W for Wales ~ Tiessennau Mel

 
Event: BM #44, Around the world (A - Z Series)    
Choice of Country: Wales
Capital City: Cardiff
Official Language: Welsh & English

For alphabet 'W', I thought of sticking to a country instead of selecting a city that starts with the letter W. And so I picked Wales that is a part of Great Britain. Great Britain or Britain refers to the island together with a number of surrounding islands that constitute the territory of England, Scotland and Wales. And Great Britain and the northern Ireland together form the United Kingdom. Basically, 'The United Kingdom' or 'UK' consists of four countries - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The governments of both UK and Wales almost invariably define Wales as a country. The Welsh Assembly government mentions that Wales is not a principality and is a country on it's own right, even though it s a part of Great Britain. The title 'Prince of wales' is still conferred on the 'Heir apparent to the British throne' but he has no constitutional role in modern Wales.
'Cymru' is the Welsh name for Wales whereas the word 'Cymry' refers to Welsh people; the source of these words meaning "fellow-countrymen. Wales has a distinctive culture including it's own language, customs, food, holidays and music.

the vegetarian tradition in Wales is stronger than other parts of Britain. This is partly due to necessity. Wales does not have much rich agricultural land and farming, of necessity, is mostly associated with the husbandry of animals. But most of the cattle, sheep and pigs grown were sold further afield and so meat, even on farms was not commonplace. St David (Dewi Sant), patron saint of Wales was vegetarian and extolled a vegetarian diet (which is one reason the leek is a symbol of Wales). Seafood is also an important part of the diet,

Read more at Celtnet: http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/cymraeg.php
Copyright © celtnet

the vegetarian tradition in Wales is stronger than other parts of Britain. This is partly due to necessity. Wales does not have much rich agricultural land and farming, of necessity, is mostly associated with the husbandry of animals. But most of the cattle, sheep and pigs grown were sold further afield and so meat, even on farms was not commonplace. St David (Dewi Sant), patron saint of Wales was vegetarian and extolled a vegetarian diet (which is one reason the leek is a symbol of Wales). Seafood is also an important part of the diet,

Read more at Celtnet: http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/cymraeg.php
Copyright © celtnetz

Welsh Cuisine:
The Welsh are famous for their meats, fish and seafood, their cheeses are unique and they even produce wine. Traditional Welsh cooking derives from the diet of the working man and thus fresh vegetables from the garden, fish from the rivers, lakes or sea, meat from the family farms form the basis of traditional Welsh cooking. Welsh lamb and beef feature prominently as do freshly caught fish such as salmon, brown trout, white crab, lobsters and cockles. The Welsh love their teatime. Traditional bara brith ( the famous speckled bread of Wales), Teisen lap ( a shallow moist fruit cake) teisen carawe (caraway seed cake), tease sinamon (cinnamon cake) and teisen mêl (honey cake) are favourites for the tea table. Such cakes are still made today throughout Wales, although the ancient recipes have been updated to suit modern methods of cooking.
(Info gathered from several online sources.)
 
The Welsh word for cake is 'Tiessen' and 'Tieseennau' is the plural form of it. It is supposedly pronounced as 'ti-es-sen-naa-ee'. Mel is honey and so the recipe title basically means honey cakes. When I was looking for sweet Welsh treats, two caught my attention. These honey cakes and a fruit loaf named bara brith and of course as you see it, I went with the former choice. Traditionally patty tins are used to make these cakes but muffin pan can be substituted by filling the batter only up to half of it.
I made these cakes twice, the second time tweaking the recipe to suit our tastes. The first time I went with flax seed meal as an egg substitute and added honey as suggested. The resulting cakes were dense and just subtly sweet and I guess that's why the dusting of sugar. They are seen in the background in the first image. I used yogurt the second time as the egg substitute and the resulting cakes were moist and fluffy as you can see and we all loved them.


Ingredients: (Yield 8)
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
3 - 4 tbsp honey (I used 1/4 cup honey)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup yogurt
1 to 2 tbsp milk
Powdered sugar for dusting

Method:
* Preheat oven to 400 F / 200 C.
* Grease the patty tins or the muffin pan.
* Sieve flour, cinnamon and baking soda together.
* Beat butter and brown sugar until creamy. Next add yogurt and honey and beat until combined.
* Now stir in the flour mixture to the butter mixture adding milk as 
 needed and mix everything lightly.
 

* Half fill the patty tin /muffin pan with the batter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar on tops. (I skipped the sugar sprinkling the second time I tried them.)
* Bake for 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them during the last minutes of baking to avoid them from over browning.
* Dust with sugar again when they come out of the oven.

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