Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Scones. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Scones. Sort by date Show all posts
I am feeling a tiny bit under the weather today so I hope that you don't mind a repost from about 2 1/2 years ago now. Nobody minds an impromptu tea party do they?
I thought not . . . so here we go. And then we had tea . . .
These cold dismal and dreary January days can get one a bit down after a while. Day after day of drizzle or snow . . . very little sun . . . blah, blah, blah.
Here's one way to perk them up and bring a bit of sunshine into your life! Have a tea party! You don't need anything special . . . or even to invite a whole bunch of people over. Some of the best tea parties of all happen when there's just two of you and a dog!
All you need is a table spread with a fine cloth and some tea . . . in a pot of course, (today we had blackberry and mint and it was delicious!) and cups and saucers.
The perfect afternoon tea should begin with some delicious savouries . . . finger sandwiches, sausage rolls, little toasts, savoury pastries . . . followed with scones (if you wish) and a selection of fancies and cakes.
I decided early on during this particularly dreary day that I was going to treat Todd and I to a traditional English Afternoon tea party. He had no idea what I was up to, as he sat upstairs engrossed in his war games on the computer.
Things don't always go to plan though . . . do they. The dog mischeviously ate half of my first Victoria Sponge when my back was turned. Bad doggie. I seized the engine on my new baby sized food processor, chopping the glace fruit for the florentines. Bad idea. Chop it by hand.
Never mind we got there in the end and Todd was so surprised when I called him down to lunch and he saw what I had been up to.
We sat there smiling and sipping and nibbling . . . all was right with the world, drizzle or not, dog eaten cakes . . . it was fun, plain and simple.
Don't forget to use your pinkies!
*Finger Sandwiches*
makes 18 to 24
Printable Recipe
What would afternoon tea be without a plate of tasty sandwiches? (Choose 3 of the below fillings)
12 thin slices of white or wholemeal bread, crusts removed
(I just buy the bread that already has the crusts removed,
easy peasy, lemon squeasy)
room temperature butter, for spreading
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper as desired
For the egg and cress filling:
2 TBS good quality mayonnaise
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest from an unwaxed lemon
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
a handful of mustard cress
For the Gentleman's Morsels:
1/4 pound shaved roasted ham
apricot jam, seived
Dijon mustard
For the Roast Beef:
1/4 pound thinly sliced rare roast beef
horseradish mayonnaise
a handful of rocket leaves
For the Parma Ham and Fig filling:
1/4 pound of parma ham
1 ripe fig
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp olive oil
handful of rocket leaves
For the Stilton and Pear filling:
50g of Stilton cheese, thinly sliced (1/4 pound)
1 ripe firm pear
To cut sandwiches, lay your hand on top of the sandwich and lightly press down. Using a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, cut diagonally into quarters or lengthways into 3 fingers.
For the egg and cress sandwiches, thinly butter 4 slices of the bread. Combine the mayonnaise, lemon zest, egg and season with some black pepper, folding together well. Spread evenly on half the slices of bread. Sprinkle with the cress and top with the remaining 2 slices of bread. Cut as above.
To make the Gentlemen's Morsels., thinly butter 4 slices of the bread. Spread 2 slices with seived apricot jam. Spread the other 2 with Dijon mustard. Lay the ham evenly over top of 2 slices and top with the other 2. Cut as above.
For the Roast Beef, thinly butter 4 slices of the bread. Spread 2 slices with the horseradish mayonnaise. Top with the roast beef and season to taste. Sprinkle with the rocket and top with the other 2 slices of bread. Cut as above.
For the Parma Ham and Fig sandwiches, thinly butter 4 slices of bread and fold ham on top of two of them. Cut the fig into thin wedges, remove and discard the skin and then arrange the wedges on top of the ham. Whisk the vinegar and oil together. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Drizzle over the figs. Top with rocket and the remaining slices of buttered bread and cut as above.
To make the Stilton and Pear sandwiches, thinly butter 4 slices of bread. Arrange the stilton over 2 slices of the bread. Slice the pear into thin wedges, removing and discarding the core, then arrange on top of the cheese. Season with black pepper, then top with the remaining slices of bread and cut as above.
*Dark and White Chocolate Florentines*
Makes about 24
Printable Recipe
Sticky, crisp, chewy, gooey. Moreishly addictive.
