Forever Nigella: Afternoon Tea

 

Forever Nigella #16 is being hosted by Fleur of Homemade By Fleur. This month’s challenge is to prepare and blog any Nigella Lawson recipe for Afternoon Tea. Forever Nigella is organized by Sarah at Maison Cupcake.

Afternoon Tea.  For us Americans, we think of it as something we have to get dressed up for and try our best to be posh.  But in reality, Afternoon Tea is supposed to be a snack to get us through the afternoon to dinner.  Now, I could go into all the different kinds of “Teas” there are, but I’ll save that for another post.  Today, lets treat Tea as so many do, with a cup of tea and a nice cake, cookie, or other sweet treat. 

I’m usually a chocolate lover, but in the summer, I’m a sucker for Lemon.  When I saw these Little Lemon Puddings on Nigella.com, I was hooked. (Translation: pudding can mean a steamed cake or just dessert.)  These puddings, are what Nigella calls a “short-cut version of the traditional English Canary Pudding.”  The traditional is steamed, while these are baked.

Don’t they look sunny and happy?  And Cute! And just look at that drippy lemon curd!  I gave these a try for a family dinner.  They were a big hit!

I had to use a conversion chart to figure out a few things:

125 grams of sugar = 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon

125 grams of butter = 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon

125 grams of flour = 1 1/8 cup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, (the equivalent to the 180 degrees C and gas mark 4).

I also used silicone cupcake liners, so they were a little smaller than the ramekins I would have used, so I got 8 servings instead of just 6.

Mine didn’t turn out as golden as the Nigella photo, but that doesn’t keep them from tasting delightfully lemony.  The lemon curd on top is the icing on the cake, literally. 

These little puddings are a nice addition to your own Tea Time recipes.  But I didn’t stop there.  Because this little beauty is also a part of my 2012 Ice Cream Cupcake Contest entry.

The Ice Cream Contest is being hosted by Scoopalicious and Cupcake Project.

When I was trying to decide what I wanted to do for the contest, I thought about all the different ice creams I wanted to try making.  My mind kept coming back to Afternoon Tea.  I love lemon curd on a scone with clotted cream.  It’s divine!  So what better to go with the Little Lemon Puddings than Clotted Cream Ice Cream.  Yes, I went there!

Wow! This ice cream was so good!  It’s yummy perched upon a Little Lemon Pudding, topped with more lemon curd; it tastes like sunshine!  It’s perfect for a summer afternoon.

Clotted Cream Ice Cream 6 Egg Yolks 1 Whole Egg 1/2 cup Sugar (I used Vanilla Sugar) 2 1/2 cups Whole Milk 1 Vanilla Bean (split, with seeds removed) or 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract 1 1/4 Cups Heavy Cream 6 ounces Clotted Cream Use a whisk to combine the yolks, egg and sugar.  Whisk until the mixture turns pale yellow.  Add the milk and vanilla, (pod and seeds) to a saucepan and simmer.  Once it simmers, pull out the vanilla pod and VERY slowly pour the milk into the eggs while quickly whisking.  Bring the mixture back to the pan with the vanilla pod and simmer, stir constantly, until thickened.  (It will coat the back of a wooden spoon.) Strain the custard mixture to remove any lumpy eggs and vanilla pod.  Stash the mixture in the fridge until cold.  Stir the clotted cream into the cold mixture. Whisk the heavy cream in a cold metal bowl until it forms soft peaks, and fold into the mixture.  Freeze according to your ice cream freezer’s manufacturers instructions.  *Note:  Clotted Cream can be purchased at grocery stores that specialize in international foods.  A tea room shop is another place to look.  Or you can buy online from companies like the English Tea Store.  Alternatively, you can make your own; a feat I would like to tackle soon.

