A delicious traditional Yorkshire parkin recipe

Yorkshire parkin. A delicious, gingery treat that both my fiancé and I grew up with. A recipe filled with love and nostalgia for our families and our Yorkshire roots. However it’s also a recipe that not that well known out of the north of England which is an absolutely travesty. Here’s everything you need to know about parkin and how to make it the traditional Yorkshire way!

There’s is something so nice about a kitchen filled with the scents of baking but when those mouth-watering smells contain hints of ginger it just becomes even more warming and homely. A true smell of autumn and winter! If there’s one recipe that’s made for cold days spent indoors in comfy clothing it’s parkin and if there is one thing us Yorkshire folk know how to make it’s definitely parkin!

Parkin is a gingerbread cake made with oats. Traditionally it’s made with black treacle but is also made with golden syrup. We choose to make it with golden syrup. When I was growing up my Gran was the chief parkin baker and she’d always make two batches, a black treacle one for me and a golden syrup one. My fiancé has grown up with the golden syrup version which is what we stick to now.

Parkin is a big deal in Yorkshire and it actually came as a surprise to me that this delicious treat is virtually unknown in the south! It was only when we first made a vlog about baking parkin that it came to light that a fair few people had no idea what we were talking about!

I’ll spare you the full on history lesson but apparently it’s only popular in Yorkshire because it comes from an area where oats rather than wheat was a staple for the poor. Oats were harvested around the start of November then later on it became linked to Bonfire Night. Probably due to bygone traditions of Samhain and All Hallows Eve which were at the start of November and bonfire’s were lit and celebratory cakes baked. From then on, parkin has been a staple on Bonfire Night for Yorkshire folk!

This recipe is a bit less fancy and more thrown together then other parkin recipes, but it works. It’s actually a pretty old family recipe that was written down by my fiancé’s great grandma so it’s pretty special. Oh and FYI, I thought there was no greater taste on the planet then raw cake mix, how wrong I was. Parkin mix is bloody amazing! And this parkin recipe is eggless (not that eating raw egg in cake mix has ever stopped me before).

    Ingredients

The recipe we have is written in cups so we’re going with family tradition and sticking with cups. I’m not going against Nan Thicket’s recipe! We do however add a little more ginger than what’s listed here but that’s because we prefer a stronger ginger kick.

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup sugar
140g butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ginger 
3/4 tin of golden syrup or black treacle
1 cup of boiling water  

Method

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180c / 350f

2. Put the flour, sugar, oatmeal, butter, baking powder, ginger and syrup/treacle in a mix bowl then pour the boiling water over and mix until all the ingredients are combined

3. Pour the mixture onto a greased baking tray and place in the oven for around an half an hour until it is golden brown on top.

4. Cut into slices and leave to cool. In an air tight container parkin will last quite a while although I’m sure it won’t be around for long!

It really is such a simple recipe but you’re house will smell amazing while this is cooking and I guarantee you’ll be shocked at how delicious parkin is. It keeps really well too, providing it’s in an air tight container. Actually the longer it’s left, the better it gets because it goes lovely and sticky!

Have you heard of parkin before? Will you be giving this recipe a try? Let me know in the comments!

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