Lemon Splits

  

I've been pretty laid out with my back this past couple of weeks and have not really been cooking anything new for the most part. The pain has been pretty bad, but finally today I feel like I have begun to turn the corner somewhat and so I decided to do a new recipe to share on here. Lemon Splits!

  

Its okay if you don't know what they are.  I had never heard of them either before I moved here to the UK.  I have always loved Lemon flavoured anything.  Those lemon puff cookies were my favourite when I was growing up.  Buttery lemon flavoured crackers put together with lemon icing. If you are a lemon aficionado you will know exactly the ones I mean!

 

I discovered these Lemon Splits in the grocery shop about a year or so ago. What they are is plain Welsh Cakes, without the spice and raisins, put together with a layer of lemon curd in the middle.  My goodness but they are some tasty. They don't always have them in the shops however so it is hit and miss as to if you can find them or not.  I looked for a recipe online but couldn't find one anywhere.

 

I decided to take the bull by the horns and create my own.  I have made Welsh Cakes in the past.  You can find that recipe here.   Welsh cakes are really good. They are like a cross between a pastry and a scone in my opinion.  Buttery with a short texture and oh so tasty, especially when served with a hot bevvie!

 

They are a very traditional Welsh teatime treat and you will find them all over Wales.  They are extremely good I have to say.  All of the teatime treats in the British Isles are extremely good.  They know how to bake good things! 

  

So what I did was make Welsh Cakes, without the spice or the raisins  . . . 

Just plain  . . . flour, butter, sugar and an egg. You might need to add a bit of milk to the dough, but my dough was perfect without it.  In fact I had to generously dust my board and pin with flour or it would have stuck too much.

 

I baked them on my Pampered Chef Griddle pan.  You need to heat it so that its not scalding hot and not too cool.  You can use a heavy based non-stick skillet as well.  The important thing to remember is to not have it too hot, or the outside will brown too quickly and they won't be done inside.

 

I heated mine over medium low and once it was heated I turned it down to low.  This worked well for me, about 2 to 3 minute per side did the trick. I knew it was time to flip them over when they started looking a bit puffy on top and were golden brown on the bottom.

 

When they were done they were golden brown on both sides and the edges looked dry.  That's the best that I can explain it.

  

You can of course make your own lemon curd to fill these from scratch and I have a darn good recipe that you can find here. 

 

But a really good quality store bought one works just fine also and sometimes that's all we have time for!

  

These are perfect!  We both enjoyed them very much, even the "so-called lemon hater". Methinks he doth protest too much personally!  He scarfed two down right away no problemo!  If you really don't like lemon, these would be awfully nice sandwiched together with your favourite jam as well. Ohh, black currant jam or jelly would be lovely!

Yield: Makes 12 to 14

Author: Marie Rayner

Lemon Splits

prep time: cook time: total time:

Traditional Welsh Cakes without the raisins, sandwiched together with lemon curd. Don't worry if you don't have a griddle or hot stone to cook them on, they will cook perfectly find in a skillet with a heavy base.

ingredients:

• 225g self rising flour (1 1/2 cups + 2TBS)
• 110g salted butter (1/2 cup minus 1 tsp)
• 85g caster sugar (7 TBS)
• 1 medium free range egg
• Milk (if needed)
• flour to dust the cutting board
• butter to grease the griddle (optional)
• good quality lemon curd to fill

instructions:

How to cook Lemon Splits

1. Sift the flour into a bowl.  Drop in the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar with a fork. Beat the egg and stir it into the mixture to form a ball of dough, adding a splash of milk if you need it. (I did not need it.)
2. Generously flour a board and then tip the dough out onto it, also generously flouring the dough. Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into rounds using a 2 1/2 inch round fluted cutter.   Re-roll any scraps and cut again, until all the dough has been used up.
3. Heat a heavy grill stone or non-stick griddle pan over medium low heat until fairly hot.  Brush lightly with butter if desired. (I didn't use any.) Add the welsh cakes and bake them for 2 to 3 minutes on one side. They should be golden brown on the bottom. Flip them over and bake for a further 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown on the other side.  Try not to have the temperature of the griddle too high or they will brown too quickly on the outside and not be cooked in the centre.  ( It was my observation that they were ready to flip over when the tops looked kind of puffy.)
4. Remove from the pan with a spatula to a wire rack to cool. 
5. To make the lemon splits, sandwich two together with lemon curd in the centre.  You can dust with some icing sugar to serve.  Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

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One thing I have learnt this week is that I need to slow things down a bit. I think I have been doing too much actually and so I am going to cut back a bit on the blogging, perhaps only do a recipe here 3 or 4 times a week.  I know I have said that in the past, but this time I really mean it.  There will still be quality, tasty recipes here, just not as often!