Submitted by Marylyn Phillips and Dinah Bernard

In 2009, we decided to compile a recipe book, 'Teatime Treats from Frenchay', to raise money for the new church organ and to celebrate 25 years of Summer Sunday Teas in Frenchay Church. Recipes were given to us by many local people and we also included a few that had been donated 15 years previously for another recipe book that was never actually printed. 

This recipe for Easter Biscuits is one of those. It was sent in by Daisy Sawyer, who lived with her sister, May, in Riverwood for the last 40 years of her life. Both ladies were very involved with Frenchay life and with the Church in particular.

Daisy was a cook all her life, working, before the War, in Caroline's Cake Shop in Clifton. During the War, she was conscripted to cook for the troops and afterwards, she worked in the Catering Dept. of Gardiners on Broad Plain. She died in 1999 aged 82. Peter Shapcott reminisced fondly about the miniature coffee éclairs that were another of Daisy's specialities!

May Sawyer trained as a teacher at St. Matthias College and worked in schools in Bristol, the last one being Two Mile Hill Junior School. She was very interested in gardening and embroidery and was one of the team that repaired ecclesiastical robes in the Cathedral. She died in April 2004 aged 85. Daisy and May left very generous donations to both Frenchay Village Museum and Frenchay Parish Church in their wills.

Ingredients

4 oz / 125 gm  Margarine                     Currants

4 oz / 125 gm  Sugar                           Cassia Oil

8 oz / 250 gm  Self-raising Flour           Yellow Colouring (optional)

1 Egg


Method

1. Beat fat and sugar.
2. Add egg and mix.
3. Add flavour (& colour if desired).
4. Add flour & currants.
5. Makes about 24 biscuits if using a large cutter.
6. Prick biscuits with a fork.
7. Bake at 150ºC for 10 minutes

Submitted by Pam Willis

Ingredients

4 large cup mushrooms (approx 120grms)    1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 stick celery                                              1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ small onion                                              salt, pepper

25 grms walnuts                                          ½ beaten egg                                    

25grms butter (or margarine)                        25grms cheddar cheese 

25 grms fresh breadcrumbs                          2 tablesoons vegetable stock              

Method                                                   

1. Wash mushrooms and pull out the stalks. Chop the stalks finely,
2. Chop the celery, onion and walnuts finely.
3. Heat butter (margarine) in a frying pan and lightly brown the rounded side of the mushrooms. Remove from the pan and place in an ovenproof dish.
4. Add chopped mushroom stalks, celery, onion and walnut to the pan. Fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Remove from the heat and stir in the breadcrumbs, parsley, lemon juice and seasoning. Add the beaten egg to bind together.
6. Spoon the filling mixture into the mushroom caps. Sprinkle each mushroom with cheese.
7. Pour the stock round the mushrooms.
8. Bake in a moderate oven, 180°C / Gas 4 for approximately 20 minutes.