The Cracker Problem, and Banbury Tarts

Very few crackers are available to the soy-free. Saltines have soy--even the fat-free ones had lecithin the last time I looked. Some varieties of Kashi "TLC" ("tasty little cracker") varieties are soy-free, though you have to (repeat after me:) read every label, every time. The last time I went grocery shopping, I found two varieties of Carr's crackers that were made with palm oil, the Whole Wheat Crackers, and the Table Water Crackers.

These last crackers made me happy. Yes, very little makes you happy when you are allergic to soy and you find something normal you can eat. But this made me happy for a specific reason: Banbury Tarts.

My mother made Banbury Tarts a handful of times when I was growing up. They are fussy to make, and she didn't do "fussy" in the kitchen. We make ours, not from some authentic British recipe, but from the Fanny Farmer cookbook. You can find it on the web here. It calls for "a slow oven," which means 300F.

It calls for crackers. Rather, it calls for "1 cracker." The last time I asked my mom to make these, she made them with 1 Saltine. Bummer. Couldn't eat them. No, Mom, not even if it only has "just a little bit of soy" in it. Sorry.

Now, could I make these with bread crumbs? Probably. Why didn't I? Maybe because not having soy-free crackers in the house gave me an excuse to not make Banbury Tarts. Since I don't have this excuse anymore, I think I will make Banbury Tarts for Thanksgiving, instead of mince pie, which nobody like but me (and Mom, of course, but she's probably not coming.) Then, because my daughter will be home for the 4-day weekend, I will pressure her into helping me take pictures of them and teach me how to upload them and then I will have my very first post with photos!

So,




















And Banbury Tarts.