First up, I'll give you the grim news that we lost 5 of our 6 hens to a fox on Monday. Bright, sunny afternoon too, foxes only usually turn up on grim days and at dawn around here. But this fox was different, he was the size of an Alsatian and quite aggressive with Ma, who stepped outside and found him in the garden - He got away, but he must've been been waiting around for us to step inside as we were later in for dinner than usual.
We're all devastated by the loss, they were all wonderful, cheeky, adorable girls, and will be very much missed - Rose, Ruby, Doris, Iris and Annie.
Mary somehow survived, she was found hiding in an overgrown patch of garden. She's alright, shaken and missing her sisters, but now she has a big brother in the form of our cat, Charlie. He's become very protective of her.
I could talk about the girls and boy for ages, but I shall get onto the recipe now.
This week I thought you might like some biscuits. So, are digestives alright for you? These aren't like the well known branded ones, more like a cross between those and oatcakes. Learn from my mistake though, I don't have any table salt, I only had rock salt, and I didn't pound it up very well. So use table salt if you can, rather than having lumps of salt in the occasional mouthful - Like salty roulette!
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Digestive Biscuits - 1942
Makes about 24 if a 2 1/2 inch cutter is used (I rolled a little thin and came out with 28)
6 ozs Wholemeal Flour
1 oz White Flour (plain)
1 oz Oatmeal
3 ozs Fat - I used a veggie Baking Fat
1 Dessertspoonful Sugar
1/2 Teaspoonful Salt
1 Teaspoonful Cream of Tartar
1/2 Bicarbonate of Soda
A little Milk and Water to mix
Mix wholemeal and white flour, salt, cream of tartar and bicarbonate.
Rub in fat.
Add oatmeal and sugar, mix again.
Gradually stir in a little milk and water to make a stiff dough.
Knead well.
Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.
Stamp out rounds with a plain cutter.
Border the biscuits all round with small holes, making these with a skewer; similarly prick a small inner circle of holes.
Cook on a baking sheet in a moderate oven, Gas Mark 5 (190 C / 375 F) for about 20 minutes.
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I hope you enjoy these, I'm trying to resist their charms until I put the kettle on next... About 5 more minutes then!
I'll leave you with a quote from Ma, when a couple of hours before making I said "I hope they're alright". Ma replies "Well, if they're not, chuck some chocolate on them" - Thanks Ma!
Any requests for next week?
Until I next post
Jennie
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