50g of butter (3 1/2 TBS)
50g of caster sugar (2 TBS)
3 TBS double cream
25g of flaked almonds (1/4 cup)
75g of mixed nuts, chopped (Pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc.) 3/4 cup
4 glace cherries, chopped
50g of mixed glace fruits (apricots, pineapple, peel, angelica) chopped (1/3 cup)
25g of plain flour (1 heaped TBS)
50g of white chocolate
(2 ounces)
50g of dark chocolate
(2 ounces)
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ Gas mark 4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Gently heat the butter, sugar and cream together until the butter melts. Bring to the boil and then remove from the heat. Stir in the nuts, cherries, fruit and flour. Mix thoroughly. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them well apart.
Bake for 10 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and gently press back the edges with a rounded knife to keep a round shape. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before carefully peeling off the paper and setting on a wire rack to cool completely.
Break the white and dark chocolates into individual bowls. Melt carefully in the microwave without over-heating. (Be careful as white chocolate burns easily.) Alternatively melt in bowls over simmering water. Spread over the bottoms of the florentines, coating half with white and half with dark. Let set before serving.
Ohhh . . . doesn't she have a longing and innocent look on her face? I think half a cake is more than enough don't you?
Maritime Biscuits. These delicious quick breads are not cookies. The British are very fond of calling their cookies biscuits. These delicious quick breads are not scones.
These delicious quick breads are biscuits in every sense of the North American definition of Biscuit. They are a quick bread, meant to be enjoyed as a savoury part/side dish of a meal.
But they are also quite different even when you are talking about North American Biscuits, because these biscuits contain yeast. Not just soda and or baking powder.
These particular biscuits are very particular to the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Those beautiful provinces anchored on the East Coast of my beautiful homeland, consisting of four provinces.
Newfoundland, an Island where my parents got married, also loving know as "The Rock." Nova Scotia, where I say I am from. A peninsula anchored by the Isthmus of Chebucto to mainland Canada.
New Brunwswick, the part of Canada tha Nova Scotia is anchored to, and Prince Edward Island. Island of my birth and home to Lucy Maude Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables.
That is the Maritimes in a nutshell and what I consider to be my home. No matter how far away from them I travel, or how long I am away, I consider myself a Maritimer at heart.
These Biscuits may be known by a variety of names. Angel Biscuits is one. French Biscuits is another.
My ex In-Laws lived on Prince Edward Island and we spent several weeks there in the summer months. The community they lived in, Saint Eleanors, at that time was largely populated with retired Military folk.
My FIL had been a cook in the airforce. Both he and my MIL had been born and bred on the Island so it was quite natural for them to want to return there upon retirement, to spend their golden years.
There was an old guy and his wife that lived directly across from them. The Kenny's, also an armforced retiree couple. They had Acadia ancestry, or at least Mrs. Kenny did.
Every summer when we arrived we could almost rely that within the first 24 hours Mrs Kenny would be sending over a bag of freshly baked French Biscuits as she called them, or Maritime Biscuits as is their proper name.
We
were always thrilled to get them and most grateful. I used to visit
Mrs Kenny a couple of times during our visit to the Island. She was a
very short and stout woman with silver hair, a great sense of humour
and a heart of gold.
Mr Kenny was also kind and quite a character! One summer my children had picked strawberries and my FIL had sent them up at a small table at the end of the driveway so they could earn a bit of spending money selling them to the neighbours.
Mr Kenny bought several boxes of them and them gave them back to the children so they could sell them all over again. That was just his way. Kind, kind . . .
Skunks used to be a huge problem on the Island. They probably still are. I remember one year Mr Kenny had made a skunk trap for his front yard, with every intention of putting waste to whatever skunk he captured.
It became somewhat of a joke amongst the male retirees, this skunk trap. Every morning Mr Kenny would inspect his trap and come up empty.
So one night the other retired fellows decided they would stick a stuffed teddy bear in the trap to get a rise out of him. Sure enough, next morning with all of the excitement he could muster, Mr Kenny put laid waste to . . . the teddy bear.
Filled that teddy bear full of buckshot he did. It was the talk of the neighborhood for years and years. Oh but they didn't all get half get bit of a rise out of that one! I don't think he was ever able to live it down. He was destined to be Claude, teddy bear killer for year and years. Good times!
One day I came across this recipe in a community cookbook for Maritime Biscuits. They sounded like to be exactly the same as the ones Mrs Kenny made.
I had to write the recipe down. It went into my Big Blue Binder, like all the good recipes do. And I have been enjoying them ever since.
