Recipe for Welsh Cakes

I'm taking this recipe from a book published by the The Vancouver Welsh Society .  The book is called Cambrian Cooks, printed and bound by Rasmussen Company, Winnipeg, in 2009.  The original recipe is found on page 52, and is by Katie Hughes Perrin Christopher, titled "Auntie Katie's Welsh Cakes."  I made them for the first time a couple of nights ago, to distribute to the children in the elementary school where I volunteer--a "happy summer" gift before the end of the school term. I typed out the recipe and included it in the baggie, along with a juice box.
The recipe goes like this: Sift together 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 cup white sugar, and add a dash of salt. Then cut in 1/2 lb butter (about a cup) and add 1/2 cup currants. In a cup, mix 1 tbsp whole milk and one egg. Then add that to the rest of the ingredients.
Then, for the children who might be helping Mom or Dad with this recipe, I advised that they have "CLEAN, DRY, WARM hands" to knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Set the dough on a floured board and roll it to 1/4 inch (about 1/2 centimetre) thickness. Cut the dough into small rounds using a cookie cutter or the rim of a small glass.  Cook the cakes on a greased griddle or electric fry pan, turning once, to a golden brown colour. 
The recipe says it makes 32 cakes, but I guess mine were smaller because I got about 45 cakes.  My husband said they were the best Welsh Cakes he'd ever had. :) After all, I had to give a couple to him to test them. Right? Of course right.

recipe for tourtiere

I take my recipe from a book called Food--a la canadienne.  It's very simple:  You need 1 lb of ground pork (or turkey).  Some recipes suggest half pork and half turkey or veal--just not hamburger!  Then chop 1/4 cup onion, mix with the meat and add a dash of salt, a dash of pepper, 1/4 tsp savory, dash ground cloves, and mix it all together.  Simmer in a little water (about 1/4 cup) and include a small bay leaf (break the leaf in half to release the flavour).  Continue simmering about 20 minutes, stirring once in a while.  Remove the bay leaf halves, cool the meat, skimming off excess fat. 
For the pie crusts, I'm lazy.  I just buy the frozen ones.  Fill one 9" pie crust with the meat mixture, and cover with a second pie crust, seal the edges with a dab of water and press down with fork tines.  Cut a couple of steam vents in the top crust.  Bake at 425 f degrees until the top is golden brown (half an hour).  It should serve 6 people, if you have some vegetables to go with it, unless your family is like mine, and you're lucky if it will serve four.  I make two of them, so people can have seconds. 
This is a traditional French Canadian meal to be served after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.

Category # 2 Friends & Families

Today I'll start with tag "b", kids' activities.  It sort of overlaps a bit with tag "c", volunteering with kids sometimes, but not today.  How about a simple recipe?  This one is for after Halloween:  Pumpkin Soup. 
One child with the help of one adult can do most of the preparation, but if there are 2 or 3 children, the tasks can be divided among them.
Take a pumpkin that had the face painted on, not carved--or the contents of a jack-o-lantern that was scooped out before the candle went in.  Either way, you need fresh pumpkin flesh.  The adult gets it started:  Cook the pumpkin.  If it's still in its shell, an adult can cut off the top and scoop out all the seeds, and bake it in the oven at 375 degrees (fahrenheit) for between 30 to 45 minutes depending on the size of the pumpkin. The child (or Kid #1) can plop the pulp into a big pot, about 2 cups of pulp.  Then, Kid #2 should add 3 cups of milk, about a quarter teaspoonful each of ginger and cinnamon, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar (or 2 tablespoons of white sugar), and 2 tablespoons of butter.  Kid #3 uses a potato masher to mush it all together.  The adult has to supervise the cooking of the soup, because it should just be brought to the boil and not actually boil.  Kids can take turns stirring, though.  Big kids, with adult supervision, can pull out stray seeds or stringy pulp using a big spoon.  You can serve it right away, or put it in the fridge and heat it in the microwave later.  It'll smell like pumpkin pie, and taste a bit like it too.  (If you don't have fresh pumpkin, you can use canned pumpkin without having to do any cooking before you heat up the soup.)