No not parking, Parkin. You can breathe a sigh of relief this post isn’t about that and my general lack of parking ability, because if it was we might be here for quite some time…
Anyway, as I have mentioned before, this Expat life is all very well and good, but making sure my two keep in touch with their English roots is just as important, so when it was my turn to be a “Parent Guest” in The Seven Year Old’s class recently, I relayed the story of the Gun Powder Plot to a group of English pupils, and as it turned out, the teacher and the classroom assistant too – so I am kind of hoping I got my history exactly right! Because of feeling ever so slightly “under the spotlight”, I may have reeled through the topic a bit quicker than anticipated, and found I had to improvise to fill the rest of the time at the end, which I did by telling them how we used to celebrate Bonfire Night in the “olden days” (when I was little) in Yorkshire, where we lived until I was 9. I always associate Bonfire night with living in Yorkshire, I think it’s because it seemed to me that Bonfire Night there was always as much about the food as it was about the fireworks!..
I reminisced to the class about traipsing out to the playing field on those (inevitably cold and dull) November afternoons all those years ago, where we would stand around the bonfire eagerly awaiting the first treat – a big baked potato, stuffed with butter and wrapped in very cheap tinfoil. As it was cooked in the embers of the bonfire – and thanks to the quality of the foil, it would usually be dotted with grit and ash, but it warmed the hands if nothing else. It was the next bit I looked forward to the most anyway, a great big thick slab of Parkin – the closest thing we English have as a traditional gingerbread I guess…
We took the ‘Parkin on Bonfire Night tradition’ with us when we moved down South, and now, even though we won’t have Fireworks in Bavaria on November the 5th, we will have something associated with it…
Funnily enough I had forgotten that it even contained oatmeal at all, and was quite sceptical about this until we tried it fresh out of the oven… Isn’t it funny how food can take you straight back to a place? Just one mouthful of warm gingery sticky cake, and I was 8 years old again – standing out on a freezing cold playing field, whilst being lectured about the dangers of picking sparklers up at the wrong end…
Parkin gets better the longer you leave it for by the way, which probably won’t be for very long in our house.
Ingredients:
195g Golden Syrup
60g Black Treacle
110g dark brown sugar
110g butter
225g medium oatmeal
110g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp ground mixed spice
2 tsp ground ginger (plus a little finely chopped stem ginger if you have some to hand!)
2 beaten eggs
1 tbsp milk
Preheat oven to 150c, and grease and line a small deep baking tray.
Combine flour, oats, spices and salt in a large bowl.
Melt butter, treacle, sugar and syrup over a low heat. Add to the dry ingredients, and combine well with eggs and milk.
Bake for one hour, then test with a skewer – it might need a little longer depending on your oven. Leave in the tin to cool before putting it in an airtight container to mature for a day or three – if you can…
www.sweetwhisperdreams.blogspot.com says
i had never heard about this night before. i love your childhood memories of parkin and bonfires. what fun—love learning about traditions throughout the world. what exactly is treacle?
bavaria says
I guess it’s English for Molasses, although I could be wrong… Molasses would work equally well in my opinion! Thank you Mignon! :)
Pia says
I’ve never had Parkin. Never had a bonfire night growing up either, for that matter. But yesterday, we went out in the cold, and stomped through mud for the fireworks and the bonfire, and it was pretty spectacular. So strange when you think how different our children’s memory of growing up will be from ours :)
bavaria says
And I loved your photographs, they were amazing! Thanks Pia, you are so right! I am so glad you enjoyed yourself at Bonfire Night, and I hope you have Parkin next November 5th too! :)
Mari says
Parkin, not sure I’ve ever tried it so there’s a good excuse to try the recipe out! :)
bavaria says
Let me know what you think! :) x
TheBoyandMe says
Oh this reminds me of Jamaican Ginger Cake, which I adore. Lovely tales of Bonfire Nights passed, we’d have sparklers in the garden and if it wasn’t too cold we’d trek down to the town’s firework display and hold jacket potatoes in our hands as well. Lovely memories, thanks.