They have a beautiful flaky texture, like any good biscuit, and a nice rise. But they rise a bit like a dinner roll would.
Not precisely up, and somewhat out. They are lovely and light as air. As light as an angel's wings some might say!
The dough can be somewhat sticky. Try hard not to knead too much flour back into them when you are patting them out ready to cut. Just be generous with the flour on the bottom and somewhat generous with the flour on top.
I dip my cutter into flour with every biscuit I cut so that it doesn't stick. I use a 3 inch round sharp cutter,straight edged.
Like any biscuit, do not twist them as you are cutting them. A strong, straight up and down cut will do the trick. You will need a spatula to lift them onto the baking sheet.
Do leave plenty of space between them for them to spread and rise. Unless you are not bothered by soft sided biscuits. We like our sides crisp, like our bacon.
If there is one downside to these biscuits it would have to be that they really are best eaten on the day. It is the same with any bread that contains yeast.
You can however, nicely refresh them the next day in a slow oven. You can also freeze them, properly wrapped for several months if need be.
These are wonderful served warm, not long out of the oven. Lovely with cold butter and preserves, or even peanut butter.
They are fantastic served with soups or salads. They are also fantastic served with thick stews that have plenty of gravy to be mopped up. These biscuits are perfect at mopping up.
To be honest, I enjoy them with anything and everything. Yes, I am a carboholic. Through and through.
Don't be tempted to use butter in place of the shortening. I have never seen or tasted these made with anything else, except perhaps lard, which is what they would have used in the early pioneer days.
They would have also enjoyed them spread with butter and drizzled with sticky sweet molasses. Back home in the Maritimes the molasses jug holds pride of place on the dinner table.
Every meal, every day, every week of the year. Its just the way we're made.
Maritime Biscuits
Yield: 12 Large Biscuits (3-inch)
prep time: 15 Mincook time: 20 Mininactive time: 10 Mintotal time: 45 Min
These lovely light puffs of air are a cross between a dinner roll and a baking powder biscuit! Delicious!
Ingredients:
For the yeast sponge:
- 1/4 cup (60ml) warm water
- 1 TBS sugar
- 1 TBS regular yeast
For the Biscuits:
- 2 1/2 cups flour (350g) plain all purpose flour
- 1 TBS sugar
- 1/2 tsp soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (110g) vegetable shortening
- 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a couple of baking sheets with baking paper. Set aside.
- Mix the sugar, warm water and yeast together in a cup and leave to dissolve until foamy and double in size.
- Warm the buttermilk slightly to lukewarm.
- Sift the flour into a bowl along with the soda and baking powder. Stir in the salt and sugar. Drop in the shortening and cut it in using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs, with some larger bits and more smaller bits.
- Add the yeast mixture to the warm buttermilk and then add this all at once to the flour mixture. Mix well and turn out onto a generously floured board. Knead lightly for a couple of turns. Pat out to a round about 1 inch in thickness.
- Using a sharp 3 inch cutter, stamp out rounds and place them well spaced apart on the baking sheets. Re pat and cut the scraps until you have used all the dough, again placing them well spaced on the baking sheets.
- Leave to rise for about 10 minutes.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minute to 20 minutes until golden brown on tops and bottoms and well risen. Lift off to cool on a wire cooling rack.
- Delicious served warm with cold butter and honey or jam.
Look at that lovely texture. A true cross between a biscuit and a bread. Beautiful.
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
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
I am a lover of quick breads . . . scones, tea loaves, baking powder biscuits, muffins, corn bread, etc. I just love them. One of the reasons I love them is because they are quick to put together and they freeze really well. If you are making a pot of soup, it really isn't much extra work to put together a savoury muffin or quick bread to go along with it, and they realy turn a simple meal into something very special.
Lemon Curd Cookies. There lush and buttery shortbread cookies are flavoured through and through with lemon from the inside out. Crispy edged and dimpled with lemon curd centres, they are real lemon winners!
These delicious lemon cookies are the lemon lover's ultimate dream! If you love lemon as much as I do, you are sure to love these!
This is citrus season right now. The perfect time of year to be cooking with and baking with citrus fruits. Lemons, limes, oranges, etc. If I was in my own place right now I would be making marmalade.
Once you have tasted orange marmalade made from scratch you won't quite ever settle for anything else. Its quite labour intensive, but worth all of the effort.
This is also the time of year to be making your own from scratch Lemon Curd! I love lemon curd. You can find my easy recipe here. Homemade Lemon Curd is the best. I could eat it with a spoon.
