To make Wiggs:

You must take two pounds of flour, and a quarter of a pound of butter, as much sugar, a nutmeg grated, a little cloves and mace, and a quarter of an ounce of caroway seeds, cream and yeast as much as will make it up into a light paste, make them up, and set them by the fire to rise ’till the oven be ready; they will quickly be baked.

The Whole Duty of a Woman, 1737

Wiggs are soft, subtly spiced buns, made to an original recipe dating from 1737. The recipe that I used follows it closely, with only slight modifications.

Wiggs:

3 and 1/2 cups of white flour

Pinch each of nutmeg, ginger and ground cloves

1/4 cup of butter

1/4 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of dried yeast

1 cup of milk

1 egg

Mix the dried ingredients, flour, spices and sugar, in a bowl Rub in the butter Warm up the milk Take a little of the warm milk and mix with the dried yeast Pour in the milk, yeast and the egg and mix to form a soft dough Let rise for one hour in a warm place – I used a slightly warm oven. Form the dough into six balls, and let them rise for another 20 minutes. Bake at 200 C for 20 minutes.

The end result is a soft, spicy and slightly fragrant bun that could have come straight from a kitchen in 18th Century England.