by Keighley’s Mike Armstrong, an award-winning master baker with a big passion for baking. See facebook.com/bakermike001

CAN you still buy Abernethy biscuits today?

Fear not, try this recipe out.

Contrary to popular belief, Abernethy biscuits do not take their name from the village in Scotland.

In fact, they are named after Dr John Abernethy who regularly ate plain biscuits from his local bakery in the 18th century.

He suggested to the bakery that it should add caraway seeds to enhance the biscuits. These biscuits were then such a hit they took his name from that day forth.

The biscuits soon became a digestive improver, designed to be eaten as a support to proper digestion.

Abernethy believed that most diseases were due to disorders of digestion. The doctor was also following trends of other medical practitioners by adding sugar for energy and caraway seeds because of their reputation for having a carminative effect, making them beneficial for digestion.

The Abernethy is a mix between an all-butter biscuit and a shortbread, being slightly thinner and using less bran than the modern digestive biscuit form.

Some recipes still add a teaspoon of caraway seeds to the basic mixture, traditionally eaten with a cuppa or as something topped with a smear of butter and a slice of cheese. They were an ideal ‘shivery’ for example after emerging from freezing-cold swimming baths in Keighley, which opened in 1896 as the Keighley baths and wash houses. They boasted large and small swimming baths, two Turkish baths, sun-ray and radiant heat departments and 28 slipper baths. It was noted that there was no water in the old baths in winter, when they were converted into a ballroom. Both Albert and Spencer Street baths sadly closed in 1989.

I have fond memories of diving for a brick in my Batman and Robin pyjamas in swimming lessons from the old Grange School, and loved a mug of piping-hot tomato soup with a bag of cheese and onion crisps on a Saturday morning to warm you up.

Now I just need to see how well I sleep.

I’ve wolfed down a few Abernethys, so I am fully expecting my stomach to be quite well behaved and settled.

And yes the following day, thanks to Dr Abernethy, I can reflect that I did sleep like a log. Although unfortunately I did have one nightmare – a vision of rats swimming in the old Keighley baths.

RECIPE

ABERNETHY BISCUITS

Ingredients:

200g/7oz plain flour, sift

1 teaspoon baking powder

75g/2. 3/4oz butter, cold from the fridge

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon caraway seeds, optional

75g /2. 3/4oz caster sugar

1 medium egg, beaten

50ml/2floz double cream or milk

Method:

1. Sift the flour and baking powder with a pinch of salt, then rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Add the sugar and optional caraway seeds, stir and mix in the beaten egg with enough milk to form a stiff yet soft dough.

3. Turn out onto a well-floured work surface and roll out thinly.

4. Cut out your Abernethy biscuits using a 5cm/2-inch plain edge round cutter, reworking the scrap dough.

5. Place on a parchment-lined baking tray allowing room to bake, pricking all over with a fork.

6. Bake in a preheated oven 180c/160c fan/Gas Mark 4 for 10-12 minutes or until pale

golden.

7. Once baked sprinkle over a little caster sugar and allow to cool and firm up on the baking tray.