Its fabulous on toast, or crumpets. Or crackers. Scones. In between vanilla cake layers and yes, it is perfect in these delicious shortbread cookies!
You can of course use any good store ready prepared lemon curd as well, obviously. They will still be very delicious. I was just thinking since this was citrus season there was no time like the present to make your own curd.
Shortbread cookies. Of all the cookies in the world, next to chocolate chip cookies, shortbread cookies are my absolute favourite kind of cookie.
A good shortbread cookie should be nice and buttery of course, but never greasy. They should be crisp edged and they should melt in the mouth. These are all that and so much more.
These are lemon flavoured shortbread cookies. There is lemon juice and finely grated lemon zest right in the dough itself, giving you a double blast of lemony tastiness.
Then of course there is that little dimple of lemon curd which gets baked right into the centre. You may be tempted to add more than 1/4 teaspoon of the curd, but don't.
1/2 teaspoon is the perfect amount of lemon curd. Any more than that and it will overflow the dimples and burn on the baking sheet. What a waste of deliciousness.
So now you have a "hat trick" of lemony tastiness, but the lemon favour doesn't end there. The finishing touch of lemony goodness is that drizzle icing on top.
And such a simple touch to add. Just lemon juice and icing sugar whisked together until you have a smooth drizzle icing.
Flicked over top it is the perfect finish for the perfect cookie. Just look at how pretty they are and how lemony delicious they look.
Sinking your teeth into one of these is sinking your teeth into lemony bliss. OH MY GOODNESS! Let me repeat. OH MY GOODNESS!
Sorry for shouting but these lemon curd cookies are so dang good you just want to shout it to the rafters and beyond. There is no way you want anyone you care about to miss out on one of these, or maybe . . .
There is a risk that the inner glutton will take over and you won't want to share. Either way these cookies are worth shouting about!
These are pretty enough and delicious enough to serve at a ladies' Tea party. So dainty and pretty. With your best linens and tea cups. Not that many of us are having tea parties with our friends at the moment, but we can live in hope, surely!
I believe that one day we will be able to meet again and what a celebration that will be. We can raise our tea cups together in salutations to each other, pinkies uplifted like the mucky mucks do in them fancy places.
Seriously tasty. Will that be one lump or two in your tea? Sugar lumps that is. I have always wanted to make my own fancy sugar cubes, pressed into flower shaped molds. Perfect tea party additions.
Do you like lemon in your tea? I do. I don't drink black tea but I do love herbal infusions. I especially like the fruity ones, with lemon ginger being a real favourite of mine.
Surely dainty little morsels like these are deserving of your best linens and china. I am trying to remember if I packed my Katie Alice plates and cups in my boxes I was able to bring. I surely hope so, but I cannot be for certain.
I don't think I was exactly thinking straight. I only had three days to get myself out of Dodge. Not near enough time to really plan properly. When I finally get to the point I can open my boxes I may be really surprised at what I did choose to pack. I dread to think about it really.
I do so love pretty linens and pretty tea things. I am a girly kind of a girl. I just like pretty things and I love, LOVE these cookies! You will too!
I can almost guarantee it! Well, why not bake them for yourself and see what lemon deliciousness is all about! I double triple dog dare you!
Lemon Curd Cookies
Yield: makes 42 cookies
prep time: 1 H & 10 Mcook time: 15 Mininactive time: 5 Mintotal time: 1 H & 30 M
Crisp, short buttery shortbread cookies, infused with lemon zest, filled with lush lemon curd filling and a lemon drizzle glaze. Seriously moreish!
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1 cup (240g) butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup (130g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- the juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
- the finely grated zest of one lemon
- pinch salt
- 2 cups + 2 TBS (280g +2 TBS) plain all purpose flour
- lemon curd to fill
For the glaze:
- 1 cup (130g) icing sugar, sifted
- the juice of 1/2 lemon
Instructions
- Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, lemon juice and zest together in a bowl until creamy with an electric whisk, scraping down the sides of the bowl periodically. Add the flour in 3 parts until well combined. Cover and chill for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line several baking trays with baking paper.
- Shape the chilled dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Make an indention in the centre of each, using the end of a wooden spoon. Don't try to push it in too deeply, only about halfway down. I rotate it a tiny bit to make the hole about 1/3 inch in diameter. Fill each hole with heaped 1/4 tsp of lemon curd.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, until puffed and the edges are golden brown. Leave to rest on the trays for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Whisk the icing sugar and lemon juice for the drizzle icing together until you have a smooth and drizzleable mixture. Flick over the cooled cookies and allow to set. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
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!
