I carry no phone An aspiring Luddite In a wired world. Mastodon Verification Link	Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, a late adopter of Twitter, and declines to adopt Facebook. With the death of Google+, he migrated to the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

The Centre for Medieval Studies had an end-of-term party yesterday, and the theme was 'Medieval Bake-Off.' Naturally, I was delighted. I decided to go completely overboard and prepare four different things for the pot-luck. The problem is that so many medieval recipes do not adapt well to a finger-food model of presentation. There are lots of pottages, meats with sauces, and so on that are delicious, but rather bowl and utensil heavy. Which leaves pies. I decided to go with two 15th century pies, both of which I've chronicled here before: Herbe-blade, and Flathonys (made without bacon.)

I also decided to revisit a couple of 17th century recipes for Jumbles, that I first looked at ages ago, way back in '04, since they are easy finger-foods, being very nearly cookies out of the gate. Those recipes are presented below.

To make Sugar-Cakes or Jambals.
Take two pound of flour, dry it, and season it very fine, and then take a pound of loaf sugar, beat it very fine, and searse it, mingle your flour and sugar very well; then take a pound and a half of sweet butter, wash out the salt and break it into bits into the flour and sugar, then take the yolks of four new laid eggs, four or five spoonfuls of sack, and four spoonfools of cream, beat all these together, put them into the flour, and work it up into paste, make them into what fashion you please, lay them upon papers or plates, and put them into the oven; be careful of them, for a very little thing bakes them.
- May, Robert; The Accomplisht Cook, 1685

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 125g butter
• 1 Tbs or so cream
• 1 Tbs or so sherry (or sack)

Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and mix well. Add the flour and mix as well as you can. Then add a bit of the cream and sherry, and stir. If it's too dry, add a bit more, and repeat until you've got a slightly sticky dough - cookie dough texture.

Put onto a baking sheet by the tablespoonful, heaping if you like, and bake for about 12 minutes at 175C/350F. Be careful, though, as May says, 'a very little thing bakes them.'

These come out much like a simple butter cookie, which is no bad thing.

To make the best jumbles, take the whites of three eggs and beat them well, and take off the veil; then take a little milk and a pound of fine wheat flour and sugar together finely sifted, and a few aniseeds well rubbed and dried; and then work all together as stiff as you can work it, and so make them in what forms you please, and bake them in a soft oven upon white papers.
- Markham, Gervase; The English Hus-wife, 1615

• 2 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 cup milk, or a bit more
• a teaspoon or two of aniseed

Put them onto a cookie sheet in cookie sized dollops. Bake at 150C/300F for twenty minutes or so until they are no longer wet looking. Let them cool before you try to remove them from the sheet, they tend to stick.

These have a slightly chewy texture, which is both pleasant and interesting. The aniseeds add a nice note to the flavour.