Wednesday 12 October 2011

Afternoon Tea and Why it should be better.





Afternoon tea has really faded, it's tragic. 50 years ago women would get dressed up in beautiful dresses, sit down and sip vanilla tea and eat scones and cucumber sandwiches. Now afternoon tea is a quick crumpet in our trackies. Where's the fun in that?!? 

So, I set myself a little project. I made a big afternoon tea, got into one of my best dresses and sat down to eat with some friends and family. The only reason I did it was for the fun of it! I wish I could have afternoon tea like that everyday! 



















































  



















Recipes 
I encourage you to do what I did. I'll tell you why. It's really fun! Here are some recipes you can use for your own high tea! 

Scones 
From complete perfect recipes by David Herbert 

Ingredients  
Tbsp=Tablespoon 
tsp=teaspoon
3 1/3 cups of self-raising flour 
1 tsp baking powder  
1 1/2 Tbsp caster sugar 
1/2 tsp salt 
60g unsalted butter, chilled and diced 
1 cup buttermilk plus extra, for brushing
1 egg, beaten  

Method
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Line an oven tray with baking paper. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar and salt. Add the butter and, using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour into it resembles fine breadcrumbs. 
Mix together the buttermilk and the egg and pour over flour mixture. Mix gently until a dough forms-be carful not to overwork the dough. Gather into a round ball shape, turn out onto a lightly floured and knead very lightly. Be careful not to over-handle. The dough should be slightly wet and sticky. 
Flatten out the dough to a thickness of about 3cm and cut out rounds with a cookie cutter or the bottom of a glass. Place on the prepared baking tray and brush the tops with milk. Bake for 10-15m or until risen and golden. 
Remove from tray and wrap the scones in a clean tea towel to keep them warm. Serve warm with jam and cream. 



Mini Fruit Tarts:
(makes 24 mini tarts)

Tart Shell:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup lard
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
2 tbs water, chilled (if needed)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Directions:
Put all ingredients and tools in the freezer to chill for 5-10 minutes. Mix flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add lard, cut in with 2 forks or a pastry cutter. Add egg and vinegar, stir with fork until dough is chunky, but pulls away from bowl. If still too dry, add cold water in small amounts as needed. Pat pastry into a rough ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out dough between 2 pieces of waxed paper. Cut into rounds. Place inside mini tart shells. Weight with dried beans. Bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes or until firm and golden brown.
Creme Patisserie (Pastry Cream):
(makes enough for 24 mini tarts)

3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbs flour
2 tbs cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup whole milk
Directions:
Whisk yolks with sugar, flour and cornstarch. Meanwhile, bring milk and vanilla to a boil. Add milk slowly to egg mixture to temper. Once tempered, add egg mixture back into saucepan over low heat until thickened like vanilla pudding. Cool, then refrigerate until time to stuff pastry shells, then top with fruit garnish. To glaze, melt about 2 tbs apricot preserves with a tbs of water on the stove top and gently brush onto fruit.

And try making cucumber sandwiches. I don't think I need to tell you a recipe for that! 







7 comments:

  1. they were the most delicious scones I have EVER tasted!!!!!

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  2. hi thank you for the recipe your blog is very good i wish someone would make me those scones every afternoon

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  3. those scones look good !!!!!
    yummy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Those scones look delicious. I might try adding dates to the recipe :)

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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