Eccles Cakes for Grandad

When I went to uni there was a 4 day course trip to London, which my grandad very kindly gave to me since students aren't exactly well off! However I dropped out before the trip and basically lost the money, which I feel really really bad for since my grandad is obviously a pensioner so not that wealthy himself. I was thinking of ways to make it up to him (he won't let me just pay him the money back, typical grandad) and decided that since he likes eccles cakes, I would try to bake some for him.

Now i'm not exactly a master baker but I do find it fun, and I watched every episode of the Great British Bake Off (literally from every series). So I found myself a recipe and gave it a go!

The standard was set really high for me because my grandad doesn't really like shop bought eccles cakes as they are too dry; he was in the RAF and remembers when you got them still warm from vans and the fruit inside was so juicy it ran into your mouth when you bit into it. Healthy? Probably not. But as much as I obviously care about my grandad's health, I also want him to be super happy, therefore was just praying that it was the right kind of recipe for this result.

I must warn that if you want to make them yourself from scratch, ensure you have a whole day because flaky pastry takes forever (literally, kind of)- you have to keep resting it in the fridge and adding more flakes of lard and butter. The amount of filling also looks too dry and as though there isn't enough but there is, don't worry. Considering it was my first go I am super proud of these; they were delicious and, most importantly, grandad loved them!