Here's the recipe for anyone else interested in baking these themselves: 3/4 cup butter 3/4 cup sugar 1 1/2 cup flour 3 egg yolks 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ginger 1/2 teaspoon cloves 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg or half a nutmeg (1 teaspoon if John is making these) 1/2 cup milk Dried fruit Powdered sugar Bake at 375° F for around 15-18 minutes
Dragoo is so lovable, he's passionate about what he does and you can tell he really enjoys it by the way he talks and what his body language is like. Always a joy to see him on!
My mother's family came from Shropshire, before the Industrial Revolution, and these were always known as Shropshire Soul Cakes in my house. I think there's a folk song about it, as people went "Souling" - going door to door and begging for alms (the predecessor to Trick of Treat), which is still practiced in the rural Midlands villages here in the UK.
A Soul a soul a soul cake! Please good Missus, a Soul cake! An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry, any good thing to make us all merry. One for Peter, two for Paul, three for Him who made us all.
A beautiful tradition. I put a few crackers by the front door on All Soul’s night, Nov. 2nd, with a candle. I will now use your recipe. Thank you for this. Love your channel, music and all! 🇨🇦
Shortbread is just flour, butter, ground almonds, and sugar though isn't it? With a bit of water to bind? That's certainly how I make it! Be interesting to hear your receipt if you have something different?
@@garethaethwy My mam passed down a hand-written cookbook that she added recipes to for almost 50 years, and it had 3 shortbread recipes in it (one from each of her grandmothers and one from an aunt) and they all had some differences. Only one had almonds as I recall (the best imo) and another was spiced while the third was just flour/butter/sugar. And everyone of course insisted that theirs was the one true way to make a shortbread. I think some recipes are so simple and universal, but also so open to additions, that no one can quite agree on what the original "pure" recipe is. Which to me has always been half the fun of baking, especially from historical or old family recipes.
I think the use of the egg yolks makes it more like what we just call a sugar cookie in my area of Canada (not sure if it is a universal name even in this country). Shortbread as I know it has just butter, flour (sometimes rice or cornflour) and superfine or powdered sugar. As someone else said there are as many 'one and true' recipes for such items as there are family traditions of making them 🙂
@@garethaethwy I've never heard of ground almonds in shortbread! When I make shortbread, I use only flour, butter, and sugar, in a 3:2:1 ratio by weight, with a pinch of salt, no other liquids needed to bind.
Being into Halloween and it’s histories and traditions, this was my first attempt at a Historical food item. Quite a few years ago I made two different recipes for an event at a Museum and they both were very well received, albeit, very unknown to everyone. Part of the reason I was very excited to find your channel (also a few years ago now) was to discover new Historical foods and recipes I could also try. Thankful for you, your crew, your business and this channel for keeping our History alive.
I play a medieval souls like game called grim soul and they had these soul cakes, i thought it was just something the game devs made up. I love history and old things so was super suprised these soul cakes were actually a real thing. Always look forward to new videos with vintage recipes you guys post. Hope you all had a merry Christmas and i wish you all a happy new year.
This is my introduction to Michael and though I can tell he has some trouble speaking in front of a camera, there's just something about the way he talks that makes it really great to listen to. Very fun video!
I wish I had the cooking skill. Jon, you and Michael Dragoo look so natural in that kitchen and in your period clothing. Happy New Year to you both, to your families and your entire crew and THANK YOU!
I was wondering why Michael looked kind of nervous to me. Then the gift bit came and I assume it was because of that. You people are just wonderfull to have on RUclips. A version of these soul cakes will end up in my oven one of these days.
7:10 "This [nutmeg] is what I always wanted!" "I know that. And I need about half of that in there, so... go to it." "Where's the grater?" The Townsends' _Gift of the Magi_ will return after a short word from our sponsors.
Soul, soul, soul cake, please good missus a soul cake .. an apple a pear a plumb a cherry .. any good thing to make us all merry (Peter, Paul and Mary)
Super interesting to see a more cookie like version! Also the holiday vibes were perfect in this video. I wish everyone at Townsends a "guten Rutsch" (roughly translates to a good transitioning into the new year) ans a happy new year!
loved the nutmeg "blooper" you included in the video 😄What a neat recipe! There's an egg shortage where I live, so I might try this without the 2 yolks, as I haven't been able to get any eggs for weeks. Very, very cool to feature a recipe that dates back to the druids!!
This used to be my favorite cookie when I was a kid. Every sari sari store in the Philippines used to sell one. I'm surprised to hear about its western roots. To me it had always been a simple filipino treat.
