British Scones
17 to 20 two-inch buns
These scones are chockablock with dried currants, but the scones are just as nice without them.
You'll need a 2-inch biscuit cutter. If you don't have a stand mixer, you can quickly work the butter into the flour mixture by hand or with a pastry cutter.
Serve with - what else? - clotted cream and jam.
MAKE AHEAD: The dough needs to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. The scones are best eaten freshly baked, but the rounds of dough can be refrigerated overnight or individually wrapped (unbaked or baked) in plastic wrap and frozen in a zip-top bag for up to a month or two. Defrost before baking or reheating; for the latter, tent loosely with aluminum foil and warm through in a 350-degree oven.
Adapted from Shael Mead, head pastry chef at London's Ham Yard Hotel.
Ingredients
584 grams (about 4 cups) flour, plus more as needed
84 grams (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) sugar
36 grams (2 tablespoons) baking powder
113 grams (8 tablespoons; 1 stick) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
143 grams (about 1 cup) dried currants (optional)
250 grams (about 1 cup) whole milk, plus more for brushing
162 grams (about 3/4 cup) heavy cream
Steps
Combine the flour, sugar and baking powder in the bowl of a stand mixer or handheld electric mixer. Beat on low speed just to blend. Add the chilled butter; beat on low speed for 4 or 5 minutes, until the mixture starts to look crumbly with some large chunks. Stop to scrape down the bowl.
Add the currants, if using; beat on low speed until evenly distributed.
Pour in the milk and heavy cream; beat on low speed for several seconds, just until the liquids are incorporated, to form a soft dough.
Lightly flour a work surface. Transfer the dough there and pat it to an even thickness of about 1 inch. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel; let it rest for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner.
Flour the edges of your biscuit cutter, then use it to cut out 17 to 20 scones (straight down, without twisting), arranging them at least 1 inch apart on the baking sheet as you work and re- flouring the cutter each time. Try to reroll the scraps no more than once as the subsequent rounds of dough may not rise as much in the oven.
Lightly brush the tops of the scones with milk. Bake (middle rack) for about 16 minutes, turning the sheet from front to back halfway through, until lightly golden.
Transfer them to a wire rack to cool for a few minutes before serving, or cool completely before storing.
Nutrition | Per piece (based on 20): 200 calories, 4 g protein, 27 g carbohydrates, 8 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 10 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 5 g sugar
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Battenberg Cake
8 to 10 servings
Assembling the cake requires some precision, but it's easier than it looks. The batter is thick enough that you can fairly neatly spoon the yellow and pink colors next to each other without them bleeding together; you might have to trim a bit off each half to cut away any combined bits. Or you can create a divider to keep them separate. We've wrapped a thin piece of cardboard, such as from a tissue box, in aluminum foil to good effect.
The original recipe calls for a 7-inch square baking pan; in testing, we found that an 8-inch disposable aluminum pan works just fine.
MAKE AHEAD: The assembled cake, minus the final application of apricot jam and the marzipan exterior, can be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature 1 day in advance or frozen for up to 1 month. The assembled cake and be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.
Adapted from "Mary Berry's Baking Bible: Over 250 Classic Recipes," by Mary Berry (BBC Books, 2009).
Ingredients
113 grams (8 tablespoons; 1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
100 grams (about 1/2 cup) sugar
2 large eggs
50 grams (6 tablespoons) rice flour
100 grams (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
A few drops almond extract
Red food coloring
About 1/2 cup apricot jam, or more as needed
8 ounces marzipan
Steps
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 7- or 8-inch square baking pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Combine the 8 tablespoons of butter, sugar, eggs, flours, baking powder and almond extract in the bowl of a stand mixer or handheld electric mixer. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until smooth, stopping to scrape down the bowl, as needed.
Spoon half the batter into one side of the cake pan as neatly as possible. If you're using a pan divider, place it up against the exposed side of the batter.
Add a few drops of red food coloring to the remaining batter, blending it in to create a deep pink color. Spoon the pink batter into the other side of the cake pan. If you're not using a divider, try to create an even and discrete line between the colors of batter. Smooth the surface of each half.
Bake (middle rack) for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake is well risen, springy to the touch and has shrunk slightly from the sides of the pan. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling completely on a wire rack.
Trim the edges as needed to end up with a 7-inch square cake, then cut each colored half of the cake into 2 equal sections of equal size (for a total of 4).
Gently heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan over low heat until it's fairly fluid and spreadable. Use an offset spatula to spread the warmed jam on the facing sides of one pink section and one yellow section, then press them together to form the bottom layer. Next, spread a layer of jam on their combined top surface. Then spread jam on the inside edge of the remaining yellow section and place it atop the bottom pink section; repeat with the remaining pink section, placing it atop the bottom yellow section and pressing it up against the top pink section, to form a checkerboard effect.
(At this point, the cake can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature or frozen.)
For final assembly, brush the top of the cake with apricot jam.
Roll out the marzipan into an oblong the length of the cake and sufficiently wide enough to wrap around the cake with a little margin for error, about 9 by 12 inches. Invert the cake onto the marzipan (jam side down), then brush the remaining three sides with apricot jam. Press the marzipan neatly around the cake so the seam ends up at one corner. Trim any excess marzipan and cut a very thin slice off each end of the cake for a neat edge.
Use a sharp paring knife to score the top of the cake with a crisscross quilted pattern.
Nutrition | Per serving (after trimming, based on 10): 270 calories, 4 g protein, 40 g carbohydrates, 12 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 50 mg cholesterol, 20 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 26 g sugar
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Earl Grey White Chocolate Truffles
20 pieces
Experiment with your favorite tea infusion, though we recommend using loose leaf for optimum flavor.
MAKE AHEAD: Store in an airtight container at a cool room temperature (65 to 70 degrees), for up to 1 week. You may have some almond coating left over.
Valrhona's Ivoire 35 percent baking bar is available online and at kitchen stores such as Sur La Table.
From Washington Post Food section writer Becky Krystal, based on a recipe from Ina Garten.
Ingredients
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon loose-leaf Earl Grey tea
10 ounces high-quality white chocolate, such as Valrhona Ivoire, chopped (35 percent cacao solids; see headnote)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces (1 cup) slivered almonds, toasted and ground to a pebbly consistency in a food processor (see NOTE)
Steps
Warm the cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Once you see a few bubbles appear around the edges, remove from the heat, stir in the tea and let steep for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the chopped white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan with a few inches of barely bubbling water (do not let the water boil; medium-low heat). Gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan.
Strain the infused cream through a fine-mesh strainer, pouring it directly into the melted white chocolate, stirring to incorporate. (Discard the solids.) Whisk in the vanilla extract. Let the mixture cool in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes, until it thickens to a scoopable consistency.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Place the ground almonds in a bowl.
Use two tableware spoons or a No. 70 disher (1 tablespoon) to make a total of 20 dollops of the truffle mixture and place them on the baking sheet, spaced at least 1 inch apart. Refrigerate for about 10 minutes, or until just firm enough to shape.
Working quickly, roll each portion between your hands to form a smooth ball. Dip each one in the ground almonds to coat completely, returning them to the baking sheet to set. Once they're firm, serve or store.
NOTE: Toast the almonds in a small, dry skillet over medium-low heat for a few minutes, until fragrant and lightly browned, shaking the pan to avoid scorching. Cool completely before using.
Nutrition | Per piece (using half the almonds): 110 calories, 1 g protein, 8 g carbohydrates, 9 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 10 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 7 g sugar
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