Hump-Day Baking: Lancashire Parkin

It's traditional in the North of England to make this sticky, treacle and oatmeal-rich version of gingerbread for eating on November 5th - Guy Fawkes Night - though why gingerbread is associated with the attempted overthrow of the Government by the Catholic proletariat I have no idea! Probably because it's yummy and filling and moreish and good to eat while you watch the fireworks we traditionally launch to commemorate said failed coup. Now, like everything in the North (because God knows, we like to fight) each region - nay, each household! - has it's own variant that is THE BEST. Yorkshire parkin is the most famous version and is commercially produced in Yorkshire to this day. In the ex-Mill towns of Lancashire (where it's made with less oats, more flour in case you were wondering) you just have to wait for your Auntie Pat to make it come Bonfire Night. Because, as everyone on your street will testify, Auntie Pat's Parkin will be THE BEST. They make a version of it in the Midlands called 'Perkin' but we don't talk about that as 1: They're all a bit funny down there and 2) They call it 'Perkin' - err, hello??

The second rule of parkin is that you want it everso slightly underdone so the cake is almost fudgy in the centre. Dry parkin is neither use nor treacle flapjack to anyone so just keep an eye on it an don't worry if it seems a bit soft upon taking out of the oven.
This is my Parkin recipe and as everyone in my house will tell you it is THE BEST.


Auntie Dee's Parkin
(please feel free to double this recipe if you live in an equally greedy household!)

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp mixed spice
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp (heaped) of baking soda
1 cup non-dairy milk
3/4 cup vegan margarine
2 tbsp treacle/blackstrap molasses

Method

Preheat your oven to GM5/190oC/375oF. Line an 8x8" baking tin with greaseproof paper. Mix the flour, oatmeal, rolled oats, dark brown sugar, ginger, mixed spice and salt together in a large bowl. Heat the milk up in the microwave until lukewarm, then add the baking soda. In the meantime, melt the margarine and treacle together in a pan until warm before pouring the milk-soda and treacle-marg mix onto the dry ingredients and mixing well.
Pour the batter - and it will be very wet - into the baking tin before baking in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Check after 45 minutes, it's done when the top springs back when you press it.
Let it cool down completely before removing from the baking tin, wrapping in greaseproof paper and storing in a cake tin or other airtight container for a week. Then take the box down, open it and wonder why there's only a little treacley square left in the corner... (~_^)