Cranberry, clementine and ginger Welsh cakes

I've started working part-time and I have to say I'm absolutely loving it!  Today has been a beautiful sunny day, just beginning to melt the snow we've had this week. After a lovely walk around Cosmeston lakes with our dog, I came home and rustled up another batch of Welsh cakes (they are proving to be very addictive - to make and eat!).  This time, I soaked dried cranberries in a pan with a little clementine juice, so the fruit plumps up (inspired by the juicy blueberry Welsh cake fritters I made the other day, but wanting to make them quickly out of what was in the house).  I added ginger instead of cinnamon, which went very well with a pot of fragrantly spiced chai tea.

Ingredients

8 oz self-raising flour (plus extra for rolling)

4 oz butter, cubed (plus extra for greasing)

3oz caster sugar (plus extra for dusting)

1 tsp ground ginger

6 oz dried cranberries

3 tbsp clementine juice

1 egg, lightly beaten

Milk, if needed

Method

1. Gently heat the cranberries and clementine juice in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally until the cranberries plump up.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool, allowing the cranberries to soak up all the juice.
2. Once cooled, place the flour and cubed butter in a food processor and blitz until it resembles fine bread crumbs (or rub together with your fingertips).  
3. Add the sugar and ginger, then the egg, and combine the ingredients well.
4. Add the cooled contents of the pan (cranberries and any remaining juice) to the batter and knead by hand to form a ball of dough, using a splash of milk if needed.
5. Turn onto a floured surface, knead well, then use a rolling pin to very gently roll out the dough until it is 1cm thick. 
6. Cut into rounds with a 2 inch fluted pastry cutter, re-rolling the trimmings until all the dough is used.
7. Rub an iron griddle or heavy based, non-stick frying pan with butter and wipe the excess away.  Heat the pan over a medium heat and cook the cakes for 2-3 minutes on each side. (If they look as if they're browning too quickly, turn the heat down a bit because it's important to cook them through – but they should be fairly brown and crisp on the outside.)
8. Remove from the pan and dust with caster sugar while still warm.