Sugar Cube (7 page)

There’s no excuse for the leaden, greasy hockey pucks some coffee shops try to pass off as biscuits. The only secret to making great biscuits is to go easy on the mixing. Honestly, this is one case where it pays to be a slacker. I add almond flour because I love how the nutty flavor really complements the fruity jam filling, plus it helps the biscuits achieve their amazing light and tender texture.
MAKES 16 BISCUITS

• 3
  ¹
  /
  ₂
  cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  
• ¹
  /
  ₂
  cup almond flour
  
• 3 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
  
• 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into
  ¹
  /
  ₂
  -inch cubes
  
• 1
  ¹
  /
  ₃
  cups buttermilk
  
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  
• Heavy cream for brushing
  
• 1 cup thick jam, for filling biscuits
  
• Granulated sugar or vanilla sugar for sprinkling
  

• PREHEAT THE OVEN
  to 400°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.
  
• IN THE BOWL OF A 9-CUP OR LARGER FOOD PROCESSOR
  , combine the all-purpose flour, almond flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and pulse a few times. Add the butter and pulse until pieces no larger than peas are formed. While pulsing, drizzle the buttermilk and vanilla through the feed tube. Continue pulsing until the dough just comes together and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. (A Cuisinart makes
  the
  best biscuits, but if you don’t have one, you can mix the dough by hand in a large mixing bowl, using a pastry blender to cut in the butter until it’s no bigger than peas. Or use a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix in the butter on
  low
  speed so the butter doesn’t fly out of the bowl.)
  
• TURN THE DOUGH OUT
  onto a clean, dry, lightly floured surface and gather it into a ball. Shape the ball into a disk and roll out the dough into an 11-inch circle that’s at least
  ¹
  /
  ₂
  to
  ³
  /
  ₄
  inch thick. Use a round 3-inch biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits, dipping the cutter in flour before cutting out each biscuit. You should get about ten biscuits. Gently gather the scraps, reroll, and cut out as many biscuits as you can, about six more.
  
• PLACE THE BISCUITS
  about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets, eight per pan. Use your thumb to press into the center of each biscuit, making a well deep and wide enough to hold the jam (about half-dollar size). Freeze until firm, about 10 minutes. (You can pack the firm biscuits into a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 6 months.) Lightly brush the tops with cream, avoiding the dent. Fill each indentation with 1 tablespoon of jam. Sprinkle the tops with sugar and bake until golden brown, 18 to 23 minutes. Serve warm.
  

•
Technically almond flour is a little more finely ground than almond meal, but you can use both interchangeably in my recipes. Almond meal has the added benefit of being sold at Trader Joe’s for about half the price of almond flour, which is found on the gluten-free or baking aisle at many supermarkets.

•
Be sure to use a thick, fruit-loaded jam. Lighter-style jams and jellies will get too runny in the oven and melt all over the place.

•
If you want your biscuits to rise to impressive heights, make sure your biscuit cutter is sharp (no overturned drinking glasses) and don’t twist while cutting. Otherwise you’ll end up essentially pinching the top and bottom layers together, and the biscuits will have a hard time rising.

A clafouti is a rustic, country French dessert, but its fruit-studded eggy base has always said “breakfast” to me. Honestly, a stack of flapjacks with maple syrup is sweeter, so I say it’s time to make clafouti a legitimate breakfast option. To that end, I created this version with a fat dollop of thick Greek yogurt and a crumbly, buttery topping of sugar-spiced oats. If you’re feeling a bit fancy, bake it in individual ramekins. Or make it easy on yourself and use a large baking dish.
MAKES 6 SERVINGS

• ²
  /
  ₃
  cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  
• ²
  /
  ₃
  cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  
• ¹
  /
  ₄
  teaspoon sea salt
  
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  
• 3 large eggs
  
• 3 large egg yolks
  
• ³
  /
  ₄
  cup heavy cream
  
• ¹
  /
  ₄
  cup full-fat greek yogurt
  
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
  
• ¹
  /
  ₂
  vanilla bean
  
• ¹
  /
  ₂
  cup finely chopped hazelnuts (see tip)
  
• 1 pound (about 2
  ¹
  /
  ₂
  cups) fresh whole cherries, pitted (see tip)
  

• ¹
  /
  ₄
  cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  
• ¹
  /
  ₄
  cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  
• 3 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
  
• ¹
  /
  ₄
  teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• ¹
  /
  ₈
  teaspoon sea salt
  
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  

• PREHEAT THE OVEN
  to 350°F.
  
• IN A LARGE MIXING BOWL
  , whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Whisk in the melted butter, eggs, egg yolks, cream, yogurt, lemon zest, seeds scraped from the piece of vanilla bean, and
  ¹
  /
  ₄
  cup of the chopped hazelnuts. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes.
  
• BUTTER SIX 4-OUNCE RAMEKINS
  or a 6-cup baking dish, coat with sugar, and tap out the excess. Arrange the cherries in the bottom of the dish(es). Pour the batter over the cherries and bake for 20 minutes.
  
• TO MAKE THE TOPPING:
  In a small mixing bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Drizzle in the butter and stir until evenly moistened.
  
• SPRINKLE THE CLAFOUTIS
  evenly with the crumble, rotate the dishes from front to back, and continue baking until puffed, golden brown, and set in the center, 15 to 20 minutes more. Serve warm, sprinkled with the remaining
  ¹
  /
  ₄
  cup chopped hazelnuts.
  

•
To toast the hazelnuts, preheat the oven to 350°F, spread the nuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and toast until fragrant and beginning to color, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool and finely chop.

•
Fresh, ripe, just-picked juicy cherries are the ultimate choice for this dish. If you have a farmers’ market close by, march your butt down there. Bings are perfect, but a combination of Bing and Rainier would be wonderful, too. Taste the fruit and make sure it’s sweet and flavorful, not watery. When fresh cherries are out of season, you can use fresh berries, sautéed apples or pears, or good-quality, organic frozen fruit.

I can never get enough lemon, so I always eat these light lemony cakes with gobs of lemon curd, but any kind of jam would be delicious. The rosy-hued
Rhubarb Jam
pictured here is a particularly lip-smacking addition. You can even stash a bag of unbaked scones in the freezer for those nonfunctional mornings when measuring ingredients or adding to the pile of dishes in the sink is a frightening prospect. Serve with jam and butter or, my personal favorite,
Luscious Lemon Curd
.
MAKES 8 SCONES