Hagrid's Rock Cakes

I know I am being a little redundant with the cinnamon flavorings, but I just couldn’t resist this time. I love the slightly sweet and warm sent and taste of cinnamon, not to mention the pretty speckles of brown it gives food.

These are Rock Cakes. Again, made from my little Harry Potter Cookbook, which I’m finding has some pretty good recipes in it for something based off of a fantasy series. The book mentions that these cakes (which are more like biscuits - the American kind) have been featured along side Hagrid quite a few times. It’s known that Hagrid doesn’t always have the best looking or tasty sounding treats, but these are actually really good.

These Rock Cakes are a bit sweet, which I don’t mind, and they have a nice little crisp outer crust that I’m especially fond of when biting into biscuits. Their insides are so soft, and have a great crumb. I loved tearing the cake in half and just nibbling on them. They are indeed the perfect afternoon snack.

I ended up making a half batch, since I wasn’t sure how these would turn out because last time I made a biscuit type thing they turned out like this. I expected to get sixish cakes out of these, but the more batter I added to the original six, the bigger they got and I didn’t know how much they would spread or rise or what. So I ended up making nine cakes and I willingly admit that I ate a third of them along with my lunch.

Hagrid's Rock Cakes

from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook

Ingredients
2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1 stick cold butter, cubed
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. With your finger tips, rub the cold butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles wet sand. This will take a little while. I also tossed the flour around the butter too, to get it extra incorporated.
3. Beat the egg and the milk together and pour into the flour and butter mixture. Use a rubber spatula or a fork to start bringing the mixture together. After a few mixes, ditch the utensil of your choice and start mixing the dough by hand. I found this to be a lit easier than just using a spatula to get everything well mixed. If you chose to use raisins (I did not) now is the time to fold them into the sticky batter.
4. Roll the dough into one inch balls and place on the lined baking sheet, two inches apart. I made mine a little bigger than one inch and it still gave me 50% more biscuits, so make them a little bigger if you want less. Bake for 18-25 minutes (depending on the size).

"For rock-hard rock cakes like Hagrid's, just bake them for too long and eat them a week later at your own risk!" -This quote really amused me when I read the bottom of the page.