Raziel's favorite cake! "The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. " ~Ezekiel 18:20
This got me to thinking how the rise of Protestantism in England disrupted the existing traditions for caring for the poor. The extensive fast and feast days of the Catholic ecclesiastical calendar were done away with in one swoop, and continuing such a public display of piety as charity at your doorstep was likely to relieve you of your head. No wonder the state began to criminalize poverty at an increasing rate, and to see the poor as lazy. Where once the aged and disabled could be thought of as actively working by praying for the souls of the departed, official theology denied that there was any need for that and so it wasn't work. And if the poor aren't praying, and aren't receiving food in return for those prayers, then they are lazy thieves, stealing what they had once been given. And worse, they are natural enemies of the new order! No wonder so many were either executed or sold into labor in the colonies.
2 tsp of spices to 1 1/2 cups of flour, et. al. got to be an assault to the taste buddies! On the other hand, when deriving a recipe from several sources, who's to say that is too much? Happy holidays to ye & the lass with the really long braid!
I do enjoy this Channel, I live in England, Wiltshire and not far from Stonehenge and Avebury etc. There are Ley Lines here and People still gather for Pagan Festivals at Stonehenge and Woodhenge a few miles away, the Landscape is littered with Longbarrows where the Dead were Laid. Also there is Silbury Hill, a huge man made mound assumed to have been completed around 2400 B.C. Yet it contains no burial.
Make those cookies a lot thicker and fill them up with sweet red bean paste or maybe crushed pineapple and you have Chinese Moon Cakes. Oh, instead of the cross go with the double happiness characters. You give them as gifts to friends during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Maybe somebody who is actually Chinese can give more info. I just know that having spent the festival in Taiwan everybody was giving me Moon Cakes. I couldn’t carry them all.
This is very Catholic, my guess is colonial sources aren't talking about it because of the protestant majority (especially Puritan and Quaker influence).
SO now all you have to do to not be damned eternally is eat a cookie? "Ah shit he killed a whole town of people, but he ate a cookie so we gotta let him into heaven."
The catholic church made up purgatory to get money from mourning families and unsaved people that are scared of going to hell, ofc eating a cookie doesn't save your soul ☠️ lol, if they were christians to begin with they'd be telling them about Jesus Christ not their stupid religious practices. Catholicism is the biggest psyop in human history behind the belief that there is no God, their founder was a pagan and their church is too, always has been, belief in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross is the ONLY way to heaven, but their church wants to throw that away (hence their false bible) for their religious practices as I said earlier.
If we were over tired or fretful when recovering from being unwell mum would warm a cup of milk and stir in a spoonfull of honey then grate nutmeg on top warm and comforting
I'm so excited 😆 I've been thinking about making some and went searching for a recipe and up you popped 😊 I wonder if a fig newton filling would work too 🤔 what's not to love about nutmeg, 😊 Im from the nutmeg state 😁
Only Townsends could make me want a cookie. I'm not a fan of sweet treats, but now I do want a cookie. I'll probably make do with an apple sprinkled with nutmeg, I am not going out to buy stuff for cookies. Is there flour in the house? Anywhere? Freezer? Nope, and it's single digits out there, not going shopping today. Only three apples might be a problem... Guess I won't tell anyone else about spicy apples?
Here's the recipe for anyone else interested in baking these themselves:
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
3 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg or half a nutmeg (1 teaspoon if John is making these)
1/2 cup milk
Dried fruit
Powdered sugar
Bake at 375° F for around 15-18 minutes
Thank you. 😋
Thanks! ☺️
@@andrea6421 Thank you. xx
Lost count of how many times a good biscuit has saved my soul
Lol
Only Jon could get excited about receiving nutmeg as a gift. 😂
I would be pretty stoked, too, tbh
Ikr. But hey, I use nutmeg a lot more than I used to bc of this channel 😂
@@Richard-ov6vt same here. I had no idea how many foods nutmeg can perk up - especially pork!
Been a ‘Meg nut since childhood! Creamy egg custard with the ‘meg is a favorite alongside of fettuccine Alfredo!
My 20 year old was STOKED! I referred the grater and nutmeg from Townsend online shop. He's been putting out on everything
Dragoo is so lovable, he's passionate about what he does and you can tell he really enjoys it by the way he talks and what his body language is like. Always a joy to see him on!
My mother's family came from Shropshire, before the Industrial Revolution, and these were always known as Shropshire Soul Cakes in my house. I think there's a folk song about it, as people went "Souling" - going door to door and begging for alms (the predecessor to Trick of Treat), which is still practiced in the rural Midlands villages here in the UK.
