Showing posts with label afternoon tea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label afternoon tea. Show all posts
I just love scones and am always thinking of different ways I can make them. My husband doesn't mind as he gets to enjoy the fruits of my labors. Today it was Peach, Vanilla and Poppyseed scones and let me tell you they are every bit as delicious as the name implies!
Originally I created them to use fresh peaches, the ones which you get at the shops that are a bit too hard to each out of hand. They are perfect for things like this or for this Green Peach Salad. (which is beautiful, trust me on this!)
The nice thing about these is that you can also use tinned peaches if that is all you have. Just be sure to pat them really dry first with some paper kitchen toweling.
That is what I used today because that is all I had. They work beautifully. I add them in with the poppyseeds, tossing them in with a fork.
You get the buttery crisp scone, moreishly flaky . . . tender sweet pieces of peach . . . crunchy poppyseeds, infused with vanilla . . .
I like to brush them with some cream and sprinkle them with Demerara Sugar prior to baking for some added interest, texture and flavour.
Spread with some clotted cream and apricot jam, these always go down a real treat. Break out the tea-pots and cups! A nice hot herbal infusion goes very well. I like Earl Grey Rooibos. Together they are just lovely.
*Peach, Vanilla & Poppyseed Scones*
Makes 10
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Set aside.
Sift
the flour into a bowl along with the sugar and baking powder. Drop in
the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture
resembles bread crumbs. Stir in the chopped peaches and the poppyseeds.
Whisk together the vanilla, egg and milk. Add to the dry mixture to
make a soft dough. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead
gently. Pat out about 1 1/2 inch thick. Stamp out into rounds with a
very sharp 3 inch round cutter. Place onto the baking sheet. Push any
trimmings together and re-pat out to stamp out more rounds if necessary
and also place on the baking sheet. Brush tops lightly with cream and
sprinkle with demerara sugar.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Serve slightly warm with clotted cream and apricot jam. Fabulous!
The Victoria Sponge is one of my absolute favourite of all the cakes. There is nothing fancy about it. It is just a plain simple sponge, which when mixed and baked properly, results in a fine cake that everyone loves. If I had to choose between this and a chocolate cake, I would choose this every time. I know . . . I'm not normal, lol.
Two buttery layers put together with jam and vanilla buttercream, and then dusted on top with confectioners or caster sugar, this is the quintessential "Tea Party Cake."
It's popularity was achieved during the reign of Queen Victoria, which is probably why it is called a Victoria Sponge Cake! The ingredients in a traditional Victoria Sponge, sometimes called a Victoria Sandwich cake, are eggs, flour, sugar, and butter, and should be of equal weight; the eggs are weighed in their shell.
Truth be told however, it began as a "Nursery" cake during the reign of Queen Victoria when it was believed that children would perhaps choke on the dried fruit of a traditional fruit cake which would have been served for tea. An inventive baker came up with the Victoria Sponge for a children's teatime treat, and eventually the cake made its way to the adult tea table and the rest is history.
*Victoria Sponge Cake*
Makes one 7 inch cake
Printable Recipe
Popular during the reign of Queen Victoria, this cake remains popular to this day, which is a huge testament to it's taste and ease of baking!
Printable Recipe
Popular during the reign of Queen Victoria, this cake remains popular to this day, which is a huge testament to it's taste and ease of baking!
170g butter (12 TBS)
170g caster sugar (1 cup)1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 large free range eggs, beaten
170g self raising flour (a scant 1 1/2 cups)
To finish:
3 TBS raspberry jam
buttercream to fill (optional)
icing sugar or caster sugar to dust the top
Butter and base line two 7 inch sandwich tins. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light in colour and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. If the mixture begins to curdle, add a spoonful of the flour.
Fold in the flour with a metal spoon, taking care to use a cutting motion so as not to knock out too much of the air that you have beaten into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake tins, leveling off the surface. Make a slight dip in the centre of each.
Bake on a centre rack of the oven for
about 25 minutes, or until the sponges have risen well, are golden
brown, and spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pan
for five minutes before running a knife carefully around the edges and
turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, place one layer on a cake plate. Spread with raspberry jam and buttercream (if using). Place the other cake on top, pressing down lightly. Dust with icing or caster sugar and serve.
Alternately you can bake the batter in a mini cake tin. I have a tin that allows you to make six individual cakes. Just butter, line the bottoms and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Split and fill the finished cakes as above.
HANDY TIP ALERT!
For an easy way to cut small cakes, or large cakes for that matter,
perfectly in half horizontally . . . cut yourself a nice long piece of
dental floss (preferably not flavoured) that fits around the cake with
enough over hang to grip decently. Place it around the centre of the
cake, crossing the floss ends over each other in front.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Bon Appetit!
When I first moved over here to the UK, I knew I wouldn't be able to bring any of my cookbooks with me at that time. (IS it possible that it was almost 17 years now!
