Tea Party Desserts

Well, I’ve finally made it to telling you about the fabulous dessert plate we had at our tea. I know that is really the part you wanted to know about, right?! We were all on a total sugar high the rest of the day.

Let me give you a little tour of the plate.

A. Lemon Bars

B. Sugar Cookie Fruit Cups

C. Cream Cheese Melt Away Mints

D. Fudge Bites

E. Chocolate Covered Tea Bag Cookies

F. Petit Fours with Cream Cheese Filling

Some of the work did get farmed out to a couple of other ladies. My sweet friend, Kathy, pictured here with her fiancée, made the Lemon Bars. She slaved all night to get them just right. I must say, I’m a sucker for any lemony dessert. Kathy’s were fabulous! We cut them into little fingers to add variety to the plate.

Kaye made the Melt Away Mints. I could eat my weight in those things! Here is Kaye, dutifully getting instructions on how to serve tea. She’s the one in the middle. Thank you, both!

Today I’m going to share with you the Petit Fours. I didn’t get too many “in progress” pictures of the other items. I’ll share them, none the less, in following posts.

I was really pleased with the way the Petit Fours turned out. I had been really nervous about making them. They weren’t hard, but they were time-consuming. Knowing that, I made the cake in advance and froze it.

I made just a basic pound cake. You could even use store-bought if you wanted. I made mine in a 10 x 15 bar pan lined with parchment paper. I split the cake and spread strawberry ice cream topping on each half.

The filling was the same  yummy, lemony, cream cheese filling I use on my Luscious Lemon Angel Roll. When I put the layers together, I used a baking rack to help with the transfer. It was tricky, and I did have a little breakage. (The Critics got to do some sampling for me !) Then I wrapped it all, whole, in plastic wrap and said a prayer as it went to the freezer.

When I was ready to fix them up for the tea, I defrosted the cake a bit, then cut it into 1 1/2 inch pieces, roughly. Being partially frozen made the cake a little easier to cut.

I only cut what I could handle frosting. I didn’t want the cake to dry out too much. I even kept the large piece covered with a damp paper towel while it waited to be cut.

I was not nervous about how the cake would taste. I knew that part was okay. It was the frosting and decorating I was worried about. I had made petit fours exactly ONCE before in my life. I used a powdered sugar glaze that time. I was disappointed that they didn’t look like the ones I had seen in the magazine. It was for a friend’s baby shower. There were only a few people there. I guess it was okay that they weren’t perfect. These, however, I felt had to be more on the mark. People were paying to eat them, after all!

I know you are wondering what I used on as the frosting.

Yep! Store-bought vanilla frosting!

Just heat and stir!

Okay, I poured it in a squeeze bottle to make things easier.

I squirted,

and squirted,

and squirted,

and squirted some more!

When the frosting started to cool off, I just reheated it in the microwave.

While the frosting was still wet, I gently placed a little purple violet on top.

Tweezers made this a little easier.

I went ahead and tapped the flower into the frosting. Since I didn’t make sugared violets, I was afraid they might wilt.

I had made plans to use cupcake papers on the cakes. I’m glad I did. The sides of the cake just didn’t look as covered as I wanted them to look. I guess you have to use fondant for that look. No thanks!

These were just regular, cheap-o, generic cupcake papers. They were just a little too tall So, I recruited my daughter trim them down for me a little while I worked in the kitchen. I just kinda mushed the papers into the frosting. The papers covered my non-covered sides and they looked pretty that way.

Well, my Petit Fours still didn’t look like the ones you see in the glossy magazines, but they looked better than my first attempt, that’s for sure. Everyone seemed to love them!

 

Scones with Clotted Cream and Jam

The second course at our lovely tea party was scones. If you follow this blog regularly, you might remember me testing out the scones recipe. (click here)

They turned out great!

I used Martha Stewart’s recipe for Blueberry-Buttermilk Scones. I just left out the blueberries. This was the only recipe I tested. It was so yummy, I figured, why bother with another one? It was simple enough, too.

First, mix all your dry ingredients together.

Then you are going to cut in your butter. (Cold ingredients will be best.) The butter needs to be cut into small pieces. That is how you get even distribution of butter.

