In which we start a new project and make Bosworth Jumbles

On Wednesday Hannah and I were catching up on Great British Bake Off and one of the history of food sections was about Cornish saffron buns. We reflected that we hadn't tried those on our recent holiday in Cornwall. I was about to suggest we made some when an idea for a whole project embracing geography, history and cookery burst fully formed into my brain. We would print off a map of the counties of the UK, one which could be coloured (Hannah has only a very shaky idea of how the country fits together so this will help her understand it better). One by one we  would make a local speciality from each county and look at its history, make it...eat it obviously..and colour in its county of origin on the map.

Today we decided on Bosworth Jumbles, from Leicestershire as suggested by someone on Learning Under the Trees. I googled it and found a recipe on the ITV website from Ade Edmondson's programme on cooking local dishes. He used to come into the bookshop where I worked as a new graduate and was lovely so I felt warmly inclined towards his method, which you will find here. This S shaped biscuit is from a recipe supposedly left behind at the Battle of Bosworth (1485) by Richard III's cook! Although a different website suggests a far simpler recipe which seems much more likely than the lemony version we made. All I can say is Richard III may have lost his horse, his kingdom and his life at Bosworth, but at least he had damn fine biscuits!

I should add the not-very-S-shaped one is not badly made but half-eaten!