Visit Horsham Museum…
We are pleased to announce that our friends at Horsham Museum are re-opening this wonderful asset to the town on Saturday 2nd November.
Horsham District Council,
9 Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1HE
01403 254959
Staff & volunteers have been busy preparing this beautiful building for its reopening, by brightening up the paintwork and creating lots of exciting new displays.
The museum is so much larger than it looks from the outside – it has a garden and several buildings behind it.
It is free to visitors and is open 10 – 5pm Monday to Saturday, and is in the Causeway, a tucked away, quiet street, just a few steps away from the busy town centre.
When you visit be sure to make time to also wander down the Causeway to the church of St. Mary the Virgin, and beyond to the River Arun…
A Spotlight on Our Lovely Retailers
This month we would like to present:
Fittleworth Stores
School Lane, Fittleworth, Pulborough, West Sussex, RH20 1JB
01798 865907
Fittleworth Stores is a thriving and successful community-owned and run shop, café and post office.
Nestled at the foot of the South Downs, and surrounded by stunning landscapes, the Stores loves to support all things Sussex alongside a wide range of store cupboard basics and household goods. They are proud stockists of much local produce and ceramics and crafts.
Located in the very heart of the village, next to the school and village hall – it also provides outdoor café seating overlooking the adjacent playground – perfect for all the family, especially when there are so many delicious cakes to choose from!
Over 60s Lunch Club
Residents and supporters can buy shares in the stores, and surplus profits are put back into the community.
The Future
Fittleworth Stores has a very exciting year ahead. The café at the Stores has gone from strength to strength since opening and is now a popular destination for locals and those from further afield. The local community has just raised £90,000 to enable an extension to be built. The extension will double the size of the kitchen and café, allowing for a much large indoor seating area so that the café can be enjoyed all year round by their customers, whatever the weather.
Work on the extension is due to start over the winter with the extension ready and in use by Easter next year.
Old Recipe Corner
There are so many unusual recipes and ingredients in Lesley’s collection of old cookery books and manuscripts…
These little cakes are delicious and capture the flavour and texture of a past delicacy.
To make little Currant Cakes:
Mrs Elizabeth Raffald (1769) The Experienced English House-Keeper:
To one pound and a half of fine flour, dry it well before the fire, a pound of butter, half a pound of fine loaf sugar well beat and sifted, four yolks of eggs, four spoonfuls of rose water, four spoonfuls of sack, a little mace, one nutmeg grated; beat the eggs very well, and put them to the rose water and sack, then put to the sugar and butter; work them all together, strew in the currants and the flour, being both made warm together before – This quantity will make six or eight cakes; bake them crisp and a fine brown.
Lesley’s Version
Ingredients – this makes quite a lot of cakes – you may prefer to use half these ingredients!
12oz (375g) Flour ( ¾ white, ¼ wholemeal)
8 oz (250g) Softened Butter
4 oz Caster Sugar (125g)
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons Rose Water
2 tablespoons Sherry
1 teaspoon Ground Mace
½ Nutmeg ground
4 oz (125g) Currants
1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C. 160°C fan
2. In a large bowl (using a hand mixer) beat the egg yolks, and then blend in the rose water and sherry. Now add the softened butter and caster sugar and whisk again.
3. Mix flour and spice together then add to the main mixture – whisk again. Finally, add the currants and mix them in with a large spoon.
4. Cut sheets of baking parchment paper to fit baking trays
5. Using 2 teaspoons, spoon out small ‘cakes’ per sheet then flatten them with the spoons.
6. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden – check after 10 minutes just in case your oven is quite hot.
7. Remove trays from the oven and slide parchment with cakes onto a cooling rack.
If not to be used on the day of baking, store cakes in an airtight container.
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