I have read that if you don’t have a pastry cutter you can use two knives to cut in the butter. Personally, I have never liked that method. You can pick up a cutter fairly inexpensively.

Next, whisk together your wet ingredients and drizzle over the dry-stirring as you go.

After you dough comes together, turn it out on a floured surface. Gently knead a couple of times to incorporate all the flour. Pat it into a 1 inch disk.

Cut into 8-12 wedges, depending on the size you would like. I went with 12 on my trial run. After tasting how yummy they were I decided to make them a little larger for the tea party.

Transfer the wedges to your parchment-lined baking sheet. (The batch pictured was waiting its turn on the pan.That’s why it is on a cutting board.)

Here you will brush each scone with a beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar.

I can’t believe I was able to sprinkle sugar while I took the picture!

Okay, maybe not!

Bake ‘em up at 375˚ for about 22 minutes. My parchment paper looks kinda nasty because I reused it. I was making 13 batches of scones! Parchment paper costs money! I used each piece two or three times. I scraped the crusty parts off before reusing it each time. Cool the scones on wire racks.

When they are completely cool, you can freeze them. Of course they are best straight from the oven!

I made lots of scones!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour, (not self-rising)
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup (1/2 pint) blueberries
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg lightly beaten for egg wash
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together flours, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture has the texture of coarse meal. Stir in blueberries.
3. Whisk together buttermilk, 1 egg, and the vanilla. Drizzle over flour mixture, and stir lightly with a fork until dough comes together but a small amount of flour remains in bowl.
4. Turn out dough onto a work surface, and gently knead dough once or twice just to incorporate flour. Pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round. Cut into 12 wedges. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until golden brown and cooked through, about 22 minutes. Transfer scones to wire racks to cool.

Cook’s Note

Scones are best served immediately but can be frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw, and reheat in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.

The scones were served with “Mock Clotted Cream”. I found the recipe here.

Mock Clotted Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup light sour cream
2 tablespoons powdered (confectioners’) sugar, sifted

Preparation:

Using a whisk attachment on your mixer, whip cream until stiff peaks form.

Using a large spoon or rubber spatula, fold in the sour cream and powdered sugar just until combined.

Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve.

Make approximately 2 cups or enough to serve 6 to 8.

Don’t know about clotted cream? What’s Cooking America also had this little tidbit of information:

Question:

Could you tell me what the difference is between clotted cream and creme fraiche?  It doesn’t sound like there is much difference, other than country of origin. Thanks – Jim Buffy (12/29/03)

Answers:

clotted cream – Traditionally served with tea and scones in England; it is a 55% minimum milk fat product made by heating unpasteurized milk to about 82 degrees C., holding them at this temperature for about an hour and then skimming off the yellow wrinkled cream crust that forms (until the cream separates and floats to the surface). It is also known as Devonshire cream. It will last up to four days if refrigerated in a tightly sealed container.

Devonshire cream (DEHV-uhn-sheer) – Originally from Devonshire County, England, it is a thick, buttery cream often used as a topping for desserts. It is still a specialty of Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset, as this is where the right breed of cattle is raised with a high enough cream content to produce clotted cream. It is also known as Devon cream and clotted cream. Clotted cream has a consistency similar to soft butter. Before the days of pasteurization, the milk from the cows was left to stand for several hours so that the cream would rise to the top. Then this cream was skimmed and put into big pans. The pans were then floated in trays of constantly boiling water in a process known as scalding. The cream would then become much thicker and develop a golden crust, which is similar to butter. Today however, the cream is extracted by a separator, which extracts the cream as it is pumped from the dairy to the holding tank. The separator is a type of centrifuge, which extracts the surplus cream at the correct quantity so that the milk will still have enough cream to be classified as milk.

creme fraiche (krem FRESH) – It is a matured, thickened cream that has a slightly tangy, nutty flavor and velvety rich texture. The thickness can range from that of commercial sour cream to almost as solid as room temperature margarine. In France, the cream is unpasteurized and therefore contains the bacteria necessary to thicken it naturally. In America, where all commercial cream is pasteurized, the fermenting agents necessary can be obtained by adding buttermilk or sour cream. To make creme fraiche, combine 1 cup whipping cream and 2 tablespoons buttermilk in a glass container. Cover and let stand at room temperature from 8 to 24 hours, or until very thick. Stir well before covering and refrigerate up to 10 days. It is an ideal addition for sauces or soups because it can be boiled without curdling. It is also delicious spooned over fresh fruit or other desserts such as warm cobblers or puddings.

