TODAY’S MUSINGS:
Yes, I’ll admit it—I’m a bit of an Anglophile. With the holidays just around the corner, I don’t simply dream of a white Christmas, but a Dickensian one. I picture Victorian carolers strolling snow-covered cobblestone streets, a cozy Cotswold cottage aglow with candlelight and scented by the aromas of crackling roast goose and steamy figgy pudding. I imagine pulling Christmas crackers with family and friends around the table and nibbling treats like these very British Eccles cakes.
TODAY’S RECIPE:
Though the Eccles cake predates Dickens by about twenty years, it’s exactly the sort of sweetmeat I envision adorning Mr. Fezziwig’s bountiful Christmas Eve party table.
Eccles Cakes
An Eccles cake is a small, heavily spiced pastry filled with currants and candied orange peel wrapped in a flaky (rough puff) pastry. The origins can be traced to the town of Eccles, formerly within the Lancashire boundary, but now a suburb of Manchester. Weights are in grams, nodding to their British origin.
Ingredients
- Filling
- 120 grams currants
- 50 grams candied orange peel, chopped
- 50 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 40 grams light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- Zest of ¼ lemon
- Juice of ½ orange
- 1 Tablespoon brandy Pastry
- 250 grams All-purpose flour
- 5 grams salt
- 250 grams very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 125 milliliters ice-water
- 1 egg white, beaten
- Turbinado sugar (such as Sugar in the Raw) [recipe title="Eccles Cakes" servings="24" image="" description="An Eccles cake is a small, heavily spiced pastry filled with currants and candied orange peel wrapped in puff pastry. The origins can be traced to the town of Eccles, formerly within the Lancashire boundary, but now a suburb of Manchester. Weights are in grams, nodding to their British origin."] [recipe-ingredients] Filling
- 120 grams currants
- 50 grams candied orange peel, chopped
- 50 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 40 grams light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- Zest of ¼ lemon
- Juice of ½ orange
- 1 Tablespoon brandy Pastry
- 250 grams All-purpose flour
- 5 grams kosher salt
- 250 grams very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 125 milliliters ice-water
- 1 egg white, beaten
- Turbinado sugar (such as Sugar in the Raw)
Directions
- Stir together all filling ingredients in a small bowl. Microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute until butter is melted. Cover with clingfilm and set aside allowing the flavors to meld and currants to soften. Refrigerate. Once cold, the filling should bind together without extra liquid. Drain if necessary.
- In a food processor, pulse flour, salt, and very cold butter until butter pieces are pea-sized. Gradually pulse in about 100-125ml cold water until mixture comes together into a dough. Do not overwork.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle three times as long as it is wide. Fold the top third down into the middle, then the bottom third up over the top, as if folding a letter. Rotate the dough 90 degrees so the fold is now vertical. Roll out again and repeat the folding process. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 20 minutes. Repeat the rolling, folding, rotating, rolling and folding one more time. Chill for an hour.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface 1/6-inch thick, then cut out rounds 3 ½ inches wide. Put a half-tablespoon of filling in the center of each round, then dampen the edges of the circle and pinch together, tucking in the corners and pinching well to make it into a purse, fully enclosing the filling. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet smooth side up, and press down slightly with your hands until flattened. Chill for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400° F. Remove pastries from refrigerator, brush with egg white and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Cut three slashes on the top of each Eccles cake and bake for about 25 minutes or until golden and well-risen. Allow to cool completely before eating – the filling will be hot.
I am a huge proponent of making your own candied orange peel – its the difference between hard bullet and juicy deliciousness. You can find my recipe for candied orange peel here.