I appreciate your hard work and commitment to authenticity in your videos. It’s very informative and entertaining.
A Soul a soul a soul cake! Please good Missus, a Soul cake! An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry, any good thing to make us all merry. One for Peter, two for Paul, three for Him who made us all.
Thank you for posting.
And sung in Max's voice
Some Sting in this comment 😁
@@09EvoX Max Miller from tasting history also made video on soul cakes (and actually it is one of his best IMO), and he read that carol there:)
Kingston Trio.
What an interesting flour dispenser! I loved the bit with Michael's gift to Jon.
A beautiful tradition. I put a few crackers by the front door on All Soul’s night, Nov. 2nd, with a candle. I will now use your recipe. Thank you for this. Love your channel, music and all! 🇨🇦
Very similar to a shortbread cookie, is there a connection? I love how thoughtful Micheal is to bring Jon a nutmeg! 😄
Shortbread is just flour, butter, ground almonds, and sugar though isn't it? With a bit of water to bind? That's certainly how I make it! Be interesting to hear your receipt if you have something different?
@@garethaethwy My mam passed down a hand-written cookbook that she added recipes to for almost 50 years, and it had 3 shortbread recipes in it (one from each of her grandmothers and one from an aunt) and they all had some differences. Only one had almonds as I recall (the best imo) and another was spiced while the third was just flour/butter/sugar. And everyone of course insisted that theirs was the one true way to make a shortbread. I think some recipes are so simple and universal, but also so open to additions, that no one can quite agree on what the original "pure" recipe is. Which to me has always been half the fun of baking, especially from historical or old family recipes.
I think the use of the egg yolks makes it more like what we just call a sugar cookie in my area of Canada (not sure if it is a universal name even in this country). Shortbread as I know it has just butter, flour (sometimes rice or cornflour) and superfine or powdered sugar. As someone else said there are as many 'one and true' recipes for such items as there are family traditions of making them 🙂
@@garethaethwy I've never heard of ground almonds in shortbread! When I make shortbread, I use only flour, butter, and sugar, in a 3:2:1 ratio by weight, with a pinch of salt, no other liquids needed to bind.
@@kristianwilliams441 That's how my grandma used to make it!
I like that you guys left the blooper in. It made me laugh. Hope y'all had a Merry Christmas! Wishing you all the best in 2023.
Being into Halloween and it’s histories and traditions, this was my first attempt at a Historical food item. Quite a few years ago I made two different recipes for an event at a Museum and they both were very well received, albeit, very unknown to everyone. Part of the reason I was very excited to find your channel (also a few years ago now) was to discover new Historical foods and recipes I could also try. Thankful for you, your crew, your business and this channel for keeping our History alive.
I love history and I love cooking. Therefore, your channel is my favorite
You should check out Tasting History with Max Miller. His channel is also fantastic for food history!
Jon in his own kitchen: "Where's a grater?" We've all been there.
If you read my comments in the thread you'll find I am fully aware it is a set
I'm reminded of what my late mother-in-law used to say:
"Other people's kitchens, NOTHING'S where it's supposed to be!"
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 Accurate. It's also a set so the grater may not have been where it was expected to be.
It’s a set not his kitchen
@@MikehMike01 if you read down into the replies om this comment I do say that.
@@DrIgnacious it’s a set
I play a medieval souls like game called grim soul and they had these soul cakes, i thought it was just something the game devs made up. I love history and old things so was super suprised these soul cakes were actually a real thing. Always look forward to new videos with vintage recipes you guys post. Hope you all had a merry Christmas and i wish you all a happy new year.
Merry Christmas to you all! Thank you for all the research you do.
I am going to make this recipe today! Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas
Yay! Thank you Michael, just lovely ❤
Soul cake's are a very old traditional dish. I love subscribing to channels like this. Tasting history just had a interesting soul cake.
This was very interesting. Thanks for sharing this one with us Michael. Happy New Year.🎉
Michael Dragoo episodes are my favorite!
This is my introduction to Michael and though I can tell he has some trouble speaking in front of a camera, there's just something about the way he talks that makes it really great to listen to. Very fun video!
I wish I had the cooking skill. Jon, you and Michael Dragoo look so natural in that kitchen and in your period clothing. Happy New Year to you both, to your families and your entire crew and THANK YOU!
Interesting recipie and story behind the food. Thank you.
I must have missed this one. Always great to see Michael. Thanks for the video.
Have a nice christmastime and
A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023 ! ❤️
Unexpected Wednesday morning Townsend's.