I know you must be thinking, Biscuits again??? And by that I mean baking powder, or tea-biscuits, not British Cookies. Not scones either. Biscuits. Buttermilk Biscuits. Light as air. Flakey. Fluffy.
In my opinion, you can never have too many recipes for biscuits. And when you are living with an empty next small batch recipes for things like this come in all too handy!
I confess, I am a biscuit lover. I can never get enough of them, and I love to try new recipes. I also like to make the recipes I have more in fitting with a small household like ours.
I have always loved Buttermilk Biscuits most of all. I love the slight tang that buttermilk adds and I love the way they always rise high and beautiful in a hot oven.
Buttermilk always makes for a beautiful crumb. You really can't beat it when it comes to making perfect biscuits.
I know I could bake whole recipes of these, but I have to be honest here. I just don't personally think that baked goods which have been frozen have the same flavour as fresh baked goods. Especially things like biscuits.
The longer you have them in the freezer the more they deteriorate and the larger the chance of them picking up other flavours. If you do freeze these, or any biscuit for that matter, make sure they are really well wrapped, airtight.
And make sure that you plan on using them within at the very most 3 months. I would not keep them longer. One exception to frozen goodies is cookies. I am quite fond of frozen cookies.
I used to think if I froze the extra cookies I would be safe from eating them. I would be better able to ration myself.
Turns out frozen baked cookies, or even unbaked for that matter taste just as good as they do thawed or fresh out of the oven. Yes I am the Cookie Monster.
It is much, much better for me if I make smaller batches of things and then use them up pronto. That way I don't have a lot of temptation hanging around in my freezer.
I think you will find that these are gorgeous baking powder biscuits. Back home they also call them tea biscuits.
Look at that tender crumb. These are so so very flaky and delicious.
I did a search to see if I could find out why in Canada they sometimes call them Tea Biscuits. I couldn't find any answers. I can only surmise that they are meant to be enjoyed with tea??? If you know, enlighten me, please! I have an inquiring mind.
These are biscuits that practically melt in your mouth. See that high rise? That comes from a light touch and not twisting the biscuit cutter.
Twisting the cutter when you are cutting out biscuits seals the edges. Your biscuits will not rise and high and they will be lopsided. True dat!
Cold butter is best. You don't want your butter softening before it goes into the oven. You want it to start melting as soon as the heat of the oven hits it, so that lots of little airy pockets are created.
You also want to use cold buttermilk for the same reason. It also creates a beautiful tender crumb. And who doesn't love that! Also the closer your biscuits are to each other on the pan (without actually touching) forces the biscuits to rise higher. Another Biscuit fact.
These biscuits are beautiful served warm with honey and butter, or jam and butter, with peanut butter or with pumpkin butter (watch this space.)
They are also great for Breakfast Biscuit Sandwiches or to ladle sausage gravy over top. Lets face it . . . they are just full stop great. No word of a lie.
Quick & Easy Buttermilk Biscuits for Two
Yield: Makes 4 biscuits
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 15 Mintotal time: 25 Min
Six ingredients, one bowl, half an hour. That is all you need to create four perfect, soft and flakey tea biscuits from scratch.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140g) all purpose (plain) flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder (not soda)
- 1 1/2 tsp caster sugar (granulated sugar)
- pinch salt
- 4 TBS cold butter
- 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 225*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Line a very small baking tray with some baking paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour into a bowl along with the baking powder. Stir in the salt and sugar. Drop in the butter. Cut it into the flour mixture using a pastry blender, or two round bladed knives, until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Stir in the buttermilk slowly wih a fork, until you have a moist dough which clings together.
- Tip out onto a lightly floured board and knead gently a few times. Pat out to a 1 inch thick square, six by six.
- Using a 3 inch cutter and a sharp up and down motion (do NOT twist) stamp out four biscuits. If you have much in the way of scraps, and there shouldn't be much, you can repat and stamp. (Re-pat biscuits will not be picture perfect.)
- Place onto the baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until golden brown.
- Serve warm, split and spread with your favourite toppings.
It is such a miserable wet and rainy day today.Oh how I am longing for a cool, crisp autumn day with lots of pretty leaf colour and acorns beneath my feet. I think today we are expecting a lot of rain. That means sloshing not crunching.
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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