Apricot Sandwich Tea Cakes Recipes

APRICOT TEA CAKE

Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and 1 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy, about three to five minutes.
• Add the eggs one at a time and the vanilla extract and mix until combined.
• Gradually add the flour and mix just until combined. (It will be a wet dough.)
• Wrap dough in plastic and chill until firm, about one hour. (Dough can be made in advance and refrigerated until needed.)
• Preheat oven to 375 and grease a tart pan.
• Toss apricots with lemon zest, juice and remaining tablespoon of sugar.
• Divide dough in half. Press one half into bottom of tart pan.
• Top dough with chopped fruit.
• With your fingers, tear off a chunk of the remaining dough and flatten it into a thin layer. Place on top of the fruit.
• Repeat with the remaining dough, cobbling together the pieces until the fruit is mostly covered, but some gaps remain. (Dough will join together in the cooking and create a scalloped top.)
• Sprinkle generously with raw sugar.
• Bake until top crust is puffed and golden brown, about 35 to 40 minutes.
• Cool on a wire rack before serving.

ENGLISH TEA CAKES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add flour and mix well. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls into greased miniature muffin cups; flatten slightly. Press a walnut half into the center of each., Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

LITTLE APRICOT CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Coat muffin cups with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in another medium bowl, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, lemon zest, and vanilla and beat until combined.
• With mixer on low speed, add dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Divide batter among muffin cups (cups will be only 1/3 full) and smooth tops. Top with apricot slices and sprinkle with raw sugar.
• Bake until cakes are golden and a tester inserted into the centers comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let pan cool 5 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack and let cool completely.
• DO AHEAD: Cakes can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

APRICOT TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking pan with parchment. Butter and flour twelve 3-by-1 1/2-inch cake rings; set on parchment. Place cornmeal in a large mixing bowl; set aside.
• In a small saucepan, combine milk, sugar, salt, and orange zest. Set over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil, stirring.
• Slowly pour the hot milk mixture over the cornmeal, incorporating with a fork. Cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place 30 minutes. Add the orange juice.
• Place the apricot halves on paper towels, and let drain. One at a time, add the egg yolks to the cornmeal mixture, stirring after each addition. Stir in the olive oil.
• In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until stiff and shiny. Fold into cornmeal mixture.
• Center one apricot half, cut-side up, in each cake ring. Pour 1/2 cup batter into each ring. Bake 5 minutes, and remove from oven. Reduce heat to 325 degrees. Place another apricot half, cut-side up, in each ring, and place an almond in the center of each apricot. Return to oven, and bake until tops are golden brown, about 25 minutes.
• Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack; let cool 5 minutes. Remove rings, and cool completely. Drizzle cakes with honey; serve.

FRESH APRICOT-HONEY SPONGE CAKE (RUSSIAN STYLE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease a 9-inch cake pan with butter, and dust with bread crumbs; set aside.
• Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the sliced apricots, and drizzle with honey. Cover, and cook gently until the apricots have softened, then allow to cool to room temperature.
• Meanwhile, beat the egg whites to soft peaks with an electric mixer. Slowly pour in sugar while continuing to beat to stiff peaks; set aside.
• Beat the egg yolks on low speed for a few seconds until slightly thickened. Slowly pour in sugar while continuing to beat until thickened and light-colored. Beat in milk, then sift together flour with baking powder, and fold into yolks along with cooled apricot mixture, walnuts, and egg whites until combined.
• Pour into prepared pan, and bake in the middle or bottom of the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Loosen the cake by running a knife around the edges of the pan. Invert cake onto a plate, then place another plate on the cake bottom, and flip right-side-up; cool completely before serving.

TOASTED TEACAKES WITH APRICOT COMPOTE

Steps:

• Toast the teacakes. Split in half and serve warm from the toaster, spread with mascarpone and topped with spoonfuls of apricot compote.

TEA CAKE SANDWICH COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl to blend well. Using electric mixer, beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in milk, lemon peel, and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and beat until blended. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let soften slightly before rolling out.)
• Roll out each dough disk between sheets of waxed paper to 14x11-inch rectangle, occasionally lifting waxed paper to smooth out wrinkles. Refrigerate dough on baking sheets, still between sheets of waxed paper, until cold and firm, about 30 minutes. Place 1 dough piece on work surface. Peel off top sheet of waxed paper. Press same waxed paper gently back onto dough. Turn dough over (still between waxed paper sheets). Peel off top sheet of waxed paper and discard. Using 2 1/4-inch scalloped round cutter and with dough still on waxed paper bottom, cut out cookies. Using 1- to 1 1/4-inch scalloped round cutter, cut out center from half of cookies. Gather dough centers and excess dough around cutouts; shape excess dough into disk and chill. Slide waxed paper with cutouts onto baking sheet and chill. Repeat with remaining dough disk, cutting out rounds, cutting centers from half of rounds to make top rings, and gathering and chilling excess dough. Roll out excess dough between sheets of waxed paper, making more cookie bottoms and top rings. Repeat rolling and cutting until all of dough is used.
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with nonstick spray. Using metal spatula to lift cutouts from waxed paper, transfer cookie bottoms to 1 prepared sheet and top rings to second sheet, spacing slightly apart (cookies spread very little). Sprinkle some top rings with colored sugar crystals (or leave plain to decorate later). Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until pale golden, about 8 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks; cool completely.
• Arrange cookie bottoms on work surface. Spread each with 1 teaspoon preserves. Sift powdered sugar over plain cookie rings or decorate with icing and sugar crystals or edible glitter as desired. Press 1 top ring onto each prepared cookie bottom. (Cookies can be made 3 days ahead. Store airtight between sheets of waxed paper in refrigerator.)

