It’s years since I’ve made these, but it’s the last weekend of the month, the traditional time to bake for the office, so I thought I’d dig out the recipe.
170g (6oz) self raising flour
115g (4oz) caster sugar
85g (3oz) butter or margarine
115g (4oz) sultanas or raisins
4 tablespoons of condensed milk
Grated rind of a lemon (optional)
I’d recommend leaving out the lemon.
They are fairly easy to make, but you have to keep a close eye on them in the oven, as they’re a bit picky about how long they’re in.
Start by mixing the flour and sugar, and then mix in the butter, which should first be chopped into small pieces. When it is all well blended together, stir in the fruit and the condensed milk. At this point it should start to form into one mass, so you need to get your hands in and kneed it so that it sticks together.
Make small balls of the mixture, slightly smaller that golf balls, and flatten them slightly before placing them on a lightly greased (preferably with butter or margarine) baking sheet. You should get about 18 biscuits from the quantities above.
Put them into the oven at 180 degrees C (355 degrees F) for around 10 minutes, by which time they should have flattened slightly, spread slightly and browned slightly.
Remove them from the oven and lay out on a rack to cool.
Incidentally, they are called Sylvia’s biscuits because they were passed on by a woman called Sylvia, who was a friend of my grandmother. No doubt they have a proper name somewhere or other, but it’s been lost in the mists of time.
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