2012 Ice Cream Cupcake Contest

Official Rules:

• Dates: You can enter any time through June 30, 2012.
• How to Enter:

1. Create a recipe for ice cream cupcakes! The ice cream cupcakes must contain cake and ice cream (or frozen yogurt, gelato, or something ice cream-like). Cupcakes baked in ice cream cones without a frozen element are not eligible.
2. Write a new post on your blog about your creation. The post must include a photo, a recipe, and a link to both this post and to Scoopalicious. If you don't have a blog, upload a photo of your creation to Facebook or any photo sharing site (like Flickr). Make sure that you make the photo public (on Facebook, you'll simply change "share with Friends" to "share with Public"). In the photo description, include the details about the cupcake and the recipe.
3. Find and click the "Add your Link" button at the bottom of this post.
4. Complete the entry form. In the name field, enter the name of your creation. In the URL field, enter the link to your post (not your whole blog). If you don't have a blog, enter the link to your photo's page. On Facebook, this is the address of the photo post, not the one that is facebook.com/yourname. When you click to add a thumbnail image, the program should let you choose from the images on your page. If it doesn't work properly, check your link. If it still isn't working, you can upload an image directly from your computer.
5. After you submit your entry, wait a few minutes and refresh this page. You should see a thumbnail version of your entry displayed. Your entry is now complete!

• Number of Entries per Person: Sorry, we are allowing just one entry per person this year - so make it count!
• Judging Criteria: Cupcakes will be judged on perceived deliciousness, creativity, and presentation - in that order of importance.
• Prizes: The Grand Prize winner and the entry prize winners will be announced by the end of July! For the Grand Prize of a $250 gift certificate to a favorite cooking store, the store (virtual or brick and mortar) must specialize in cooking and/or baking supplies. General stores like Amazon, Target, etc. are not eligible. The cooking store must sell gift certificates. Stores outside of the U.S. are eligible, but the gift certificate will have a value of $250 U.S.

Read more: http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2012/05/2012-ice-cream-cupcake-contest.html#ixzz1z9kZpUBD

 

Forever Nigella Rules

1. Blog your entry by 28^th of the month showing:
a) the current Forever Nigella badge
b) a link to this announcement post
c) a link to the Forever Nigella page at Maison Cupcake: http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/forever-nigella

n.b. posts must have been published since the announcement post. Archived posts need to be re-published afresh if you wish to submit.

2. Remember copyright.
You must NOT reproduce Nigella’s recipes verbatim. Tell us which book it is from and/or link to it online. If you’ve adapted the recipe in some way i.e. changed at least two ingredients or amended the method then it’s ok to publish the a recipe in your post but you MUST write directions in your own words.

3. Submit your post
Use the linky tool or email the host cc’ed to sarah AT maisoncupcake DOT com.

Sophie In Wonderland: Menu

 

Our Tea Party menu was a mix of some things you would find in a traditional Afternoon Tea, and some things that you would find in an Americanized type of Tea.  For example: Pink Lemonade.

We just had to have something in little “Drink Me” bottles.  It would not have been right to skip this little nod to the movie. These tags were printed on cardstock and attached with glue dots.  It would have been a lot of work to tie these to each bottle, but the easy glue dots give the same effect when you place them at an angle.  FYI: These are Starbucks Frappuccino bottles.  These are so cute with homemade labels.  That wouldn’t work with the “Drink Me” labels, maybe next time.

At the main table, each place setting included the lemonade and a plastic tea cup.  The plate holds a small cup of Strawberry Bisque, a prepared scone and an Egg Salad Sandwich.  If we had wanted to be more authentic, the crusts would have been cut off.  Sorry.

The center of the main table held a towering display of Cream Puffs and Mini Éclairs.  Yum!

Cake stands held the cupcakes at both ends of the main table.  You shouldn’t be surprised that they are The Best Cupcakes Ever!  These are topped with blue Sixlets bought at Party City.

The buffet table held all the same treats as the kids’ table, with the sandwiches being traded for mini quiches. 

There is the tea, of course.  Oh, and there are some Easter M&Ms tucked in there too!

The center of the table showcased the little scones, “clotted cream”, strawberry jam, and lemon curd.  This allowed the adults to make their scones as they liked.

You can find the recipe for my Strawberry Bisque HERE.  It’s served in a punch bowl Nana has handed down to me.