So cute that he gave him a nutmeg, then they couldn't find the grater! TeeHee! So adorable! I like the music in this particular video. Very cheerful!
the nutmeg present was so funny 😂 always love your videos, and always love when michael comes on!
I was wondering why Michael looked kind of nervous to me. Then the gift bit came and I assume it was because of that. You people are just wonderfull to have on RUclips. A version of these soul cakes will end up in my oven one of these days.
I am genuinely surprised Jon doesn't have a nutmeg grater on a keychain or something similar that is always with him.
7:52 LoL You can see those souls sneeze as they're being made into cookies.
7:10 "This [nutmeg] is what I always wanted!"
"I know that. And I need about half of that in there, so... go to it."
"Where's the grater?"
The Townsends' _Gift of the Magi_ will return after a short word from our sponsors.
Thank you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. See you in the New Year. God Bless and stay safe.
Interesting. I had heard the term "soul cakes" before, but had no idea what they were.
"It has the nutmeg in it...I mean, you gotta have that!" LOL!!!
Soul, soul, soul cake, please good missus a soul cake .. an apple a pear a plumb a cherry .. any good thing to make us all merry (Peter, Paul and Mary)
Super interesting to see a more cookie like version! Also the holiday vibes were perfect in this video. I wish everyone at Townsends a "guten Rutsch" (roughly translates to a good transitioning into the new year) ans a happy new year!
If it's a lb of butter, a lb of sugar, a lb of flour it's basically a shortbread. But by adding more eggs that changes it some. Very cool.
This guys videos when they come up in my recommended are always a treat. Thanks so much.
Tasting history with Max Miller has a whole episode on soul cakes and their history. He also has one on funeral biscuits and sin eaters.
Very nice… Thank you for sharing… happy holidays… Best to you and yours.
I always love it when Michael is on! He always has such fun and exciting recipes :)
Amazing video. 👏 and great concept. Very warm reason to make this cookie. Merry Christmas
I can't find or remember the source anymore, but somewhere it was said that soulcakes evolved into gingerbread cookies.
loved the nutmeg "blooper" you included in the video 😄What a neat recipe! There's an egg shortage where I live, so I might try this without the 2 yolks, as I haven't been able to get any eggs for weeks. Very, very cool to feature a recipe that dates back to the druids!!
This used to be my favorite cookie when I was a kid. Every sari sari store in the Philippines used to sell one. I'm surprised to hear about its western roots. To me it had always been a simple filipino treat.
I made them. They have so much flavour. 10/10. I did have difficulty’s with calculating cups to grams. But i guess i did it right! Thank you.
Just another great video you two, Jon Happy New Year to you and all the folks and frindse of JAS Townsends...
My favorite recipe from you guys. Happy Holidays!
Thank you for another wonderful recipe from times of past! Great way to reconnect and great conversation starters!
When John opened his gift, I immediately went to the website to see if they have a grater for sale. So pretty. I'll have to get a new one.
You both are an inspiration to me. This is the greatest cooking show series I have ever seen. Keep it up and thank-you. Much respect! Happy newyears!
Raziel's favorite cake!
"The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. " ~Ezekiel 18:20
Thank you for all the memories
This got me to thinking how the rise of Protestantism in England disrupted the existing traditions for caring for the poor. The extensive fast and feast days of the Catholic ecclesiastical calendar were done away with in one swoop, and continuing such a public display of piety as charity at your doorstep was likely to relieve you of your head. No wonder the state began to criminalize poverty at an increasing rate, and to see the poor as lazy. Where once the aged and disabled could be thought of as actively working by praying for the souls of the departed, official theology denied that there was any need for that and so it wasn't work. And if the poor aren't praying, and aren't receiving food in return for those prayers, then they are lazy thieves, stealing what they had once been given. And worse, they are natural enemies of the new order! No wonder so many were either executed or sold into labor in the colonies.
2 tsp of spices to 1 1/2 cups of flour, et. al. got to be an assault to the taste buddies! On the other hand, when deriving a recipe from several sources, who's to say that is too much? Happy holidays to ye & the lass with the really long braid!
I do enjoy this Channel, I live in England, Wiltshire and not far from Stonehenge and Avebury etc. There are Ley Lines here and People still gather for Pagan Festivals at Stonehenge and Woodhenge a few miles away, the Landscape is littered with Longbarrows where the Dead were Laid. Also there is Silbury Hill, a huge man made mound assumed to have been completed around 2400 B.C. Yet it contains no burial.
