dried currants

English Scones

flour

baking powder

salt

sugar

unsalted butter

whole milk

currants,

This recipe from the eminent American food writer came to The Times through the chef Andrew Zimmern, who was a frequent guest at James Beard’s legendary Sunday and holiday open houses when he was a child. The savory combination of red peppers, onions, raisins, almonds and green olives was new and exciting to him in the 1970s, and still tastes fresh today.

James Beard’s Farmer’s Chicken

bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (or a combination of thighs and

Kosher salt and black pepper

olive oil

yellow onion,

red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and minced

oregano

sweet paprika

dry white wine

chicken stock

mild green olives,

currants

lemon

parsley

almonds (optional)

rice

Pat chicken pieces dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

In a wide skillet with a lid, heat oil over medium. Working in batches if necessary to avoid crowding the pan, brown the chicken, rotating as needed, until the skin is golden and releases easily from the pan, at least 5 minutes per side. Adjust the heat to avoid scorching. As the pieces are browned, transfer them to a plate.

Once all the chicken is browned, add the onion and bell pepper to the skillet. Sprinkle with salt and cook, stirring, until softened and beginning to brown around the edges, about 5 minutes. Stir in the oregano and paprika.

Add the wine and simmer, stirring up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until the pan is almost dry, about 5 minutes.

Stir in stock, olives and currants, and bring to a simmer. Carefully return the chicken pieces to the pan. Cover and let simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Remove the lid, stir and let simmer, uncovered, until the chicken is tender and the liquid reduces slightly, about 15 minutes. (The sauce will be quite loose.) Taste the sauce for salt and pepper. (Recipe can be made up to this point and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)

When ready to serve, heat through and stir in lemon zest and juice. Divide among shallow bowls and sprinkle with parsley and almonds (if using). Serve with rice, orzo or toast.

In this new incarnation of my soda bread recipe, I kept the crosses, but to maximize the surface area of the crumbly, crunchy outer crust, I baked the dough into small buns instead of a large loaf. That way, I was able to get more of the bumpy-textured crust in each bite.

Soda Bread Buns

unsalted butter,

all-purpose flour (1 1/4 cups), more as needed

whole wheat pastry flour (3/4 cup)

sugar (1/4 cup)

baking powder (1 1/2 teaspoons)

salt (1 teaspoon)

baking soda (3/4 teaspoon)

buttermilk, more for brushing

dried currants (about 2/3 cup)

caraway seeds (about 1 1/2 teaspoons)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a large rimmed baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, work in butter until mixture forms coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg. Stir wet mixture into dry one until they just form a moist dough. Stir in currants and caraway seeds.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into a 7-inch round about 1-inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Using lightly floured hands, roll each wedge into a ball and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Using kitchen shears, snip a small “x” into the top of each bun. (You can also use a knife.) Brush tops with a little buttermilk, and dust lightly with flour.

Transfer baking sheet to oven. Bake until buns are golden brown and firm, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Melissa Clark shows how to make an American version of a St. Patrick’s Day classic.

Irish Soda Buns

Have a stash of these seeded chocolate rounds ready to go and you'll never be caught out in a 3pm slump.

Coconut and pepita chocolate rounds

dark (70%) chocolate, chopped

(90 grams) desiccated coconut

tbs coconut oil

(75 grams) pumpkin seeds

(80 grams) sunflower seeds,

(75 grams) dried currants

Sea salt flakes,

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This cake is a showstopper that a baker with rudimentary skills could pull off. The topping is a toffee glaze made with brown sugar, agave, butter and sea salt; you pour half of it over the cake while still hot so that it saturates the cake, giving it a puddinglike consistency, then wait before using the rest as a high-gloss frosting you sprinkle with sea salt. Seemingly complicated, but surprisingly simple.

Sticky Toffee Whole-Wheat Date Cake

225 grams pitted dates, chopped

lemon juice

whole-wheat flour

all-purpose flour

baking soda

cinnamon

cardamom

ginger

fine sea salt

165 grams packed light brown sugar

eggs

vanilla extract

170 grams agave nectar

110 grams packed light brown sugar

Fleur de sel

NYT Cooking

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Make the cake: Heat oven to 325 degrees and butter an 8-inch square or 9-inch round cake pan.

In a small pot, combine dates, lemon juice and 3/4 cup/180 milliliters water. Bring mixture to a boil, then simmer gently until dates soften and start to fall apart, about 6 minutes. Add currants to the pot and set aside to cool completely.

While date mixture cools, stir together whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and salt.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in vanilla and cooled date mixture, followed by flour mixture.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly and smoothing the surface. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with just a few crumbs clinging to it.

Meanwhile, make the sticky toffee: In a small pot (you can use the same one you used for the dates), combine agave, brown sugar and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking to dissolve sugar. Once sugar dissolves and bubbles, remove from heat and swirl in butter.

When the cake comes out of the oven, spoon half the sticky toffee over it and let cool in the pan on a wire rack. (It will soak into the cake.)

When the cake has cooled completely and the remaining sticky toffee has thickened, spread it over the cake with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with fleur de sel and serve. Store, loosely wrapped, at room temperature for up to 2 days.

One of my favorite recipes on this app!! Cozy and delicious. The last time I made it I swapped agave for honey and it made the caramel too sticky, almost inedible. Might be user error, but still would recommend sticking (literally!) to agave.

I found the sticky toffee to be super sweet and bland - lacking any real caramel-y flavor. Very one-note. I thought the cake was delicious! but when I repeat this, it will be with another topping (probably a salted caramel sauce that I love).

