A selection of wartime recipes for the High Tea table. These recipes are from the archives of the People’s Friend magazine and are over 100 years old.
Recipes from the People’s
Friend WW1 Archives
Today I am sharing THREE original recipes from the archives of the People’s Friend magazine, from their “Kitty’s Kitchen Club” page, where recipes were shared with the readers during the first world war.
These Wartime High Tea Recipes were made by me, for a special Centenary of the Armistice Day commemorative issue of the magazine in 2018.
I recreated the recipes from the original manuscripts, but with a few modern day substitutes and changes. I have copied the original recipes above each of my modern day interpretations, which are shared in printable recipe format below, for historical interest.
The three recipes were published for High Tea ideas, being what we may call Tea, Dinner or Supper nowadays.
They are: Ration Scones, Jam Tart and Gingerbread Cup Puddings. They are frugal in their use of fats, and lard or dripping is often suggested.
Sugar was used in very small quantities and oatmeal was often used to “pad” out the flour.
In 1918, the era in which most of these recipes originate from, it was normal to have a small savoury dish for tea or supper, which was followed by a pudding, i.e. a dessert or sweet. And, today’s recipes would have filled any hungry tummies after a light savoury main course.
Ration Scones
Ration Scones – 1918 (Original Recipe)
Take 5 oz flour, 2 oz lard, 2 oz dates, 1 teaspoonful baking powder, 1 egg, and a little milk. Rub the lard into the flour, add the baking powder and chop the dates. Add the egg, well beaten and a little milk. Mix all together thoroughly and bake.
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Gingerbread Cup Puddings
Gingerbread Cup Puddings – 1918 (Original Recipe)
Take 6 oz flour, 2 oz oatmeal, 3 oz chopped suet, 1 small teaspoonful baking soda, 2 tablespoonfuls sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls dark treacle, a little milk, 2 teaspoonfuls ground ginger. Grease some small cups or small jelly jars, and put a teaspoonful of syrup in the bottom of each. Sift the flour and ginger, add the suet, sugar and oatmeal. Mix well together. Make a well in the centre and put in the treacle. Mix the soda with half a teacupful of milk, and add. Mix all thoroughly together, put into the buttered cups about two-thirds full, cover with greased paper and steam in a stewpan for three-quarters of an hour or more. It may be made in one basin, and would then take two and a half to three hours.
Children love to have a wee pudding each. If for the children serve on the plates. A little thin cornflour poured round and a sprinkle of cocoanut adds to the delight and not much to the expense, and more to the food value.
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Jam Tart
Jam Tart – 1918 (Original Recipe)
Suet pastry might be used for this. This is a method to make jam go further. Boil together 2 tablespoonfuls jam with 1 gill water. Blend 2 teaspoonfuls custard powder with a little cold water, add to the boiling jam, boil and turn out to cool. Roll the pastry into a round. Place on an enamelled plate. Put in the cold jam mixture. Put small strips of pastry in cross bars over the jam, or the jam might be covered with another round of pastry.
Jam treated in this way would be good for plain boiled rice, only of course, serve it warm, as it would be thinner and more like a sauce.
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Other Wartime Recipes
The three savoury recipes that I also made for the same commission, that would have preceded today’s Wartime High Tea Recipes, were Cressy Soup, Sausage Cakes and a “Nice Supper Dish”, which was a baked ham and egg patty, similar to a muffin today.
I will be sharing these other wartime recipes next week, so you can recreate an authentic wartime high tea if you so wish!
I have written and shared numerous wartime recipes on Lavender & Lovage over the years, as well as living off rations as a culinary project a few years ago.
You can see all my other posts here: The Wartime Kitchen – Living off Rations and On the Home Front, Original Recipes from the Great War 1914 to 198.
Spiced Mixed Fruit Roll in a Baked Bean Tin
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Wartime High Tea Recipes
All three wartime recipes for Ration Scones, Jam Tart and Gingerbread Cup Puddings are shared below.
I DO hope you enjoy them if you make them, and please do remember that portion sizes were a lot smaller than today. Look out for the next three savoury recipes next week, and please let me know if you DO make any of today’s wartime high tea recipes, Karen
Ration Scones
This is my take on an original wartime recipe from 1918 for sweet scones. In place of sugar, which was rationed, these scones use chopped dried dates to sweeten them. Served warm with butter, although margarine or dripping might have been used in 1918.
Ingredients
- 140 g (5 oz) self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
- 50 g (2 oz) butter or margarine
- 50 g (2 oz) chopped dates
- 1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
1. Rub the butter/margarine into the flour and then add the chopped dates; add the egg mixture and mix until soft.
2. Roll out on a floured board and stamp out scones.
3. Brush any remaining egg mixture over the top and bake in pre-heated hot oven 220C/200C Fan/425F/Gas mark 7 for 10 minutes until well risen and golden brown.
Notes
Note: The original recipe suggests lard, but I used butter in this recipe, as well as S-R flour in place of plain flour and baking powder.
Nutrition Information
Yield 8 scones Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 135Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 37mgSodium 260mgCarbohydrates 18gFiber 1gSugar 4gProtein 3g
Nutrition information is an approximate calculation based on the ingredients listed and it can vary according to portion sizes and when different ingredients are used.
Jam Tart
This is my take in an original early 20th century jam tart from 1918. Jam and sugar were still rationed, so this thrifty recipe adds custard powder to the jam filling to make it go further. The original recipe only suggests 2 tablespoons of jam, but I doubled the amounts for a more generous filling! I did not feel that suet pastry was the right pastry for this tart, either.
Ingredients
- 200g ready-made shortcrust pastry
- 4 tablespoons seedless fruit jam
- 140ml water
- 2 teaspoons custard powder
Instructions
1. Blend the jam with a little water and then boil it together for 2 to 3 minutes. Blend the custard powder with a little water and add it to the jam mixture, boil it until it is thick, take it off the heat and allow to cool.
2. Meanwhile, roll the pastry out and line a 20cm (8”) enamel plate or pie dish with the pastry.
3. Spoon over the cooled jam mixture and make a lattice work pattern with strips of the remaining pastry.
4. Bake in a pre-heated oven 200C/180C Fan for about 10 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked, crisp and golden brown.
Notes
The original recipe only suggests 2 tablespoons of jam, but I doubled the amounts for a more generous filling. I did not feel that suet pastry was the right pastry for this tart either, as originally suggested.
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 slices Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 181Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 21mgSodium 144mgCarbohydrates 25gFiber 1gSugar 12gProtein 3g
Nutrition information is an approximate calculation based on the ingredients listed and it can vary according to portion sizes and when different ingredients are used.
Gingerbread Cup Puddings
This is my take in an original wartime recipe from 1918. The original recipe suggests that you steam these, but I found that they cooked quicker in the oven in a bain marie. It is also suggested that you can sprinkle coconut over the top of these little puddings, and that children love them served that way - I have yet to try them this way.
Ingredients
- 4 to 6 teaspoons golden syrup
- 170g self-raising flour
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 50g oatmeal
- 75g shredded vegetable suet
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 2 tablespoons black treacle
- A little milk
Instructions
1. Grease some ramekins, tea cups or small dishes with a little butter and put a teaspoon of syrup in the bottom of each.
2. Sift the flour and ground ginger together and then add the oatmeal, suet and sugar. Mix well. Then make a well in the middle of the mixture and add the black treacle.
3. Add the milk, about 60ml, and mix well.
4. Spoon the mixture into each cup, to about two thirds full, cover with foil and place them into a large roasting pan which has hot water in it.
5. Bake them in pre-heated oven 200C/180C Fan for about 20 minutes or until they are well risen and cooked.
6. Serve one per person with custard.
Notes
Please note that as these puddings have no eggs in them, they are denser than modern day puddings. If you steam them, they are lighter than if they are baked.
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 puddings Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 207Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 6mgSodium 368mgCarbohydrates 34gFiber 1gSugar 7gProtein 5g
Nutrition information is an approximate calculation based on the ingredients listed and it can vary according to portion sizes and when different ingredients are used.
I have linked these recipes up with #CookBlogShare
Jayne says
I find it interesting that they could get hold of things like dates and dried apricots at the end of the war. I actually really like the sound of those ginger puddings – I’m a sucker for anything with ginger in it. I think a blob of clotted cream on the top would be just the ticket. Oops.
