Saturday 25 August 2012

Tea and treats or what I eat with my tea.

A tea bread with raisin from a local bakery. Yummy.

As one can see from the headline I have decidded to talk about tea... Again. This time I will talk about the things I prefere to eat with my tea, offer some recipes and talk more about the English teatradition. Tea in itself is indulgence but it is nice to have something small with it, especially in parties, though  do like to eat something with my afternoon tea in ordinary days too.

Everyday indulgence

For everyday I prefere to keep it simple. A scone, simple sandwicheses or muffins are perfect for that. Sometimes when I am too lazy to cook I just step out and get something a bit more fancy from the local bakery. Bisquits are a perfect option too all though they do take a while to bake.

Some tea.
  Simple smoked salmon sadwiches

Bread ( I usually use white bread but wholegrain or rye bread will work just as fine)
Butter or good margarine or cream cheese.
Smoked salmon (warm or cold smoked both work.)

Slice the bread to relatively thin slices and butter them. When using cold smoked salmon place the salmon slices on top of the bread. If you use warm smoked salmon just smush the thing on top of the bread. Serve with tea. Earl grey and other citrussy teas go especially well with fish dishes. Other nice salty options are warm sandwiches, croissants, scones and english muffins (I like to grade cheese to the batter).

Easy to make chocolate tart

3 dl of sugar
1½ dl of all purpose flour
2 tsp of vanilla sugar
½ tsp of salt
4 sp of cocoa powder
150 gr of butter, melted
2 eggs

Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix the melted butter with the eggs and add the dry ingredients.
Pour to a buttered and floured pan and cook for 20-30 minutes in 200 degrees celsius.
This cake is supposed to look moist when it's ready. For a more decadent option serve with whipped cream or ice cream and chocolate sauce. Can be served cold and some find it better that way.
Other sweeter options could be fruit breads, bisquits or sweet muffins. I also like to eat sliced fruit with my tea for a healthier option.

Fancy options for teaparties

Strawberry tart. Again a local bakery
 For teaparies it's fun to put one's best foot forward or in this case best food. Simple salty dishes do work in a teaparty setting but sweeter things migth ask for a bit of a fancy up. This is the time for prettily decorated cupcakes, strawberry covered cakes and other decadent confections.

Stawberry cake.

The cake:
1 cup of flour
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of eggs
1 tsp of baking powder.

Whip the eggs and sugar to a foam. Mix the baking powder to the flour and slowly add the mix to the sugar and eggs. Bake for 30 minutes in 200 degrees celcius.

To decorate:
2 dl whipped cream
½ l of strawberries

Whip the cream and remove the leaf parts of the starwberries. Take the biggest and pretties strawberries to the side for decorations. Slice the rest of the starberries in half or in more parts if they are huge. Slice the cake in half and batter the lower half with  third cream. Put the slices strawberris on top of the cream and put the top part of the cake on top of them. Use the rest of the cream to glace the cake and decorate with the pretty strawberries. other berries will work too if you like something better than strawberries.

Strawberry cake (Yes I really like strawberries)
 The afore mentoned chocolate tart is also a good option for parties as it is by nature rather decadent. I like bite sized things so cupcakes and pralines are a hit with me. Flowerthief is also adept at making creme brulëe so that is a nice option too if on has a nice recipe. 

I hope this post was helpful and I wish a delicious and nice tea moments for all of my readers.

Mademoiselle Parapluie

9 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. They really are. And recipes are surprisingly simple!

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  2. You made me so hungry with this. Love the blue cups.

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    Replies
    1. Oh dear. There is only one answer. You must come over for tea so we can use the blue cups and eat chocolate cake.

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  3. Nam, ihan herahti vesi kielelle :P

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  4. I adore the blue cups and everything looks really delicious. You have really nice recipes!

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