Popping over from Britmums Best Post of the Week linky
bavaria says
Thank you for popping over, and for your lovely comment! I love Jamaican Ginger Cake! *rings her Mother to get her to bring some over* :D
farfromhomemama says
I adore parkin. And today, I adore my friend Anne even more becasue she bought a massive chunk round for me. Need to devour it before my husband gets back from Germany and tries to steal it from me. It’s the perfect cake for this time of year.
bavaria says
Quick, quick, did you manage it all? Thank you :)
farfromhomemama says
I left him a small piece :-)
bavaria says
You are kind… :)
TheMadHouse says
My Aunt used to make the best parkin in the world ever nad it was always better once it had stoodd. Her receipe died with her, but I am on the hunt for another one
bavaria says
Thank you Jen! I am not sure mine could live up to an expert Parkin Maker’s recipe, but if you do make it I hope it’s OK! :)
Emm in London says
It is the strangest thing, last night I was chatting all about my memories of bonfire night from when I was growing up in St Helens before we went to South Africa when I was 9. All of a sudden, I remembered that we dressed up as the puritans with pointy hats and buckled shoes and that’s why witches hats are traditionally pointy now. Shrug. Don’t know if the last bit is true but we were certainly taught that.
bavaria says
I honestly didn’t know that! Thank you! You learn something new every day! :)
Trish says
Yup, baked potatoes here too but no Parkin. Though I do have a memory of my dad hammering a stick and a nail onto a fence post so we could have Catherine Wheels to watch.
bavaria says
Bless! I love catherine wheels! When my two were smaller we had a firework night with the neighbours. All the children were petrified so we persuaded them we had a nice quiet firework for them. Husband hammered firework on to the fence, we waited with anticipation – and the firework went off with the most almighty BANG. I think he might have nailed it in a bit too hard! All children ran in screaming. All adults fell over laughing! :D
single married mum says
Oh that takes me back! Lovely Bonfire night memories, though it was more about Halloween in Northern Ireland when I was growing up. Still remember the charred potato skin taste! I’ve never made Parkin, but love a recipe that doesn’t need an electric mixer (less washing up..), and I’ve got all the ingredients :)
bavaria says
Thank you! Any recipe that is this simple is automatically a favourite in our house too! Hope it turns out alright! :)
Erica Price says
I love parkin too & it doesn’t last long enough in our house to get fully mature either.
bavaria says
Thanks Erica, nor ours… Might have to make some more! :D
Kate on Thin Ice says
Was thinking and talking about Parkin this morning. My mun’s friend Nora used to make ours every year and it was so special. And yes I was a little girl in Yorkshire too. Great to have a recipe and will be making thanks to you this year.
bavaria says
Thank you Kate… I hope you really enjoy it! :)
Midlife Singlemum says
Looks delicious. We also had baked potatoes (done in the oven though as our firework parties were in the back garden with the neighbours invited) and mugs of hot chocolate. Ah, those were the days.
bavaria says
Thank you! Sadly we didn’t get any hot chocolate at school, and your baked potatoes sound much nicer as well! :D
MsCaroline says
Since we never celebrated Guy Fawkes Day/Bonfire Night, I didn’t grow up with parkin, but I did see your title and think, “Isn’t that a kind of cake?” So I am giving myself a Gold Star, because I have no idea where I dug that out of my memory – most likely a book. I know what you mean about food in general, though – one bite, and you’re there.
bavaria says
Thank you! And I too will give you a gold star! Funny what we actually have in our memories that we don’t even know is there! :D
india pink says
A lovely post, I’m with you with the memory, standing round the bonfire in our little school field, near the blood sucker trees ;-) we were able to stand so close to the fire that we could watch our own potato cooking, could you imagine that happening now?! I’d forgotten about parkin weirdly but I am going to rekindle my memory tomorrow as I’m sure I will love it and hopefully it will all come flooding back. (not sure it will be as good as yours or mums though?) xx
bavaria says
Nope… You know what, sadly I can’t! Luckily for us health and safety rules haven’t gone mad in DE, and I am not sure they really existed in DK anyway, so they are having the kind of childhood that we did! :D I laughed at your memory of the bloodsucker trees though, that’s so funny – I had forgotten about that! Yes, you must make it, but make sure you leave at least some of it for a few days to let it get really sticky! :D xxxx
kelloggsville says
do you know whilst I was reading this, my mind was jumping back all over my childhood bonfire night memories. Left me a little sad in a reminising kind of way. I probably need some parkin to fill the gap (see what I did there?! LOL)
bavaria says
I love what you did there! :D Thank you!