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Swapping Sweets For Prayers ... My Families History of Soul CakesJul 14 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Swapping sweets for prayers ..
When I was growing up one of the traditions we had when Halloween time arrived was making soul cakes. We celebrated Halloween but it was much different than what most people are used to today; we stuck to the more traditional approach. If someone were to examine the way my family observed Halloween chances are they would say that we were witches or followed the Wiccan creed but that wasn’t entirely true. We had four generations of family living within a three square mile radius so there were always ‘the older folks’ at gathering and this meant that we always got a taste of the old world values when it came to celebrating holidays. My grandmother used to tell us about how important it was to embrace nature and the changing of the seasons for without them there would be no winter snow to play in, no summer sun to bask in and no autumn to enjoy the changing of the leaves. With this came stories of Samhain and other celebrations of nature. I guess I was getting a little nostalgic when I was going through my recipe box last week; I came across a lot of family recipes and a few that my grandmother and great grandmother would make when holidays would roll around. I really wish I would have paid more attention to them when they were making them because no matter how hard I try I can never get them to taste the same way. So listen up kiddies .. when your grandmother tries to pull you aside to show you how to make something in the kitchen don’t roll your eyes and say, “Next time ... I’m busy right now ...” because chances are that time will never come and when they pass away so will your chance to learn how to make those special treats. The recipe that I have for soul cakes is one that is about five generations old, I can’t say exactly who created it or where it came from but it’s something that we’ve always had around Halloween. The history of the soul cake takes its roots from several different religions and cultures. The one that we were told when we were younger was pretty simple; the cakes were made to hand out to the poor people that would come begging for food in exchange for their prayers. You gave them the cakes and they would say prayers for whomever died in the past year. Of course you could have them pray for anyone but, morbidly, they had to be dead. If you asked one of my grandmothers she would say that these were handed out the entire month of October, the other firmly insisted that it was only on All Soul’s Day [November 2]. Since I am someone that simply adores Halloween, I made these every year hoping that my brood will carry on the tradition when they are older, married and have little ones of their own. Soul cakes are very easy to make and don’t require a lot of specialty ingredients. This does take a while to bake but I can almost guarantee that once you taste these you’ll love them and the time spent making them will be more than justified. This is a basic recipe for a soul cake, you can change the overall taste of them by playing around with other spices instead of ginger or adding things like nuts, fruits, grain mixtures and type of molasses. The Montrose Soul Cake 1 stick of butter 1 cup molasses 3 1/2 cups oatmeal [not the one minute oats] 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour 2/3 cup dark brown sugar firmly packed 1 teaspoon ground dried ginger 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda [not baking powder] 1/4 cup milk [whole milk works best] You will want to start out with the butter and molasses; place both of them into a heavy pan and melt them. It’s really important that the heat is low so that it doesn’t scorch or burn. Once it has melted remove it from the stove and stir it occasionally so that it doesn’t start to clump. In a large mixing bowl [my grandmother insisted that it be a metal one but you can use whatever you wish] combine the oatmeal, flour, salt, ginger, brown sugar and cream of tartar. In a separate bowl pour the milk and then add the baking soda, mix these two until they are blended but do this by hand so you don’t get a froth. Take the melted butter and molasses and pour it into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix with a fork. Once things have started to stick to the sides of the bowl add the milk and baking soda; this is when you really have to make sure that everything gets mixed together. I like to use a large metal fork or one of the salad tongs to really get everything mixed well. Once you have a nice solid but still relatively messy clump you’ll want to drop it into greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. Since all ovens are different you will want to check it after about 45 minutes to see if it is done. slide a toothpick into the center of it and if it comes out clean you know that it’s done. If you slide the toothpick into the side and it comes out clean that isn’t really a good indication of whether or not it’s done since the edges do cook faster than the middle. I use an eight inch square pan for this but you can use any size you like as long as long as the dimensions add up to 32 inches [for example a larger loaf pan measuring 12 x 4 or 10 x 6] This gives you the thickness that’s needed to have this bake perfectly and not dry out or be undercooked in the middle. Allow this to cool completely then remove from the pan or cut into pieces within the pan. You can top these with powdered sugar or my personal favorite, soft butter then sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon. Someone asked me why they were called soul cakes; most people think that they are like little mini cakes and are a little taken back when they see it’s cut from a large pan. You can make these this way but you will need to have a pan that has a molded body to it. I tried this recipe with the Wilton Heart Mini Baking Pan and it worked out nicely but I did have to play around with how much of the mixture to add. If you are going to try this with a molded baking pan you’ll want to fill it a little than half way full and adjust the baking time - start to check the progress of them after about twenty five minutes to make sure that they aren’t going to burn or be too dry. Another variation is to bake these in a cupcake pan either with or without liners, fill a little less than half and check them often. The variations of these include ones that are baked with dried fruits such as apricots, berries, nuts, spiced oatmeal, cinnamon and even brandy. Depending on where the recipe came from the ingredients may vary a little but this is the basic recipe that my family has made for years. Friends from Scotland omit the ginger and add cinnamon and nutmeg while the Italians add anise instead of the ginger. If you are someone that considers them an adventurous person in the kitchen you can have a lot of fun with this recipe and always have something a little unusual on hand for when people stop by. Besides that, you can add a little mystery to things by telling them the story of how the soul cakes were used to buy prayers. If you really want to go all out and make these something that will really look great on a Halloween dessert table try baking them in the Wilton Singles pans, the bat and ghost are my favorites but if you want to go for something a little plainer you can use the angel food cake pan one as well. As always, thanks for the read! ~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~ © 2005 Freak369 Need some more ideas for Halloween? 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