My time does fly when you are having fun!) Instead I took a small notebook and wrote down all of my favourite recipes and tried and tries that I didn't want to leave behind. It was a lot easier to carry a notebook with me than a bookcase. 😏
Golden Harvest Muffins was one of the recipes I had written down in that book. Adapted from a recipe which had been published in a Taste of Home Magazine, it has long been one of our favourite muffin recipes!
That says a lot as I have been baking muffins for quite a few years now. I do sos love muffins.
No surprise there! It is stogged full of lovely things. Not on but two flours.
There is a healthy combination of white and whole wheat flours, means that they contain an extra bit of healthy fibre.
Grated carrot and apple help towards your five a day . . . (don't burst my bubble, lol)You can't beat getting in a bit of extra fruit and vegetables really.
And what a way to get some of them in!
With grated coconut, and chopped toasted walnuts for a bit of crunchy, moreish nuttiness. I like to toast my nuts first. I always do that when baking.
Toasted nuts just taste nuttier. It is a simple thing to do. Just pop your nuts onto a baking sheet and toast them in a hot oven (190*C/375*F) for about 8 to 10 minutes. They will smell nice and nutty when they are done.
These are studded with sticky raisins. These lovely muffins are little powerhouses of flavour and texture!
Filled with scrumptiously tasty goodness!
They are moist and filled with delicious! The recipe does make a lot (36) but no worries, these are perfect for sharing.
Of course they freeze very well. Just pop them into an airtight container and pop it into the freezer.
These are perfect for keeping in the deep freeze. Wrap them up individually and then pop them into a hard container. Then you can take one out as and when you want it.
These are the perfect portable for your tea or coffee break. They make a nice addition for your lunch also, just add some carrot and celery sticks and Bob's your Uncle!
*Golden Harvest Muffins*
Makes 24 large muffins
350ml vegetable oil (1 1/2 cups)
120ml milk (1/2 cup)
4 tsp vanilla
3 large free range eggs, beaten
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter 2 large
muffin tins really well, or line with paper liners, buttering the top of
the tin. Set aside.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until well risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre of one comes out clean. Store in an airtight container.
Hearty, simple to make and most delicious! What more could a person want?
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
Well, I did a bit of housekeeping on here yesterday and I lost my old blog theme. I did save the html to a word document, but I have no idea of how to sort that type of thing. I managed to keep my header, so I guess I should be happy for that. And I guess I do like the cleaner look without any busy background, and I like the way the blog posts are showing. It is a neater, tidier look and I can live with that! Growing pains, they are never easy are they?
Over these past couple of months not a lot of new cooking has been going on due to the fact I was writing my cookbook, but I manage several new recipes a week, which was pretty good I thought. I cooked a few cringe worthy things also that I would never show you. Thing which I thought might be really tasty, but which ended up being blecch. I hate it when that happens, but it does every now and than.
This banana loaf recipe is one I got from The Complete Canadian Living Cook Book. I have had the book for yonks, but haven't really cooked a lot from it. I have made it my goal this year to try to cook more things from the books I have, and if I find a book that doesn't have a lot of redeemable recipes in it, then I am getting rid. Life is far too short to carry excess baggage, like too many cookery books.
This is a fairly decent banana loaf. It is pretty dense however and heavy. So I suppose whether you like it or not will depend on what you are looking for. If you want dense, then you have struck gold. If you are wanting more cakey, keep looking . . .
I do have some really good Banana Loaf recipes on this site. This one is extremely good and so is this one.
My absolute all-time favourite one is this one, and that's probably because it is incredibly moist from the sour cream and more cake like. I like cake. My ex-bosses husband used to request this once a week. He liked it toasted and buttered. It is very good.
There are plenty of chocolate chips in this one I am showing you today. It is not overly sweet either. I used a really good quality chocolate chip, almost more bitter than sweet. I think milk chocolate chips would be better actually. In any case it was very nice buttered and served with a hot drink. I hope you will try it and then let me know what you think!
*Banana Chocolate Chip Loaf*
Makes one 2 lb loaf (9X5)Note - I've been using those pan liners which are like muffin cups a lot lately. They are so simple to use and nothing sticks as they are silicone coasted. I highly recommend!
This is not something which we ever really ate as a cereal when I was growing up and it's not something I would eat as a cereal now.
It's rather hard and crunchy, but it is great for baking with! Back home in Eastern Canada it is also used in Ice Cream. Grape Nuts Ice Cream was always a real favourite in our house and I do belive that it is my mother's favourite kind, or at least it was.
This old, old recipe always turns out lovely. Sweet with little crunchy nubbles throughout.
308ml of whole milk, scalded (1 1/3 cups)
3 TBS softened butter
80g Grape-Nuts brand cereal nubbles (2/3 cup)
280g plain flour (2 cups)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
125g granulated sugar (2/3 cup)
1 large free range egg, beaten lightly
Preheat
the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 1/2 inch by 4 1/2
inch loaf tin really well and line with baking paper. Alternately use
the paper baking liners you can buy for loaf tins that are like muffin
papers. (My preference)
Scald the milk and add the butter.
