Here's a walz down memory lane for me. My Nannan was the best baker I've ever known and these sticky sweet pastries were often produced from her kitchen and shared around. They never hung around for long! Don't let the name put you off. There are no actual flies involved in the making!
Unfortunately I don't have my nannan's recipe so I've been working on one of my own.
Ingredients
For the pastry:
6oz plain flour
6oz self raising flour
3oz butter
3oz lard or trex
For the filling:
3 cups of currants
1 banana (mashed)
1 cup muscavado sugar
1 cup water
1oz butter
For the topping:
6oz Icing sugar
Water to make a royal icing paste
Method:
Filling:
1. Measure all filling ingredients and place into a pan.
2. Bring to the boil and then lower the heat & simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Take off the heat and leave to cool.
Pastry:
1. Set oven to 190 degrees
2. Weigh out pastry ingredients
3. Whizz in food processor
4. Add half cup of cold water (approx) to make a stiff dough
5. Flour a surface and a rolling pin. Roll out half the pastry and fit into a lined Swiss roll tin.
6. Spread the cooled filling over the pastry base
7. Roll out the second half of the pastry to fit over the currant filling then place on top
8 Prick the pastry all over then place in the oven and bake for approx 30 mins.
9. Meanwhile make the topping. Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl
10. Add a little water at a time until a stiff but just pourable paste is made. Stir out any lumps.
11. After taking the pastry out of the oven leave to cool for at least 30 mins
12. Using a wet pallet knife spread the royal icing all over the pastry to the edges. Leave to set for approx 1 hour
13. Use a sharp knife to cut into 15 slices
Serving suggestion: eat with fingers, a cup of tea and your feet up!
