Today, I'm giving thanks for the traditions of the Catholic Church on feast days. Being Catholic, we celebrate everything, and the dead are no exception. Today, November 2nd, is the Feast of All Souls, where we pray for all the dead in Purgatory. In pre-Reformation Britain, this feast was celebrated by children going door to door begging for soul cakes; in return for the sweet, they promised to pray for the souls in Purgatory, hence the name.
I read the following recipe in one of the blogs I read and it looked pretty good, so I baked up a batch to take with me to Bible study tonight. I snuck a taste when one of them broke and it was indeed delicious. So tonight, we'll be remembering the holy souls in Purgatory as we eat them.
Soul Cakes
- 2 3/4 cup plain flour (sifted)
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup butter (softened & diced)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 egg (beaten)
- 2 tsp of white vinegar
Preheat the oven to 400F and grease 2 flat baking trays
Thoroughly mix all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl – sifted flour, spices, and sugar. Rub in the diced butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add in the beaten egg and white vinegar and mix by hand until a firm dough is made. Then cover it and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Flour a working surface and roll out the dough to 7mm thick and using a small round pastry cutter cut into rounds; use a straight edge to press into, and then draw a cross shape, in the top of the dough. Place these rounds on the greased baking tray and bake in the oven for 8 1/2 minutes at 400F until slightly colored. Serve warm or cold. Makes about 5 dozen
Close up of my soul cakes. I don't know why my kitchen looks so dark
The whole lovely plate of soul cakes
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