Family Quiz

Test your food & drink knowledge with our bumper family quiz, packed full of interesting local food facts and stories about Northumberland’s culinary past and people.

Don’t miss our bumper Spring Festival quiz, featuring multiple-choice questions about local food and drink, food on television and the strange and wonderful things people once considered tasty.

If you would like to join us please register and the Zoom link to the quiz will be sent to you the day before the event.

See below a recipe for our very own Hearth Cakes.   Why not make your own and bring them along to show everyone?

Hearth Cakes AKA Singin’ Hinnies

Makes approx. 16. Takes an hour max including chilling & baking

Ingredients

200g plain flour

50g unsalted butter (chilled)

50g lard (chilled)(or replace with additional butter if you haven’t got lard)

75g currants, raisins and/or sultanas

25g white sugar

50ml milk

1tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

Caster sugar, jam & butter to serve

Method

1. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder into a clean bowl.
2. Cut lard and butter into small cubes and add to flour mix.
3. Using your fingertips, rub the lard and butter into the flour mixture until the      mixture is well combined and resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Add sugar, raisins/sultanas/currants and milk to combine to a rough dough. Just add      enough milk to combine. Pop mix back in the fridge to firm up if it’s getting soft.
5. Roll your dough out onto a lightly floured surface to a thickness of around 7-8mm. Rest and chill the dough as you go along, to keep firm.
6. Using a 5cm round fluted cutter (Traditional – or how about using a heart shaped cutter for real Heart(h) Cakes!), punch out discs as close as possible to one another, and gently prick the tops of each round all over with a fork. If re-using offcuts, try not to overwork the dough too much, and chill again before cutting out more.
7. Wipe a heavy pan of griddle with some lard. On a low heat cook the dough for around 8 minutes per side  or until golden brown
8. Dust with caster sugar and enjoy warm with butter (you can add jam or honey for a real treat)

These freeze well for later