Now you see why I went with the Mock Clotted Cream! It is not real sweet, so it is perfect with a dollop of jam!

Since I had made the scones in advance and stuck them in the freezer, they needed to be warmed a little before serving. (After thawing, of course.) I was a little nervous about how they would turn out reheated.

Not a problem! They were excellent! You do, however, lose some of the texture of the sugar sprinkled on top. I think I’m the only one who knew the difference. Well, NOW they know.

We had strawberry jam with our scones. Mmmmmm!

When the Tea Party was over, we had some of the clotted cream left. My family enjoyed it with French Toast and fresh strawberries.

The scones were easy and tasty. There are so many flavors out there to try–Orange Cranberry, Nutella, Pumpkin, Maple. Oh, yeah! I’ll be trying some of those!

Have you made scones? Do you buy scones? Do you have a favorite flavor?

Is all of this new to you? Are you going to give it a try?

 

Tea Savories

After the chorus sang for our guests at the Tea, we served a plate of savories.

Before I tell you about the food, I want to give a special shout out to my gal-pal Susi!

If I was the “chef”, Susi was my “sous chef”. I think she can pull that off really well if we call her a Suz-chef! Get it? She how I made a little funny with her name?

We also had some fabulous servers. Here are a few of them getting instructions on how to serve tea from D’arylan Ball, the caretaker of the home.

Susi and I were the ones in charge of the kitchen. The two of us did all the plating of the food. Susi also made the fabulous Cranberry Chicken Salad Puffs.

She made the puff pastries from her family’s never-fail recipe. The chicken salad was wonderful! One of her secrets was to use rotisserie chicken!

Susi, leave us a comment on how you made your chicken salad.

Don’t you just love the internet? When we started planning for this event, Mom and I started searching for recipes, crafts, and anything inspiring. The two of us started a Pinterest board to save our ideas as well as share them with one another. This was a very helpful tool. You can see our board here. We are still adding to it. You never know when you might need tea party recipes again!

The tomato sandwich and cucumber round both were found during our search.

The cucumber rounds were really easy. Before slicing the cucumbers, I scored them with my zester/scorer from Pampered Chef. I used the end with the small holes. Of course, if you don’t have one of these, you could just peel part of the cucumber off with a regular old peeler. We had to go fancy though!

After slicing the cucumber into approximately 1/2 inch slices, I used a tool similar to this…

Mine, however, is just a regular old strawberry huller. I scooped almost all of the seeds out of each cucumber slice, leaving a little base for the cheese.

As you may or may not know, cucumbers are FULL of water! I placed my slices, hollowed-out side down, on some paper towels in a container in the fridge overnight. I sure didn’t want cucumber juice all over the serving plate!

Oh, by the way, the idea for the cucumber slices came from Annie’s Eats. I love her blog.

Annie made her Cucumber Bites with Boursin Cheese in the middle. Well, Boursin Cheese can be a little pricy at the store.

I was overjoyed to find a recipe for homemade Boursin Cheese here.

HOMEMADE BOURSIN CHEESE SPREAD
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 small clove garlic, coarsely chopped
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon dill
2 teaspoons chives
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

In a mini food processor, process the cream cheese, butter and garlic until blended. Add the remaining ingredients and process until well combined. Put in an airtight container and chill a couple of hours to allow the flavors to develop. Serve with crackers or raw vegetables.

Makes about 3/4 cup
Can be frozen

For some reason, I couldn’t get my fancy decorating tip to work right–an operator problem, no doubt. I had made the spread the night before and stored it in a resealable bag. I added a little whipping cream to the mix then I just snipped off the tip. I was able to squirt the spread into the cucumber cups with ease.

They weren’t quite as fancy as I wanted, but they were very tasty!

The Tomato Sandwiches were a HUGE hit! I was surprised because they were so easy!

The inspiration for the Tomato Sandwiches came from Paula Deen! I did do a little tweaking of my own on this one.

The bread I used was the cheapest plain ol’ sandwich bread they had at Walmart. I used brown and white, like Paula. Using a small biscuit cutter, I was able to get two cuts from each piece of bread. I made bread crumbs with the leftovers.

Cutting out the little rounds went really fast. I put them in Ziploc baggies in the freezer until the night before the party. I had LOTS of things in my freezer until the night before the party! Being able to do a lot ahead of time was essential!

Tomatoes are like cucumbers in that they are packed with water!

I did the whole slice and drain thing with the tomatoes like I did the cucumbers. DO NOT skip this step. If you do, you will have a soggy sandwich! Yuck!

Here is the spread that I put on the sandwiches…

SAVORY PARTY SPREAD

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 package (0.7 ounce) dry Italian salad dressing mix

I just spread it on each piece of bread and put a tomato in the middle. A little piece of parsley spruced up the top a bit.

Three little bite-sized treats was perfect for our first course.

Two more courses to come~stay tuned!

 

Tea Party

The Sweet Adeline group I sing with, Top of the Rock Chorus, recently had a fundraiser event. Wanting to do something different, we decided to have a Tea at the historic Harper-Alexander House.

Everything was just lovely! The weather even cooperated. It was sunny and the temperature was in the low to mid 70s.

I’ll give you a little pictorial tour of the house. Be sure and follow the link above to learn more of what goes on at the Harper-Alexander House.

Beautiful pressed tin ceilings….

…and wide winding staircases were typical of homes built in the early 1900s.

Meet some of the Harpers.

Beautiful details were at every turn.

Every table was eloquently arranged.

As guests arrived, handsome gentlemen escorted them to their tables.

Of course there was some singing. That is what we do best!

While folks enjoyed their tea and treats, some members of the chorus acted as fashion models. Fashions were provided by Chico’s in Little Rock and Fashion Corner in North Little Rock. (Unfortunately, we were all so busy serving and so taken with the food and surroundings we didn’t get pictures of the models. If some turn up somewhere, I’ll be sure to add them here.)

And, of course, there was food…

and food

…and more food!

Watch for more to come about the food.

It was a wonderful day!

Top of the Rock partnered with P.A.T.H. and His Kaleidoscope Ministry for this event. Being able to share with these groups made the day that much more special.

Top of the Rock would like to extend our most sincere gratitude to Walmart, Kroger, Sam’s Club, Atwoods, and Bonnie Plants for making our event possible.

 

Recycled Rain Boots

I recently saw an adorable wreath made out of recycled rain boots. You can see the inspiration wreath here.

Since there had been a pair of outgrown rain boots with holes in them on my porch for months, the idea looked awesome to me!

Here’s a little before and after:

I taped off the black part with painter’s tape before I sprayed the boots. I used a paint and primer all-in-one spray paint. Sorry, I don’t remember what brand. Whatever brand they carry at Walmart.

The boots are far from perfect, but I like them. I think they look rather cheery on my porch.

The Flowering Quince and Forsythia are from our yard. My grandmother planted them long ago.

We have had lots of cold, rainy days here lately. These recycled rain boots added just the right amount of “sunshine” until the real thing came out of hiding.

Happy Spring!

 

Coconut Lime Cookies

Several months ago I stumbled upon a yummy sounding recipe over at The Girl Who Ate Everything. Her Chewy Coconut Lime Cookies sounded so yummy and fresh.

Limes were on sale not long ago. I figured it must be time to try out this recipe.

The recipe was delish!

Coconut Lime Cookies

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one large lime, finely minced
3 tbsp lime juice
½ cup unsweetened toasted coconut
½ cup sugar for rolling cookies

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and very fluffy.
4. Beat in egg, vanilla extract, lime juice and lime zest.
5. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients and toasted coconut.
6. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in sugar.(Keep reading to see how my experimenting turned out!) Place on lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
8. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

I mixed up the cookie dough just fine. It seemed a bit sticky though.

I had a “brilliant” idea. I remembered that I had some leftover green sugar from Christmas. I thought rolling the dough in the green sugar would be cute.

I was wrong!