Classic Scones This recipe was given to me by a lady in Scotland. Makes 24 2-inch Scones

Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups Self-Rising Flour 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder 3 Tablespoons sugar 4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, cold 1 Large Egg 1/2 Teaspoon Salt 2/3 Cup Whole Milk, (You will not need all of it)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl.  Add the cold butter and rub with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbles.  Stir in sugar and salt. 

Break an egg into a liquid measuring cup and mix with fork, add enough milk to measure 5 ounces. (That will be just under 2/3 cup total.)

Pour egg and milk mixture into flour mixture a little at a time, mixing lightly until the dough just comes together; you may not need all of the liquid.

Gather mixture and place on a lightly floured surface, knead very gently, just until it holds it’s shape.  Flatten with palms to approximately 1/2 inch thick.

Cut into 2 inch rounds with a biscuit cutter and place on a greased baking sheet, (I use parchment.)  Lightly gather remaining dough and repeat cutting.

Brush tops with any leftover egg/milk mixture.  Bake for 10 minutes or until they are pale golden in color.  Serve immediately.

Notes:

I find the dough works better for me when it’s just a little more moist that I think it should be. I use a very gentle hand when patting it out, you don’t want to overwork the dough.  Keep the dough very cold the whole time.  If the butter starts to melt before going in the oven, the scones will flatten and spread.  If things start getting warm, place the dough in the fridge just long enough to cool things off.

Clotted Cream is a beautiful thing.  If you’ve ever had fresh clotted cream from South-West England, you know what I’m talking about.  There’s nothing like it.  Unfortunately, if I want clotted cream here in the states, I have to either buy it in a jar, (above), which is kind of expensive, or make it myself. 

I’ve yet to try making it for real.  That’s something I hope to try soon.  For the party, I used a recipe found HERE.  It uses mascarpone cheese and heavy cream.  It isn’t quite like the real thing, but it worked well enough.  I would recommend it in a pinch. (Note: I did not use the optional zest.  It seemed unnecessary to me.)

If you remember from the last post, the guests had a sweet take-home treat. 

These cookies are my favorite cut-out sugar cookies from Nigella Lawson.  They hold their shape when baked and are very reliable.  The trick for me is to take them out before I think they are done so they are still a little soft.

The icing is Wilton’s Royal Icing recipe.  I kept it thick to outline the cookie then thinned the rest with water and about 1/8 tsp. lemon extract and filled in the cookie.  I don’t know how many of these I had, I was a little addicted. 

I placed the cookies in little goodie bags, (Hobby Lobby), folded them and closed them with a little sticker.  I used Avery 3/4 inch diameter stickers stamped with a little clock face from a cool cling sticker collection from Hobby Lobby.  It kind of has this Steampunk-ish vibe going on.  I'm looking forward to using all the little stamps in the future!

Next post: How to plan an Alice party.

One Year Olds ROCK!!

 

Last Saturday we celebrated my nephew’s first birthday. 

My nephew, Logan, ROCKS!!

I made the cupcakes for the party.  They were so good they made you wanna smash your guitar. 

To make the really cool, almost tie-died icing, just fill your decorator’s bag with two colors of icing, keeping them separated, each color taking up half the bag.  Pipe your swirls as usual.

Decorating for the party was fun.  Among the decorations were microwaved CDs. 

Here’s a random YouTube video that shows how:

When you party like a Rock Star, you usually end up destroying things.

Every Rocker needs some cool shades right?

The cupcakes were a smash…in the face.  “What was that for, Mom?”

Logan had his first real taste of sugar.  He ate almost the whole cupcake. 

Has everyone made these by now?  If not, what’s taking you so long?  These are THE BEST CUPCAKES EVER!!!

I couldn’t leave without showing you my cute little one year old.  Liam is learning to use a spoon and is so proud of himself.

Ice Cream Cupcake Contest 2011

 

Coffee.  It fuels the world.  There are so many ways to enjoy it.  Most people I know put creamer and sugar in it.  Some like it with absolutely nothing in it, (I don’t know how they do it.  Gag!)  I myself cannot imagine drinking coffee without sugar and loads of milk.  My favorite coffee drink is the Double Shot from Starbucks, (I’m desperate to copycat that recipe), but cappuccinos and lattes are my alternate choices.   Lately, I’ve discovered that coffee ice cream has replaced chocolate as my go to frozen treat.  So when I decided to participate in the Ice Cream Cupcake Contest this year, I knew what I had to do.

