Autumn Retreat Day 3: Let's Bake!
Cosy, spiced Autumn flavours. Let's dive in...
Hello and a very warm welcome to day three of our Autumn Equinox Retreat.
In case you missed day one or day two you can find them here. Today we’re going to immerse ourselves in all the warm, spicy goodness of baking season. I’ve been looking forward to today!
No season is as closely connected with scent as Autumn. From warm apple pies to rich blackberry and spiced pumpkin, this is the month to lean into baking in all its cinnamon-scented glory. I LOVE it.
Today I’m sharing a beautifully easy recipe for Spiced Soul Cakes.
If you only have time to bake one recipe this Autumn, I highly recommend this one. It’s full of Autumn spice and warmth, quick to make and fills your house with the cosiest Autumn smell as it bakes in the oven. The recipe is right below.
I’ve also put together a list of other Autumnal recipe ideas for you to browse through at your leisure, as and when you need some Autumn inspiration. These are at the bottom of this newsletter, after the soul cakes recipe.
This means it’s quite a long post, but I thought it would be useful to have everything in one place so you can bookmark this newsletter and come back to it any time you need some Autumnal baking inspiration.
And if you just don’t have time to bake anything right now? Totally understand. Why not do a bit of armchair baking instead. I think there’s almost as much pleasure to be had in leafing through seasonal recipes and reading all the delicious ingredients as there is in actual baking.
Right, Soul Cakes!
Spiced Soul Cakes
I wrote about the peaceful and beautiful history of Soul Cakes in this Halloween post from last year if you’d like to find out more. They have a gentle, ancient magic to them and I think they perfectly convey the energy and spirit of the Autumn Equinox.
They’re quick to make and are packed with Autumn flavour and spice. They’re quite simple, not too fancy or too sweet, and it’s surprisingly easy to eat an entire plateful of them in one go.
As you stir the mixture you can also take a moment to stir in any wishes or hopes for the season ahead as well as offering up a thank you for all the good things that the Summer season brought you.
Sometimes people feel a bit silly stirring a wish into a bowl of mixture, but we all do it at Christmas time with the Christmas pudding mixture don’t we? So I say why not do it throughout the year too.
Note: Although these are called Soul Cakes they are actually biscuits, (or cookies for our American readers).
Recipe
Adapted from Cattern Cakes and Lace, a Calendar of Feasts by Julia Jones and Barbara Deer.
This recipe makes quite a lot of biscuit dough. If you want to make a smaller batch just reduce the recipe.
6 oz / 175g butter
6 oz / 175g brown sugar
3 egg yolks
1lb / 450g plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon of mixed spice OR pumpkin spice*
3 oz / 75g currants or raisins
A little milk to mix
Icing sugar to dust
Oven: 180 c / 350 F / Gas 4
*You can use any ground-spice mix you like here. If you don’t have a pumpkin spice mix you can just use ground cinnamon and ginger instead.
Method
Cream the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer (or a bowl)
Add the egg yolks to the butter and sugar and mix
Sift in the flour and spices
Add a little milk (try one tablespoon at a time) until the mixture forms a soft dough
Gently fold in the currants and make your wish
Roll out the dough and cut into any shape you like - if you have apple or leaf shaped cookie cutters these are perfect for an Autumnal feel
Place on a baking sheet and cook for 12-15 minutes until golden-coloured
Cool on a cooling rack then dust with icing sugar
Note: These biscuits don’t spread out or rise during cooking so cut them to your desired size before baking as they won’t change shape in the oven.
These biscuits are quite simple in taste and style which I really like, but if you want to add some extra sweetness you could top them with a simple glazed icing as an alternative to dusting with icing sugar. Just mix icing sugar with a small pinch of powdered spice and add a little water to make the glaze.
Autumn Equinox Recipe Special
Now while they’re cooking, here’s a collection of other seasonal recipes with an Autumn flavour for you to browse through or to come back to later in the season.
We’re just shifting from blackberry season into apple season here in the UK and pumpkin season will be with us soon, so I’ve divided the recipes below into those three distinct categories: apple, blackberry and pumpkin.
I think this is fairly consistent across North America and Europe too, but if you have other seasonal fruit and vegetables that dominate your cooking / baking at this time of year please do let me know, I’d love to hear.
Apple Recipes
Ultimate Plum and Apple Cobbler by Good Food. I’m relatively new to Cobblers, having only made and eaten my first one last year, but now I’m a total convert. I also really like saying the world ‘Cobbler’. This rich plum and apple version sounds like Autumn Equinox perfection.
Cinnamon Apple Muffins by Add a pinch. This was a very popular recipe when I shared it last year, so I’m including it here again. Can’t beat the classics.
Traditional Dorset Apple Cake by delicious. A traditional recipe I discovered recently that can apparently be traced very precisely back to a farmer’s wife in North Chideock, in Dorset, which makes me like it even more.
Blackberry recipes
We’re just approaching the end of Blackberry season here in the UK, but there’s hopefully enough time left to try one of these recipes. You could also use frozen berries.
Blackberry and Honey Galette by Must Love Herbs. These are little open-pastry cases filled with glossy blackberries that look so pretty. One for impressing guests.
Spiced apple and blackberry mini pies by BBC Good Food. Apple, blackberry and cinnamon, this recipe hits ALL the Autumn flavour notes.
Blackberry crumble by Olive Magazine. An absolute classic. This can also be made with frozen blackberries if you fancy it a little later in the season.
Pumpkin recipes
Halloween Pumpkin Cake by Good Food. This has the texture and topping of a carrot cake, but with grated pumpkin instead. Genius.
Pumpkin Muffins by Good Food. This recipes calls for pumpkin puree which is not easy to get hold of in the UK. But never fear, here’s how to make your own puree. (Basically just steam or microwave fresh pumpkin.)
Spiced Pumpkin Tart by Olive Magazine. This tart’s filling is ‘infused with warming cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and topped with grated roast hazelnuts.’ Yes please.
You could also just add a good dash of pumpkin spice to all your recipes this month. (more commonly known in the UK as plain old mixed spice). There’s no pumpkin in it mind you (very confusing, that), but plenty of associated autumn cosiness.
Ok, that’s all for now. Let me know if you try any of these recipes in the comments or over on the chat and I’ll see you tomorrow for day four of our retreat where we’re going to cosy up with some spooky Autumn Folktales.
Until then!
Vicky xx
Missed a day? You can catch up with all our Retreat activities on the Seasonal Retreat tab on my homepage. Enjoy.
I will definitely be trying the soul cakes. They sound delicious. Making a wish, I love that idea.
Thank you for putting this collection of recipes together 😊
I made the Cinnamon Apple Muffins yesterday, and they are sublime. Thank you!