Breakfast with the BBB - Singing Hinnies

These tasty little griddle cakes had me singing for the wrong reason at first.  That reason being that I accidentally dumped my flour and butter all over the flour as I was getting the milk out.  There was no saving any of it.  But stubbornness prevails and the second batch came together nicely and was griddled and consumed with delight.  They are quite rich, these fatty cuties (as they are known in Scotland), also known as griddle cakes or scones, and bannocks and are particularly well known in Northumberland in northern England.  Typically made with flour, butter, lard, salt, baking powder, milk, and dried currants, we were given the option of whichever dried fruit we preferred so long as they were scone-like and griddled.

I used (for the second batch) freshly ground einkorn, kamut, and oats, mixed with all purpose flour and went with dried cranberries for my add-in.  I do like currants, but didn't have any on hand.  These would be great with any sweet dried fruit since they are so rich and otherwise unsweetened.  Traditionally served with melted butter on top, like a crumpet, they were also delicious with jam added to that.  Since it is such a crumbly cake, more so than a scone for mine, I did not take the risk of splitting them and having them fall apart.  Easier to eat just topped anyway!  And I'm told you can freeze the cakes before griddling so that they are ready to go just a few at a time when you need them!  (Defrost before cooking, freeze up to 3 months.)

Devouring them while still nice and warm.

The host kitchen at Feeding My Enthusiasms chose this recipe to avoid turning on the oven this month, for which I am eternally grateful.  We don't have sweltering heat often enough for air conditioning to be found in most houses, so when it does get toasty, it gets miserable.  It was lovely to get a bread made that could just be quickly done on a stove top or griddle.  These are an easy and unique little breakfast bread, rich, tasty, and beautifully filling.  We would love for you to join in as a buddy baker this month! You don't have to have a blog to participate, a picture will do.  Just send a picture or your post of your finished bread to the host kitchen by the 29th of this month.  You will receive a Bread Baking Buddy graphic to keep or add to your post, and be included in our Buddy round up at the end of the month.  New recipes are posted every month on the 16th.  Check out our Facebook group to see the participants' baking results during that time.

Singing Hinnies 
makes 8

225grams (8ozs) plain flour (I used 100g all purpose, 50g sprouted einkorn, 50g sprouted kamut, and 25g sprouted oats, all freshly ground for the sprouted)

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

100g (4oz.) butter

50g (2oz.) currants (snipped dried cranberries)

Milk to mix to a dough (about 6-9 tbsp) (I used 6 tbsp)

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl.  Rub in the fat (or cut in with pastry blender or two knives) (I used the mixer paddle) and stir in the currants or raisins. Add enough milk to make a firm dough.  (I let mine chill and rest for a bit to try to get more loft out of my whole grain mixture.)  Roll out onto a floured tray or board and cut with scone or biscuit cutter into rounds of chosen size, usually about 3 inches wide.

Heat a heavy pan (griddle or cast iron skillet work well) and lightly grease. Place scones onto griddle on a very low heat so that the scones can cook very slowly.  (I found 5 minutes per side to be a common number depending on a slightly higher heat.  I cooked longer.)  Turn once and cook on other side. To check that they are cooked remove one of the cakes and tap it gently – it should sound hollow.  The top and bottom should be browned but not burnt.  Let cool slightly and serve warm with melted butter on top.  Excellent with jam as well!

The rest of the Bread Baking Babes

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
• Judy’s Gross Eats – Judy
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• My Diverse Kitchen - Aparna
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna
• Bake My Day - Karen
• Feeding My Enthusiasms - Elle 

Approximate nutrition per singing hinny for a batch of 8 cakes: