Green Tea Shortbread

When I first saw this recipe on Tea Spot NYC I bookmarked it right away. Tea is perhaps my most favorite drink, so the combination of Green Tea and Shortbread sounded very appealing to me. I was concerned that I would not be able to find Matcha powder (we all know the issues I have with trying to find specialty ingredients in my country generic grocery stores!) but low and behold, I found Matcha in the health food section of my local Wegmans! It wasn't powdered, but that was nothing a quick trip through my magic bullet blender couldn't fix!

This was a fabulous recipe. The shorbread is buttery, crumbley and has a fantastic flavor. The texture is perfect. I was on the conservative side with the Matcha since I haven't used it before and didn't want the green tea flavor to be too overwhelming, but next time I would definitely use the whole tablespoon and maybe even a bit more! Also, I don't have a tart pan (don't worry, it's now on my list for my Birthday!) but I loved the look of the wedges, so I used my springform pan which worked perfectly! This is a great shorbread cookie recipe. Even my husband who doesn't like tea really enjoyed this cookie, it's a must try!

Ingredients
Source: Tea Spot NYC
Originally from: Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and still warm
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon Matcha powder (Japanese green tea powder)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups minus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Turbinado or demerara sugar, for sprinkling

1. Grease a 9 1/2-inch tart pan with removable bottom, or line an 8 x 8-inch baking dish with nonstick foil.

2. In medium bowl, stir together butter, granulated sugar, matcha, vanilla and salt. Add flour and mix until just incorporated. Pat dough evenly into prepared pan and let rest at room temperature at least 2 hours, or up to overnight.

3. Position a rack in lower third of the oven and heat to 300°. Bake shortbread for 45 minutes. Remove pan from oven, leaving oven on. Lightly sprinkle the surface with turbinado sugar, and let cool 10 minutes.

4. Carefully remove shortbread from the pan. Use a thin, sharp knife to slice into wedges or squares and place pieces slightly apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly toasted, then let pieces cool completely on rack.

A Tea Party

A few years ago I had the pleasure of spending 2 weeks in London on vacation with my family. It was truly the most amazing city I've ever been to (and I don't even like cities!) and my heart aches to go back. The history, the architecture, the museums, the culture, the people, the FOOD everything about that city is amazing.

One of the traditions that my family and I really embraced while in London was tea time. Every afternoon at 4pm or so, we'd go have tea at our hotel or a neighboring one. What a beautiful tradition that is steeped in history. I am a *huge* Jane Austen fan, and to read in her novels about such a historic tradition that is still present in today's society is so amazingly wonderful to me.

So my mom and aunt were saying how they'd like us all to get together and for Christmas my best friend got me the Williams-Sonoma London cookbook with many tempting tea-time recipes. I was anxious to try out some of the recipes so I offered to have a tea party at my house! There were 6 guests total, and it was the perfect number. Small and intimate, a tea party is the perfect party to have for your best friends and family.

The Menu:

Tea:
Earl Grey
Green
Green Jasmine
Indian Chai
Oolong

Sandwiches:
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
Egg and Sprout Tea Sandwiches

Scones:
Cream Scones with Lemon Curd
Ham and Cheese scones with Butter

Sweets:
Chocolate Fairy Cakes
Strawberries dipped in semi-sweet chocolate

Ham and Cheese Scones

These flaky scones were buttery and savory. With the perfect amount of cheese and ham, these scones are ideal for an afternoon tea party. Be careful though, these scones leave the plate very quickly so be sure to snag one for yourself!!!

Ingredients
Source: Williams-Sonoma: London cookbook, page 76

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of kosher salt
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced
3/4 cup finely grated mature English Cheddar cheese
2/3 cup finely diced ham
2/3 cup whole milk
1 large egg

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Sift the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles course crumbs. Using a fork, stire in the cheese and ham. In a small bowl, beat the milk into the egg and add to the flour mixture. Stir just until a rough, soft dough forms.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and lightly knead until it clings together and is very soft, about 1 minute. Roll the dough until it is aprox. 3/4 inch thick. Dust a 1 1/2 inch biscuit cutter with flour and cut out biscuit. It is best to cut into the dough sharply with the biscuit cutter, twist cutter 1/4 turn once and then pull up. Cut scones out as close together as possible and arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. With the leftover scraps of dough, bring them together into a ball, knead lightly, roll and continue to cut out biscuits until there is no more dough left. If desired, you can freeze the scones here and bake them at a later date. Or, immediately bake the scones until they are golden brown, about 10 minutes and serve them hot. If you chose to freeze your scones, add a few minutes extra to your baking time. It is fine to bake them from frozen. Makes aprox. 12 - 13 scones.

Cream Scones

These scones were so soft, buttery and flaky...they were the perfect addition to my tea party. I served them with fresh lemon curd and they were a huge hit. Yet again, it was another perfect recipe from Good Things Catered. I actually froze these scones after I cut them out and they kept perfectly. I baked them from frozen, and just added a few minutes extra to my baking time. Keep this one in the archives, it's the perfect classic scone.