Stir to melt the butter. Stir in the cereal nubbles and the sugar.
Cool to lukewarm and beat in the egg. Sift the flour and baking powder
together. Whisk in the salt. Add to the milk mixture and stir together
just to combine. Pour into your prepared loaf tin.
Bake
for about 1 hour until risen, golden brown and a toothpick inserted in
the centre comes out clean. Tip out onto a wire rack to cool. Store in
an airtight wrapper. Cut into slices to serve, buttered. It also
makes nice sandwiches with sliced meats or chicken salad.
It's really hard and crunchy, but softens somewhat in the ice cream so that it almost becomes nutty, and it is the same with this old fashioned tea bread I am showing you today.
The cereal imparts little nutty flavoured bits throughout the bread, which never entirely soften, but remain a bit chewy and nicely flavoured.
I had not made this in years, but upon spying a box of Grape Nuts at the shops the other day I was motivated to pick up a box and bring it home so that I could bake this tasty loaf of nostalgia.
Its lovely served cold and sliced into thin slices which are buttered with softened butter . . . it's great warm as well, especially toasted, and yes once again, slathered in butter.
Its awfully nice used to make chicken salad sandwiches. Its just plain good. I even enjoy it in thin slices with nothing on it . . . just eaten out of hand. I like to think I am eating something healthy, but I probably am not. Oh well . . .
*Grape Nuts Bread*
Makes one medium loaf
Why not bake some nostalgia for yourself today! I am sure you would enjoy. Bon Appetit!
We have an elderly friend that I like to bake things for from time to time. We usually go to visit her a couple of times a week and I usually bring her something I have baked on one of those occasions. I get to enjoy the pleasure of baking something and she gets to enjoy the pleasure of eating what I have baked. As a diabetic I am not really supposed to be eating a lot of baked goods, so it works really well for me as I love to bake. Its a win/win situation really!
Yorkshire Rock Cakes. Also known as Fat Rascals, these delicious rock cakes have been made pretty famous by the Iconic Betty's Tea Room in Yorkshire.
A fat rascal or a rock cake is a delicious baked bread that is a tasty cross between a scone and a bun. Packed full of dried fruits.
From what I can tell the only difference between Yorkshire Rock Cakes and regular rock cakes is the addition of glace cherries and blanched almonds on top. Some people call them fat rascals, but they're not fat rascals at all. These are fat rascals (see photo below), and as you can clearly see, they are not the same animal at all.
They are very, very different, not only in looks, but also in texture and ingredients. You can find my fat rascal recipe here.
These are exceedingly good cakes . . . easy to make . . . buttery . . . crumbly. Perfect with a hot cuppa.
I have never had a Yorkshire Rock Cake from Betty's but I dare say these are probably even better. Homemade always is.
Stogged full of dried currants, sultanas (golden raisins), raisins and candied peel . . . with just a touch of mixed spice. You can find my recipe for mixed spice on my make your own page. You can find that here. It is filled with a variety of make your own herb, spice and baking blends. (You may want to bookmark it!)
It's a warm baking spice . . . with cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, cloves and ground coriander. Very nice.
Topped with blanched marcona almonds and a glace cherry, these make a very moreish treat with a nice cold glass of milk or a hot cuppa.
They make the perfect Sunday afternoon teatime treat! If you are feeling especially hedonistic you can split and butter them. Also very tasty!
*Yorkshire Rock Cakes*
Makes 6 large ones
pinch salt
1 tsp of baking powder
100g of golden caster sugar (1/2 cup)
the finely grated zest of both 1 orange and 1 unwaxed lemon
Sift
both flours into a large bowl along with the salt and baking powder.
Drop in the cold butter. Rub the butter into the flour mixture, using a
snapping motion with your fingertips, until the mixture resembles fine
dry bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar, citrus zests, mixed spice and
dried fruit. Beat together the egg and 4 TBS of the milk. Add all at
once to the mixture and stir in to form a soft dough. If you need the
additional TBS of milk to do this, then add it now.
Divide into six
equal parts and shape into a ball. Place each ball onto the prepared
baking tray leaving plenty of space in between each. Gently flatten
slightly with the palm of your hand until each are only about 3/4 inch
thick. Brush the top of each with some of the beaten egg yolk/water
mix. Push a glace cherry into the centre of each and then place 3
almonds arouond the centre decoratively .
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes,
until well risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven. Leave on the
tin for five minutes then scoop off to a wire rack to cool.
Best
served warm from the oven, although they can be frozen and then gently
reheated at a later date. You may also split them and spread them with
butter if you are feeling especially hedonistic!
Traditionally Tasty! Bon Appetit!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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