Since the dough had gotten soft I decided to refrigerate it for a bit. But wait! Brilliant idea #2 hit. I thought that I would make the dough into a log and have slice & bake cookies.

This idea worked out okay. Brilliant? Not so sure about that based on what I did next…

Yes, brilliant idea #3. I decided to roll the dough in the green sugar so it would look like a lime slice. Then I took a glass from the cupboard that had a “lime slice” pattern on the bottom and squished it into the cookie.

Brilliant!

Not so much.

While it looks like these cookies would have turned out cute, they didn’t. The pattern was totally lost after baking.

I decided to go back to the original instructions. I used a small scoop to make the cookies then rolled them in white sugar. Nice!

If you look closely, you can see the lime zest.

Well, so much for the experimentation. Sometimes a simple yummy cookie is better. They were yummy indeed!

Critics’ Corner

Chip: Tastes like a tiny little Caribbean island.

Megan: I liked them well enough, but it needed more coconut.

Katie: There was a bit too much lime for me, but it was rather tasty!

 

DIY Placemats

I thought I would share a DIY placemat project. I picked up these vinyl tablecloths a couple of years ago on an “after Easter” sale.

They were only 10¢! How could I refuse?! Yes, I bought many more than what you see here.

At least I had a plan for them! Hoooray! Miracles DO happen!

When I got married, my Mom made me these great placemats as a wedding shower gift. I think she got the fabric at Joann or somewhere like that.

They don’t look 20 years old, do they. They have gotten a TON of use. Vinyl is the way to go with kids. Just sponge off the mess and you are good to go.

When my girls were little, I used these placemats to make a cardboard template. I then used that template on some leftover, new, vinyl kitchen flooring. I painted the back side with chalkboard paint.

Guess I was ahead of the trend. That was about 10 years ago. Who knew?

My kids never used these much. They don’t like the feel or sound of chalk.

About 6 or 7 years ago, Walmart had some cute fabric-backed vinyl, so I made me some cute new placemats with my same template. That was back when Walmart carried fabric.

So, here’s the “how-to”…

First make a template.

This was easy for me because I could just trace my existing placemat 1/4″-5/8′ wider to allow for the seam allowance.

The long sides are 13 3/4 inches.

The short sides are 7 3/4 inches.

The corner pieces are 2 3/4 inches.

Now, let me just say, I don’t sew a lot. I have to give myself a refresher course every time I use the sewing machine. You may notice a mistake or two. Try to ignore them!

Ok, I’ll point out the first one for you. I should have ironed the fabric. I just placed my template down on a “smooth” part and hoped for the best.

So much for “the best”. I couldn’t stand it! So I had to do something.

Yes, I ironed the vinyl–ON THE BACK! Use some common sense here. Hot iron+plastic=huge mess. IRON ON THE FABRIC SIDE!

Ta Da! Now, isn’t that better?

You may have noticed the green Sharpie a couple of pictures ago. I used that to do my tracing. It will be on the inside, so it won’t show. I didn’t use a black because I thought it might show through the white part of the vinyl.

Next, you get out your fabulous box of thread your Mother-in-Law brought you back from Germany. Oh, sorry. Guess that was just me.

Oooo! Ahhhh! I know you are jealous. I’ll quit.

Next, you get some average thread that will match your fabric. ; )

With right sides together, sew around your placemat. Use whatever seam allowance you like. I tend to go with a 1/4″.

See that space where there is no stitching? Be sure to leave an opening, unless you like the cheesy fabric side better.

Turn you placemat right-side out. That is why you left the opening. Sorry, no pictures of me wrestling placemats.

You do want to have nice crisp corners on you placemats. I used this little corner tool. I’m pretty sure you can find them at fabric shops. I have had mine forever. You don’t have to have one. You could use something like a chopstick to push out those corners.

Now top stitch all the way around the mat. Remember to tuck in the seam allowance on the opening.

I made two rows of stitching around my set. I think it looks a little fancier that way.

Make them all the same or different colors. Give them as gifts or keep them for yourself. Be sure to look for vinyl tablecloths at those post-holiday sales. Maybe you can get a bargain like I did!

(Guess I didn’t get a picture of the place mats in use. I’ll remedy that on Sunday, maybe.)