Ingredients
Source: Good Things Catered

2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
3 Tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
6 Tbsp butter, plus 1 Tbsp, chilled
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 c. heavy cream, chilled

Directions
-Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment.
-In a small bowl, combine cream and vanilla, stir to combine, and place back into fridge.
-In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and whisk to combine well.
-Touching butter as little as possible with your fingers, cut 6 Tbsp into small pieces and add to flour mixture.
-Cut butter into dry ingredients using a pastry blender (or two knives) until all pieces are the size of a small pea or less.
-Remove cream mixture from fridge and pour into dry ingredients.
-Stir until just combined (this should be relatively sticky.)
-Turn dough out onto floured work surface, lightly roll 1 inch thick.
-Using 2-inch round biscuit cutter, cut out disks and place onto prepared baking sheet.
-Cut the remaining butter into small pieces and place one on top of each scone.
-Place baking sheet into oven and bake until just barely beginning to brown; about 12 minutes.
-Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet and serve warm.
- Makes aprox. 12-13 scones.

Chocolate Fairy Cakes

I sort of have a love-hate relationship with this recipe. My first try resulted in a cake with the consistency of a hockey puck...someone was sure to chip a tooth. So I tossed that batch and tried the recipe again with MUCH better results. They were very good although they sort of fell in the middle. However, I have to admit that my baking powder is FAR past it's expiration date (so shameful)...so I think that was my issue. In the end, though, the cakes turned out pretty great and after I tweaked the frosting that came out well too. My best friend loved them...she described them as being fudgy in the middle and soft and chewy on the outside.

Ingredients
Source: Williams-Sonoma: London Cookbook, page 71

2 oz. dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup whole milk
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp. very finely ground espresso (I omitted)
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg, beaten
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. dutch-process cocoa powder

Icing
1/3 cup unsalted butter
2 1/2 oz. dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tsp. light corn syrup
Powdered sugar

Directions Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 24 mini-muffin cups with paper liners or grease with butter.

In a small saucepan, combine chocolate, milk, and half of the brown sugar. Set over low heat and stir constantly until the chocolate is melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the ground espresso, if using. Set aside to cool.

In the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and remaining brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and beat until incorporated. In a spearate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Add to the butter mixture and beat until incorporated, about 2 minutes. Using a spatula, fold in the cooled chocolate mixture. Divide the batter among the mini-muffin cups. (I found it easiest to pipe the mixture into the cups). Bake until a toothpick inserted in the ceter of a cake comes out clean, 15 - 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing, combine the butter, chocolate and corn syrup in a bowl over a double boiler. Stir constantly until the mixture forms a smooth paste, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Using an electric mixture set on high speed with the whisk attachment, beat until the mixture forms a thick, fluffy icing. I had to add powdered sugar to this because the chocolate would just not get thick. This worked out well though. Just keep adding the sugar by the spoonful until it reaches your desired consistency.

Spread the top of each cake with a thick layer of icing. Let set for one hour before serving. If desired, garnish with finely grated white chocolate or powdered sugar. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Egg and Sprout Tea Sandwich

So this was originally supposed to be an "egg and cress" sandwich, however there was no watercress and my grocery store. I even had my mom go to her store, and she had no luck as well. So it turned into an egg and sprout sandwich. It was definitely the most popular sandwich at my tea party! But who doesn't love an egg sandwich?

Ingredients
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma "London" cookbook, page 75

6 eggs
3 tbsp mayonaise
salt
pepper
paprika
sprouts
10 slices of freshly baked white bread, sliced thinly

Directions
Bring a small saucepan 2/3 full of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Carefully lower the eggs into the water with a slotted spoon, return the water to a boil and boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Immediately plunge the eggs into an ice bath. After about 5 minutes or so, or when the eggs are cool enough to touch, peel each egg unter cold running water, being sure to remove every speck of shell. Let eggs dry.

Place the eggs in a bowl and finely mash with a potato masher. Add the mayonnaise and mash again. Season to taste with salt, pepper and paprika.

Spread 5 slices of bread with the egg mixture, dividing it evenly. Arrange the sprouts on top of the egg mixture, and top each sandwich with the remaining bread slices. Using a very sharp knife, cut crust off of bread. Then cut the sandwich on the diagonal twice, which results in 4 triangle tea sandwiches. Serve sandwiches immediately.

Cucumber Tea Sandwich

I know I'm committing a major food blog faux-pas, however I forgot to take a picture of these sandwiches and they were too good not to share! They are the quintessential tea party sandwich, and they are very delicious. If you've never had a cucumber sandwich, you definitely should try it. They are delicate and very tasty. I found the recipe here and it worked out fabulously. I love the addition of minced garlic.

Ingredients
Source: Great Party Recipes

1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced very thinly (I used 3 English Cucumbers...they are smaller then normal cucmbers and seedless)
Salt
3/4 cup soft butter
2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
20 slices bread (I used about 8 slices of freshly baked bread)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pepper to taste

Directions
Lightly salt the cucumber slices and place them in a colander to drain for 1 to 2 hours. Then combine the butter and garlic and apply to 1 side of each slice of bread. In a small bowl, stir together the lemon juice, olive oil, and pepper. Add the cucumber slices, coating them well. Arrange the cucumber on 10 of the bread slices, top with the other 10 slices, remove the crusts, and quarter. Serve immediately. Makes 40 tea sandwiches. (I made 16 small sandwiches)