The Trafalgar 200 celebration cookie recipe

Celebrating a major event like the 200th anniversary of the death of Admiral Lord Nelson and the battle of Trafalgar takes some planning, just a Nelson did on the day.

And what an event it was. For Trafalgar 200 event information click here. We were invited to join some friends on their motor yacht to see the Fleet Review off Spithead in Southampton water, a central part of the celebrations. Over 170 naval ships from more than 35 countries were moored in the approaches to Portsmouth Harbour and were reviewed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth on 28th June. Several thousand small craft came to view the fleet and honour Nelson.

So I wondered if Nelson would have had cookies of any sort, and if not, what might have been?

Well it turns out that the only biscuits that would have been on board were probably thos known as 'hard tack'. These are biscuits that were very tough and baked very dry to give them good keeping qualities, a far cry from the cookies we know today. To eat them they generally had to be soaked to soften them. Not very apetising for an Admiral!

So then I looked at likely ingredients and cooking methods that could have been available on board ship at the time.

Returning to cookies, and looking at the ingredients likely to be held on board a ship-of-the-line around 1805, we find flour available, sugar, spices for the officers (probably from a private supply) and salt.

Some dried fruit could be available and butter and eggs in limited supply when close to shore. Goats were the main source of milk as cattle were large and kept for fresh meat.

Molasses could have been available as it is sugar in a form suitable for long term storage. It was made in the West Indies from the 15th Century. Nelson had spent time in the West Indies and would, most likely, have come across it.

And, of course, that naval tradition of rum. Cooking was done using a single oven that could supply the whole 175 man crew of the Victory with a hot meal. It was called a 'brodie' stove after its inventor. It could boil, roast and bake bread, so cookies could have been prepared. Want to see HMS Victory's stores manifest from 1805? Now we have a set of ingredients and a cooking facility, what kind of recipe would be suitable?

Standard ships' cooks in those days were generally hardly worthy of the name "cook" as they were frequently battle-injured seamen at the end of their careers afloat. So their culinary skills were not great.

But ships' captains and fleet admirals often had their own servants who could cook to a reasonable standard. They would be in touch with new developments so that they could impress their master's guests.

Their utensils would be basic, they would share the general ship's Brodie Stove, and especially had no electrical gadgets to mix or chill!

So I have chosen a recipe that uses molasses, dried fruit soaked in rum, butter and flour. It has no eggs and requires only simple mixing. Makes about 15 to 18 cookies.

Ingredients

Rum - 2 tablespoons - optional, see method

Molasses - 8 oz (2/3 cup)

Caster sugar - 4 oz (1/2 cup)

Nutmeg - pinch (optional)

All purpose Flour - 8 oz (2 cups) - amount variable

Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon

Tools

Heavy based pan - 1 1/2 quart (1 1/2 liter) capacity

Three non-stick heavyweight baking sheets

Flat palette knife to lift cookies

Cooling rack

Method

Set the oven to warm up to 400F, Gas Mk 4 If you do not have non stick baking sheets then butter/ grease the ones you are using.

Weigh the butter, sugar and molasses into the pan. Put the butter in first so that it melts first.

Heat slowly until the butter is melted and the sugar well dispersed. Stir frequently, especailly to mix in the butter which tries to float on the top.

Add the salt and the nutmeg.

Continue to heat, bringing gently to the boil.

Turn the heat down to a low setting so that it just continues to boil.

Caution! The mixture gets very hot as the sugar begins to caramelize.

Maintain the gentle boil for five minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the pan. Stir in the first cup (4 ozs) of well sifted flour. Make sure it is well mixed and all lumps are broken up.

Allow to cool for ten to fifteen minutes.

Stir in the raisins and the baking soda. If you add the baking soda when the mixture is still hot there is a risk it will foam up too quickly.

Add half the remaining sifted flour.

Continue to add flour until the mixture stops being runny and becomes a soft but still sticky dough. You may need over the specifed quantity to get it thick enough. It is thick enough when a spoonful will not drip back into the pan.

Using a desert spoon, take generous walnut sized bits of the dough and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Allow for them to spread to 3" diameter, you get about 9 to a standard baking sheet.

Immediately place them in the oven. After five minutes reduce the temperature to 350 F/ gas Mk3. Bake until the start to become a lighter shade of brown. Do not let them bake too long as they should be flexible, not crisp, after they come out of the oven - 10 to 15 mins. Allow to cool on the trays for five minutes, then lift onto your racks with the palette knife and allow to cool fully.

The resulting cookies should be chewy and tasty with the flavor of the molasses coming through.

Go to the top of this page to read about the Trafalgar 200 celebration cookie recipe.