This cake is so good! I’ve modified it to be low fat, high fiber and sugar free (as in no added sugar) and it’s still so delish.

Couldn’t find whole wheat flour and just used regular flour and turned out great!

Easiest cake I’ve ever made from scratch!! Will totally make again!

I will say though that it took longer to bake than the recipe said it sank in the middle once it cooled, but it was still a hit!

Had this cake first in Holland while we were visiting a friend 
from Utrecht (sp). It was wonderful. A perfect rich extravagant special-occasion desert!

You can absolutely substitute maple syrup for agave. 

I cooked for 50 minutes and the cake was perfectly cooked through. It does sink a bit in the middle when cooling, but I think it's more to do with the weight and moisture of the batter than the done-ness. 

When I make it again, I will skip the cooled sticky toffee frosting on top. The soaked cake is perfect without it, a bit overly sweet with it.

Made 2/22 in 8 inch spring form.  Lovely tho needs to bake just a little longer.  Did about 40 mins at 25 degrees below and convection.  Did Alf the sugar in the cake and about two thirds of total sticky toffee recipe.  Perfect combo with coffee

This is a delicious cake and came out of the pan beautifully. It was easy to make, but took some time given the number of steps. I made 2 substitutions out of necessity - used mostly wheat flour because I ran out of white and used 3 medium eggs (bought by mistake) instead of 2 large). I will make this again.

This cake was wonderful tasting with a few tweaks. I used 8 oz butter and 1/4th cup avocado oil for making the cake batter. I didn't use currants and used only 1/2 cup light brown sugar on top. The cake did not sink in the middle like other reviewers reported after reducing the sugar and using a combination of oil and butter. I also added some toasted pecans which made it wonderful.

Add us to the chorus of people whose cake sunk in the middle. Followed directions and cooked for the exact time--toothpick came out clean in the center, removed the cake, and PLOP. It was underdone towards the center. The flavors were delicious, but we found the whole thing a bit too overly sweet--and we love sweet. We'd suggest using the sticky toffee at the end as more of a drizzle. Overall OK, but there are better cakes on the app with similar flavor profiles.

This is a delicious cake! It’s great served with whipped cream, or even just a little cream pour on top in a bowl. I’d recommend a springform pan because there is no way you are ever getting it out of your cake pan with all that sticky toffee on the first pour. Delicious with tea.

My husband is British and I’ve made every ginger-fruit-spice-cake around. This is one of the very best. I cut back a bit on the sugar, substituted dried cranberries for the currents for tartness and because I had them, and added a touch more salt. Definitely a keeper—everyone loved it, from age 4 to 62.

I enjoy sticky toffee pudding so thought I'd try this...but don't want to buy agave which I'll never use again, probably.  Any substitute?

I let a tablespoon or two of white miso paste dissolve into the sugar-agave mixture of the sticky toffee. The miso added some subtle umami flavor and really pushed it over the edge!

This sounds delicious. One question: does the cake stay in the pan?

If you're concerned it might be too rich for you, perhaps you could try using pureed pumpkin or squash in place of some of the butter. Certainly such a substitution would change the texture and flavor of the cake, but I bet it would still be delicious in its own way. I've been experimenting with substitutions of that kind for over twenty years, and I find that the results are usually just wonderful.

Oh this cake is so good! <br/><br/>I cut down on the sugar following others' suggestions, and used a springform cake pan that made it dead simple to take it out of the pan following cooking.  I then set it on a cake stand before adding the toffee and sea salt.<br/><br/>I made it for Christmas dinner and it was a huge hit, and kept well for a couple days of decadent post-holiday snacking.

I liked it, and it smelled amazing, but it is mightily sweet - I would use a bit less sugar next time since the dates provide plenty, plus the toffee sauce. I would also maybe skip the currants -- I thought they might provide a little bit of sharpness to balance the sweetness, but instead I just felt like I wanted to avoid them (and I like currants, but generally in savory dishes).

Why not just Sticky Toffee Pudding?  A salt sprinkle?  Horrors!  Thick, whipped cream is what you want.

I had the same thought, as I don't like agave. I imagine some possible substitutions might include corn, brown rice or maple syrup. I'd be concerned about using honey, because it is so intensely sweet, you'd have to correct for that, and I think that might be tricky.

It seems to me that honey is usually more intensely sweet than agave, so I think you would have to correct for that. I'd be inclined to try corn, maple, brown rice or golden syrup instead.

This looks delicious, but one question: does the cake remain in the pan?

the flavors were fantastic, but the baking time is off - I baked for 50 minutes, and the toothpick came out clean, but then the center fell and the middle was underbaked.

Because variations on a theme can be fun. And lots of people love the combination of salt and caramel. I do myself. Perhaps it might be a good idea to serve both fleur de sel AND cream, so each diner can choose what pleases him (or her) best.

In the accompanying photo the cake is displayed on a plate and is covered in toffee so I think not... I had the same thought.

Top 5 dried currants recipes from across the web

The most viewed dried currants recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

English Scones

James Beard’s Farmer’s Chicken

Soda Bread Buns

Coconut and pepita chocolate rounds

Sticky Toffee Whole-Wheat Date Cake

Top 5 dried currants recipes from across the web

The most viewed dried currants recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

English Scones

James Beard’s Farmer’s Chicken

Soda Bread Buns

Coconut and pepita chocolate rounds

Sticky Toffee Whole-Wheat Date Cake

The most viewed dried currants recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine