. The recipe for these little flaky current filled pastries was shared here in The Guardian.