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Wreaths
Take one pound of flour, five eggs, a quarter of a pound of butter, two or three spoonfuls of cream, two ounces of sugar, and a few grains of salt; make these ingredients into a paste; roll out and form into rings or wreaths. Roll the wreaths in sugar, and bake on a tin in a slow oven. They may be covered with chopped almonds pressed down a little with the hand.
A rich egg-and-butter paste, closer to a French échaudé or a Scandinavian ring biscuit than to anything raised. The dough is stiff, so the handling matters more than the baking.
- The hinge: a stiff, cool pasteOne pound of flour to five eggs and only two or three spoonfuls of cream gives a dough that is firm rather than soft. Work it just until smooth and chill it before rolling; a warm paste will not hold a clean ring shape and the butter will weep out in the oven.
- Slow ovenA slow oven is usually taken as around 300F (150C). These are meant to dry out and colour barely at all; allow roughly 25-35 minutes depending on thickness. A hotter oven risks browning the sugar coating before the centre sets.
- Weights and measuresOne pound of flour is about 3 1/2 cups; a quarter pound of butter is one stick (115 g); two ounces of sugar is about 1/4 cup. A "spoonful" in books of this kind usually means a tablespoon, so allow 2-3 tablespoons of cream and add it last, only as needed to bring the paste together.
- EggsVictorian hens' eggs were generally smaller and more variable than today's graded large ones. Five modern large eggs against a pound of flour may give a wetter dough than intended; start with four and add the fifth only if the flour will not come together.
- Sugar in the doughTwo ounces for a pound of flour is barely sweet by modern standards; most of the sweetness comes from the sugar the rings are rolled in. Increasing the sugar in the paste will make the wreaths spread.
- Rolling in sugarCoarse or granulated sugar clings best to a slightly damp surface. Brush the rings with a little beaten egg white or cream before rolling if the paste has chilled dry.
- AlmondsChopped blanched almonds pressed into the surface will scorch in a hot oven but are safe at 300F. Press firmly, then let the rings rest ten minutes before baking so the nuts set into the paste.
- YieldA pound of flour makes roughly 24-30 rings of three inches across. They should keep for several days in a tin.
Ring-shaped enriched biscuits turn up across northern Europe under a number of names, and "wreath" is simply the English rendering of the shape rather than a specific regional cake: compare the Scandinavian kranse and the German Kr\ell's, a large late-Victorian household dictionary assembled from many sources, tends to file such things by form rather than by origin, which is why the entry carries no note of where it came from. The proportions - a pound of flour carrying a quarter pound of butter and very little sugar - mark it as a keeping biscuit for the tin rather than a dessert. Rings and wreaths are often said to have had a festive association in continental baking, hung on trees or stacked at Christmas, but the book itself makes no such claim.