It’s been nearly two months now since our cafe closed. I stopped baking for a while. I stopped blogging for a while too. Truth be told there was just too much still going on closing up accounts, getting rid of stock and equipment. All that alongside a full time job and overseas travel. Weekends just seemed to fly by leaving me even more exhausted than I was on the Friday.
The last couple of weeks have given me back a sense of normality. Things are more or less wrapped up with the cafe. I haven’t been jet lagged. There’s no training to do as I’ve still got a bit of quadricep tendonitis and have been told to rest. Yesterday I woke up without an alarm. Had a little cuddle with the youngest. Got up and wanted to bake. I wanted to fill the house with that wonderful baking smell and there’s nothing better than gingerbread to do the trick. As it’s Bonfire Night I settled on Parkin. Same soporific effect. Easy peasy to make.
I used to make Paul Hollywood’s version at the cafe and double batches were never enough. Drizzled with caramel sauce and served with a dollop of creme fraiche, slices would be sold before they even came out of the oven. Today I adapted the recipe a bit using jaggery for an earthier flavour and added some some ginger syrup for a moister topping and marshmallows for a bit of fun.
Marshmallow Parkin
Ingredients
- 225 g ordinary oats
- 225 g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 225 g jaggery
- 2 large eggs
- 125 ml milk
- 225 g unsalted or salted butter
- 110 g golden syrup
- 110 g black treacle
- 3-4 tbsp ginger syrup
- Mini marshmallows for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170C or 150C fan and line a 20cm square baking tin. Or you can use these enamel bowls from Falconware. I had about 8 leftover from the cafe and this mixture will easily fill those.
- Blitz the oats in a high speed blender or food processor until you have a thick breadcrumbs consistency.
- Add them to a bowl along with the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger.
- Grate in the jaggery. You can use soft brown or dark muscovado sugar but I had a load of jaggery to use up and find that it gives an earthier flavour.
- Mix well to combine and set aside.
- Break the eggs into a jug. Add the milk and then whisk together and set aside.
- Weigh the butter, syrup and treacle into a small saucepan and heat on a gentle heat until it's all melted.
- Pour the melted mixture into the four and jaggery mixture and mix well. You don't need to use a whisk. A wooden spoon is fine.
- Now pour in the egg and milk mixture and mix again until it is all combined.
- Pour into the baking tin and bake for 45 minutes. It will feel soft and when you pop a cocktail stick in, it will not come out clean. That's good. You want this a little moist.
- Note - if you are using the smaller enamel bowls, this won't take 45 minutes. About 20-25 minutes is more likely.
- While it is still warm in the baking tin, spoon over the ginger syrup.
- Once your ready to eat, mound over some marshmallows and then blow torch them a little or pop under the grill to burn and soften a little at the edges.
We made this before we went out to see the fireworks and had it on our return with hot chocolate and ginger wine. I still love doing sparklers in the garden so I added a few mini ones in to show off a bit. It keeps very well for a week or so and is equally lovely without the marshmallows topped with salted caramel sauce or custard.
PIN THIS MARSHMALLOW PARKIN RECIPE FOR LATER
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