Karen Burns-Booth says
I remember my grandmother always used to have those compressed dried dates, in a block, in her pantry. I think they were fairly frugal with them and they do last a long time. The apricots used do be like bullets, and they needed soaking before using them, again, they lasted a long time. Karen
mohan kumar says
Nice blog to follow while preparing recipes.Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Karen Burns-Booth says
My pleasure, thank you! Karen
Micky.d says
Hi again Karen,love these kind of reads,brings back some great memories.my late father who was born in 1905,the youngest of 6brothers and 3sisters,he would tell us of the food they would have to eat .he was never a great cake or pudding person he or my mother would always make bread pudding never wasted anything as I remember.my mother only made rock cakes which resemble those scones don’t you think Karen..perhaps you could do a piece on food,of the working classes of 100 hundred years or more in the near future ,that would really open the eyes of the younger generation of foodies so to speak.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Hello Mickey,
Thank you so much for sharing these family memories, and for your suggestion for a new series of posts based on working class food from the beginning of the last century, I DO have notes on this subject and I am already thinking that it would be a popular topic with so many people.
As for bread pudding, it’s a favourite here, as my paternal grandmother was a Norfolk girl, where it is known as Nelson’s Slab or Nelson’s Pudding, and she often used to make it for us when we stayed there.
Once again, thanks for your suggestion and watch this space!
Karen
Micky.d says
Thanks Karen,look forward to another good read.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thank you Micky! Karen
Michelle Rolfe says
Great read Karen. I love the sound of all of the recipes especially those gingerbread cups. Perfect when I don’t want to make a whole loaf and wait for it to bake! Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare. Michelle
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Michelle – I love these old wartime recipes and they really show how little ingredients you really need in easy family recipes. Karen
sherry says
i love checking out old copies of newspapers online, and trying out old recipes. it’s funny how they expect you to have a good working knowledge of cooking already! the recipes can be very basic. but it’s fun to try them. cheers sherry
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Sherry, yes I love these old newspaper recipes too, Karen
Janice Pattie says
These are great recipes. I still get a lot of traffic to the wartime recipes I published when we did the ration book challenge, they seem to be very popular. I think I might try the gingerbread cup puddings, they sound delicious.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Janice – I’ve seen a surge in traffic to all my old living on rations recipes too, especially the baking recipes. The gingerbread cup puddings are lovely but they are heavier than usual as there’s no eggs in them. They are very tasty however, Karen
Christopher Squibb says
Hi there, just wanted to say a massive thank you for all of the wonderful recipes, we feel so blessed to have them at our fingertips. We hope that you and your family are keeping well in the difficult circumstances that we are currently facing. Thanks once again for all of the culinary inspiration, we would be genuinely lost without it, kind regards, the Squibb family.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Hello Christopher
What a lovely comment and I’m delighted that my recipes are proving to be helpful, and are providing some culinary inspiration.
I’ve got a few more tasty but thrifty recipes up my sleeve and I’ll be sharing them very soon.
We’re keeping well here in N Wales and I hope you’re all keeping happy and healthy too.
Thank you the Squibb family!
Karen
Pauline says
Our local Bakery (here in Kent) used to sell something called Nelson’s slices, they were lovely and one of my my Dad’s favourites. We didn’t have any shop bought cake stuff as Mum baked so much, but Dad used to get a couple of these now and then if I was going to be working with him during school holidays. They were about an inch thick, spiced bread pudding, encased in buttery shortcrust pastry dusted with castor sugar. Seeing your mention of Nelson slab reminded me about this childhood memory. Thank you
Karen Burns-Booth says
Ahhh yes, Nelson’s Slices, my paternal grandmother was a Norfolk girl and she used to buy these from the local bakery where she used to live. I DO have a recipe, which I will share soon, Karen
Pauline says
Oh great, I will look forward to that, hope it’s soon
Take care.
Lizzie says
My mum was a WW2 baby and her dad who was a soldier had died during WW2 so her mum was a widow. My mum grew up for the first 9 years of her life under rationing. I have very fond memories of your recipe for jam tart from when I was a child. My mum made all her own jam and I remember her using a relatively small amount of pastry on an enamel plate for the tart base, adding jam and if there was enough pastry then a lattice top but if not it would be an open jam tart. It was always served with evaporated milk. I’m now making all my recipes gluten and dairy free but to wartime recipes
Karen Burns-Booth says
THANK you so much for sharing your memories here Lizzie!
I was very sad to read that your mum lost her dad when she was so little, as many did in those days.
But, I am so pleased that you have fond memories of the jam tart reciupe I have shared here.
I think we need to take note from those days as the current austerity bites.
Karen