Great job, Jon and Michael!
Merry Christmas!
Make those cookies a lot thicker and fill them up with sweet red bean paste or maybe crushed pineapple and you have Chinese Moon Cakes. Oh, instead of the cross go with the double happiness characters.
You give them as gifts to friends during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Maybe somebody who is actually Chinese can give more info. I just know that having spent the festival in Taiwan everybody was giving me Moon Cakes. I couldn’t carry them all.
🎵Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you
a Happy New Year
Merry Christmas Jon and company
Merry Christmas Gents!
Well done as always!
The merriest of Christmases to all!
Merry Christmas!
Love these food related shows, very facinating indeed - keep going guys, and thank you 😊
I love these historic cooking/ baking videos. I can't wait to see a video on when 18th century people discovered chocolate
Soul cakes. Sounds like a food in a role-playing game lol
Awesome! Thank you for the great content!!! :)
this looks great I'll have to make some for new years. Happy holidays guys
Great episode.
Always love seeing John in the kitchen, Michael is a great bonus🌟🌟🌟
Remarkable! A topic that TH covered before Townsends did... Both great episodes!!!!
My favorite song off of Sting's Winter album. 🤤
This was such a fun video, I love the nutmeg reaction!
What a wonderful atmosphere you mangage to create in your videos!
Saving souls one cookie at a time!
My family and I make soul cakes for All Souls day every year!
It's so interesting how these switched from an All-Staints tradition to a Christmas tradition. Folk traditions are funny like that.
These look soooo good. I will try them this weekend. Thank you!
Question, If soul cakes began with the droids, when was the cross added to them? When all souls day was introduced or did the always have a cross?
Cross cakes were made to honour Eostre. The "cross" simply represented the four seasons, rather than being a cross in the Christian sense
At the beginning of the clone wars
Thus likely before the command if Oom9
These are not the droids you are looking for......
@@mrmicro22 lol
Lovely video. Thank you!
Happy New Years, guys
Those biscuits would be great with some hot tea. Hope you have a Happy New Year. Cheers!
It's funny you should say that, every time I watch one of Jon's baking videos I wonder "How does it go with a cup of coffee?" 🤩
This is very Catholic, my guess is colonial sources aren't talking about it because of the protestant majority (especially Puritan and Quaker influence).
Yes, precisely.
This looks tasty. Merry Christmas to you too.🎄❤️
I love it when you have Michael on ☺️
Nutmeg makes a "grate" gift!
🤦♀️😂
SO now all you have to do to not be damned eternally is eat a cookie? "Ah shit he killed a whole town of people, but he ate a cookie so we gotta let him into heaven."
The catholic church made up purgatory to get money from mourning families and unsaved people that are scared of going to hell, ofc eating a cookie doesn't save your soul ☠️ lol, if they were christians to begin with they'd be telling them about Jesus Christ not their stupid religious practices. Catholicism is the biggest psyop in human history behind the belief that there is no God, their founder was a pagan and their church is too, always has been, belief in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross is the ONLY way to heaven, but their church wants to throw that away (hence their false bible) for their religious practices as I said earlier.
simply scrumptious.
Try steamy hot milk with a bit of sugar and several dashes of nutmeg, yummy winter mug of sleepy cozy comfort 😊
If we were over tired or fretful when recovering from being unwell mum would warm a cup of milk and stir in a spoonfull of honey then grate nutmeg on top warm and comforting
Perfect biscuits. I love how they look. :)
I swear you had an older video about these but I have not been able to find it.
Ashen one, to be Unkindled is to be a vessel for souls. Sovereignless souls will become thy strength.
The man doesn't prefer raisins. Gotta respect that....
I'm not a fan either. Usually opt for other dried fruits like chopped dates or cranberries.
Sounds delicious 😋 gotta try these
Funny how some of the simplest things can be so enjoyable.
God bless you dudes at townsends
I'm so excited 😆 I've been thinking about making some and went searching for a recipe and up you popped 😊 I wonder if a fig newton filling would work too 🤔 what's not to love about nutmeg, 😊 Im from the nutmeg state 😁
Only Townsends could make me want a cookie. I'm not a fan of sweet treats, but now I do want a cookie. I'll probably make do with an apple sprinkled with nutmeg, I am not going out to buy stuff for cookies. Is there flour in the house? Anywhere? Freezer? Nope, and it's single digits out there, not going shopping today. Only three apples might be a problem... Guess I won't tell anyone else about spicy apples?
Is it weird I just assumed John has a nutmeg grater on his person at all times?
I love having Michael Dragoo!