Jeannie Maitland Cakes

Jeannie Maitland Cakes (made like a thin biscuit) are a lovely old Gloucestershire recipe without much in the way of information as to where the name comes from – they are similar in many ways to the modern ‘jammy dodger’ biscuit. They are made with neither milk, nor water, as the cake batter is moistened only with beaten eggs – if possible you should make your own home-made jam, in whatever flavour you would like, to go in between the cakes as this is an old rural recipe.

This Jeannie Maitland Cakes Recipe is from ‘100 Gloucestershire Recipes: Old And New’ collected and compiled by the Gloucestershire Federation of Women’s Institutes, published 1979. (submitted by Anon.). The weights and measures have been adapted for the modern kitchen and the method expanded.

Jeannie Maitland Cakes Recipe

Recipe Ingredients:

• 225g plain flour
• 100g butter, softened
• 75g caster sugar (plus extra for dusting)
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 40ml of Jam (of your preference) – recommended recipes Victorian Jam Recipes

Recipe Method:

Into a mixing bowl sift in the flour and sugar. Then rub the softened butter into the flour with your fingers to make fine breadcrumbs.

Mix in most of the beaten egg, (retain some of the beaten egg to brush the cakes with before baking) to make a smooth and stiff paste or dough, (more than one egg may be required, but neither milk nor water should be used).

Preheat the oven to 180C and lightly grease a baking sheet with butter.

On a lightly floured work surface roll out the dough thinly, less than 3mm, and cut into rounds using a 5cm pastry cutter. Cut out as many rounds as possible and re-gather and re-roll the dough out as necessary to use up all the dough.

Put half of the rounds in row out in front of you. Use a spoon and dollop a small amount of your chosen jam in the middle of each round, (it should only need a small amount of jam).

Use a pastry brush and brush the edges of the round with a little beaten egg (around the jam in the centre). Cover over each ‘jammy’ round with the remaining other half of reserved cut out rounds, (to make a ‘sandwich’).

Gently flatten the double layered rounds out, spreading the jam evenly inside and pinch the edges prettily together to seal the Jeannie Maitland Cakes.

When all the cakes / biscuits are shaped and sealed place them on the prepared and greased baking sheet – brush over a little beaten egg over the top, sprinkle over a little caster sugar, and bake them in the oven at 180C for 15 to 20 minutes, or until turning a light golden brown.

Remove from the oven when baked and allow them to cool. Eat the Jeannie Maitland Cakes warm or cold, and keep in an air-tight cake or biscuit tin.