APRICOT-FILLED SANDWICH COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in eggs. In another bowl, combine flour and walnuts; gradually beat into creamed mixture. , Shape into 1-1/2-in.-thick logs. Cut crosswise into 1/4-in. slices. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until bottoms begin to brown, 10-12 minutes. Cool completely on pans on wire racks., Meanwhile, for filling, combine apricots and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir until apricots are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain; cool to room temperature. Pulse 1/4 cup granulated sugar, cinnamon and apricots in a blender or food processor until smooth. Spread over bottoms of half of the cookies; cover with remaining cookies. , For topping, melt chocolate chips and shortening in a microwave; stir until smooth. Drizzle over cookies. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

APRICOT BREAKFAST CAKE

Steps:

• Brew one cup of tea and pour in small bowl over chopped apricot pieces; stir in ground coriander; allow to soak and plump for one hour; strain apricots of liquid (there will be what appears to be sediment in the liquid - not to worry, it is the coriander and we want it!), reserving liquid; there should be about ½ cup of apricot tea, if it is less, add enough water to make it equal ½ cup
• Preheat oven to 350F and butter and flour a bundt pan (I used a silicone pan - no need to butter and flour and cake slipped right out after cooling for about 25 minutes)
• Beat butter together with sugar until creamy and fluffy, about 5-6 minutes; add baking powder, extracts, milk powder and zests; alternate additions of flour with apricot tea and eggs; finally, dredge apricot pieces and golden raisins in a little flour and mix them into the batter
• Spoon batter into prepared bundt pan; bake for 50-60 minutes in preheated oven, or until a sharp knife inserted into highest part of cake comes out clean (I covered my cake loosely with a piece of aluminum foil after 30 minutes); remove from oven, cool approximately 20 minutes and turn out onto serving platter; allow to cool completely and dust with icing sugar
• Note: This cake (like most cakes incorporating dried fruit) is even better after a couple of days

APRICOT SANDWICH TEA CAKES

Steps:

• Combine the flour and baking soda in a food processor.
• Sprinkle the butter chunks inches.
• Pulse until the consistency of fine crumbs.
• Turn out the mixture into a large bowl.
• In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with the brandy (orange juice or schnapps) vanilla, almond extract, lemon and orange zests and salt until well blended Stir then knead the egg yolk mixture into the flour mixture until evenly incorporated.
• If the dough seems dry, add up to 2 tbs of water a little at a time until evenly incorporated.
• Divide the dough in half.
• Place each portion between large sheets of wax paper.
• Roll out each portion 1/8" thick, check the underside of the dough and smooth out any wrinkles that form.
• Stack the rolled portions (paper still attached) on a baking sheet.
• Freeze for 15 minutes or until chilled and slightly firm.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Grease several cookie sheets or coat with nonstick spray.
• Working with 1 portion at a time and leaving the remaining dough in the freezer, gently peel away then pat one sheet of wax paper back into place.
• Flip the dough over and peel off the other sheet, throw this away.
• Using a 2-1/4" cookie cutter, cut out the cookies.
• Using a mini cutter, cut out the center piece of half of the cookies.
• Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to a baking sheet and freeze until firm again.
• Reroll the scraps, using up the dough until it's gone.
• Bake the cookies, 1 sheet at a time, in the upper rack of the oven for 8-12 minutes or until just slightly colored on the tops and started to darken at the edges.
• The cookies with the cutouts will cook faster than the ones without, so watch so those don't start to burn.
• Transfer the cookie sheet to a wire rack and et the cookies firm up for 1-2 minutes, then transfer the cookies to the wire racks, let stand until cooled Once cooled, spread about 1 tsp of the preserves or jam on the underside of each cookie bottom.
• Center the tops over the bottoms.
• Very lightly press them together until the jam shows through the cutout.
• Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
• Freeze for up to 2 months, but do not fill until just before serving if you plan to freeze them.