what are soul cakes?  well, they are something i only make once a year for halloween.  the closet relative to a soul cake i guess would be a scone.  but they date back to the middle ages in great britain.  the tradition goes…….soul cakes are baked for all hallows eve, you were to place a plate of soul cakes outside your door or window with a lighted candle and a glass of wine to appease or feed the spirits of the dead that had returned that night.  children often went “souling” or going door to door collecting the cakes, thus the practice of trick or treating began. many times the dough for the cakes were shaped into figures using raisins as eyes, mouth, etc.  while i have never set them out to appease the dead, they do appease my breakfast appetite the whole week of halloween.

RECIPE — SOUL CAKES

makes 1 dozen

1 package yeast

1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tsp

1/4 cup warm water

1 stick butter (1/4 lb)

2 cups milk — scalded

6 cups flour

1 tsp salt

3 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp all spice

1/3 cup raisins or crasisins

*dissolve yeast with 1 tsp sugar in warm water.  while yeast is dissolving slightly scald milk, meaning boil for a 3-4 minutes

* cream together butter and sugar, stir in milk.  in a large bowl sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, allspice

* combine flour mixture with yeast, add to butter mixture, mix thoroughly.  add in raisins or make people out of dough using raisins for decoration.

*bake at 375 for 30 minutes