Apple and ginger patty cakes

Apple and Ginger Patty Cakes

Apple and ginger patty cakes are just right for the Christmas season.

Light, fluffy cupcakes filled with apple and ginger with a festive touch on top.

Originally published as “Quick, Fancy Patty Cakes” in the Brisbane Worker, January 17th, 1939 and voted as “Best recipe of the week ending December 27th 1938”

Ingredients

These ingredients make 12 vintage sized cupcakes (you could easily triple this amount for 18-20 modern sized cupcakes)

For the batter 

4 teaspoons (1 Australian tablespoon) of butter or dairy free margarine

3 Australian (20ml) or 4 US (15ml) tablespoons of sugar

2 eggs or equivalent in egg replacer

1/2 cup milk

1 cup self raising flour or 1 cup plain or all purpose flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder added

food colouring

For the filling 

1 apple

ginger and sugar to taste. Powdered ginger was used in the original recipe but why not try glace ginger, chopped finely?

Method

Preheat your over to 180 degrees C or 350 degrees F

Mix the butter, sugar, eggs, milk and flour into a batter.

Fill your patty pans about halfway full, making sure you don’t use all the batter.

Grate the apple and add ginger and sugar to taste.

Place a teaspoonful of apple on top of the batter in the patty pans.

Mix a couple of drops  of food colouring with the remaining batter and put a teaspoonful on top of the filling.

Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked.

Goblin sandwiches. A halloween treat from the 1930's

Goblin Sandwiches

Goblin Sandwiches, originally published in The Queenslander, October 29th, 1936

Ingredients for each sandwich

1 slice each of white and brown bread

margarine or butter (optional)

cheese spread (home made or store bought)

shredded ham

pickles

stuffed olives

You can find the recipe for home made cheese spread here

 Method

Butter both slices of bread (optional)

Spread one of the slices of bread with the cheese spread.

Sprinkle the ham on top.

Top with the second slice of bread.

Make a face using slices of stuffed olive for the eyes and nose, half a pickle cut in half again for the lips and tiny rectangles of pickle for the eyebrows.