Comfort Eating

recipe today is the one for Yorkshire Parkin, and as this is best made a day or three before being eaten as the texture improves with keeping, so worth making a batch this coming week to serve up over the festive season. Well wrapped in paper then foil, it should keep for several days. Don't worry about the dimensions of the baking tin, use it only as a guide - in any case my roasting tin works just as well. As to using the fine oatmeal, I tend to improvise (again) and give porridge oats a quick blitz in the blender to break them down.
Yorkshire Parkin:
8 oz (225g) wholewheat flour
2 tsp ground ginger
half tsp freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
8 oz (225g) fine oatmeal (see above)
1 oz (25g) soft brown sugar
4 oz (100g) black treacle
4 oz (100g) golden syrup
2 oz (50g) butter or soft margarine
1 egg, beaten
8 fl.oz (225ml) warm milk
Sieve together the flour, spices, baking powder and salt. Stir in the oatmeal. Put the sugar, treacle, syrup and butter/or marg, into a small pan and heat gently until everything has dissolved, then remove from the heat, allowing it to cool slightly before beating the mixture into the flour alternately with the egg and milk. The mixture will be very soft, so pour this into a lined and greased 10"x 8" x 3" (25 x 20 x 7.5cm) tin.
Bake at 179Cm 325F, gas 3 for 45 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin then turn out and wrap in foil. Keep for a least two days before cutting into squares.