Celebrating Samhain, Darina Allen’s Barmbrack Recipe
To celebrate Samhain this year we have opted to try the quintessential Halloween recipe, barmbrack or bairín breac (meaning speckled loaf).
Below are the most popular charms to include in your seasonal cake, that would foretell the year ahead:
- ring - would marry
- pea- would not marry
- stick - an unhappy marriage
- piece of rag - bad luck
- coin - wealth
- bean - poverty
Others mentioned in the 1937 Schools’ Collection at the National Folklore Collection or by Clodagh Doyle, Keeper of the National Folklife Collection:
- thimble - spinsterhood
- nut/button - bachelorhood
- medal/cross - become religious
Who better to look to for guidance than the matriarch of Irish cuisine Darina Allen, who has kindly shared her recipe with us for this traditional treat.
Darina Allen’s Irish Tea Barmbrack
“This is a more modern version of barmbrack, now commonly called a ‘tea brack’ because the dried fruit is soaked in tea overnight to plump it up (rather than boiled). This little gem of a recipe is much easier to make at home than the traditional Halloween barmbrack. Even though it is a very rich bread, in Ireland it is traditionally served sliced and buttered.” - Darina Allen
Yields about 12 slices (eat the crusts, too!)
Ingredients:
110g (4oz) sultanas
110g (4oz) raisins
110g (4oz) currants
50g (2oz) natural glace cherries, halved or quartered
300ml (10fl oz) hot tea
1 organic egg, whisked
175g (6oz) soft brown sugar
225g (8oz) self-raising flour
1 level teaspoon mixed spice
50g (2oz) homemade candied peel
450g (1lb) loaf tin – 12.5 x 20cm (5 x 8in) OR 3 small loaf tins 15 x 7.5cm (6 x 3in)
Method:
Put the dried fruit and cherries into a bowl. Cover with hot tea and leave to plump up overnight.
Next day, line the loaf tin with silicone paper.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
Add the whisked egg, soft brown sugar, flour and mixed spice to the fruit and tea mixture. Stir well. Put the mixture into the lined loaf tin.
Cook in for about 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Keeps very well in an airtight tin.
We at team STÓR are dying to attend some of the many wonderful wintery events at Ballymaloe, scroll down to discover the events we’re particularly keen for before they sell out…
Forgotten Kills - Weaving Straw Decorations with Sonia Caldwell
A Cooks Holiday at Ballymaloe House with Rachel Allen
Don’t forget to leave a buttered slice out for your departed loved ones and let us know what your family baked into your brack?
Recipe copyright of Darina Allen, Ballymaloe Cookery School
Images care of Ballymaloe Cookery School
References -
The National Folklore Collection, dúchas.ie
National Museum of Ireland - Country Life, museum.ie
irishtimes.com