Paisley Almond Cakes

I came across this little book, Recipes from Scotland by F. Marian McNeill (seventh edition, 1965) at an estate sale a few weeks ago.  Finding a cookbook printed in Scotland is a pretty rare event in this area.  My dad's side of the family hails from Scotland, so I thought it should come live with me.  Plus, I had been striking out on the treasure hunting scene lately and I was feeling weak.

In thumbing through it, I came across Paisley Almond Cakes and thought they looked promising.  I've been experimenting with cutting out wheat after reading Grain Brain and Wheat Belly, so finding a vintage gluten free pastry was a nice surprise.

I read through the recipe before starting (for a change!)  Yada, yada, yada, I have all the ingredients.  Grease a dozen patty-pans.  Huh?  What the heck are patty-pans?  The first few searches yielded only squash recipes, but with enough keywords, I finally found a pan that looked reasonably like my golf ball gem pan.  Okay, that'll do, pig.

I would say the golf ball pan molds are just a wee bit (hey look, I'm using the Scottish lingo!) small to get an even dozen out of this recipe.  This photo doesn't show it, but some of them oozed over the sides and onto the floor of the oven.  Burning batter overshadows the delectable smell of baking almond pastries.

I really liked these.  They are light and airy, with a subtle almond flavor.  They weren't overly sweet, so we served them with butter and strawberry preserves.

Paisley Almond Cakes (Printable recipe)

Recipes from Scotland by F. Marian McNeill (seventh edition, 1965)

Ingredients

2 ounces cornflour

2 ounces rice flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 ounces soft butter

3 ounces castor sugar

1 1/2 ounces ground almonds

2 eggs

Directions

Grease a dozen patty-pans (or small muffin cups).  Heat the oven to 375F.

Sift the flours and baking powder together.  Beat the eggs.  Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs and flours alternately.  When white and creamy, stir in the ground almonds lightly.  Half fill the tins and bake at 375F for 10 to 15 minutes.  Turn out and cool on a wire rack.