My dream Ice Cream Cupcake is a combination of chocolate cake and cappuccino ice cream.  Throw in some chocolate chips and it’s a dream come true!  When I started thinking about the perfect Cappuccino Ice Cream Cupcake, here is what I envisioned:

A Chocolate Cupcake, Topped with Cappuccino Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.  Crowned with a Dollop of Whipped Cream and Chocolate Covered Coffee Bean.

 

That’s cute and all, but I felt that if I was going with the coffee theme, it needed to be a true cupcake and be either baked or served in a coffee mug.

That’s better!  To make your own, bake your favorite chocolate cupcakes, adding a teaspoon or so of instant coffee granules to the batter.  May I suggest these cupcakes?  If you’re baking in a mug, you’ll probably have to add extra batter and baking time to the recipe. I used about 4 cupcakes worth of batter here.

Another option would be to bake the cupcakes in silicone baking cups then unwrap them and place inside your favorite mug.

I’ve topped mine with whipped cream and a chocolate coffee bean, but dusting with cinnamon or cocoa powder would also bring the café experience to these cupcakes.

Cappuccino Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Click here for the Printable Recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

Makes 1.5 Quarts

1 cup milk

1/4 cup ground coffee

1 cup sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1/8 tsp. salt

2-3 tsp. vanilla extract, depending on strength

3 cups half and half

1-4.25 oz. dark chocolate bar

In a saucepan, heat milk on medium-high heat until you see the first signs of bubbles, then remove from heat.  Stir in coffee and allow to steep for 3-4 minutes.  Strain the coffee grounds out of the milk using a fine sieve.  Slowly add the milk into the eggs, whisking constantly.  Return the mixture to the saucepan and add the sugar and salt.  Stir for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat until the mixture thickens.  Add vanilla and 1 cup of the half and half.  Move the mixture to the refrigerator until chilled.  Meanwhile, chop the chocolate bar into small chunks and/or shards and set aside.  Once the mixture is chilled, add it, the chocolate, and the rest of the half and half to your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

The Contest:

The Ice Cream Cupcake Contest is host by Cupcake Project and Scoopalicious.  Judging with them are Nicole Weston from Baking Bites, Jessie Oleson from CakeSpy, and Naomi Robinson from Bakers Royale.  These three bloggers will also showcase their favorites on their own blogs

Prizes
The winner will be announced by July 1 and will receive an amazing collection of dessert cookbooks from some of our favorite authors!
From author Krystina Castella:

From authors Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough:

From Nicole Weston, author and contest judge:

From Jessie Oleson, author and contest judge (to be delivered upon book release):

From Bakerella:

From Emma Hand, creator of Snap Stories and designer of our amazing new Ice Cream Cupcake Contest logo:

Wow! I’d love to win all of those, but even if I don’t, I’ve still got my ice cream in the freezer!

Linked to Made It On Monday.

Check out this at Brewed Daily.

And here is the link to all the entries.

Tinker Bell Birthday Party

 

This weekend we celebrated Sophie’s 3rd birthday.  It became obvious to me a few months ago that Sophie’s obsession with Tinker Bell would provide the perfect theme for this party.  Our colors were Lime and Lavender to match just about every Tinker Bell item Sophie owns.   It was so much fun to plan!

We had the challenge of turning our church fellowship room into “Pixie Hollow”.  First let me show you “the backdrop”.  I had originally dreamt up something different, but it wasn’t going to work out.  My sister-in-law, Leigh, whipped this backdrop up the morning of the party to give a nice scene for opening presents.  Those are “fairy lights” aka white Christmas lights leftover from our wedding (they are used elsewhere too), a blue sheet and purple and green tulle tied with ribbon.  Leigh used thumbtacks to hold everything up.  This turned out so much nicer than what I had planned.

Hanging above is a “wreath-a-lier” that I made.  It is a Styrofoam wreath form (14”) with crepe paper roses hot glued all over and hung with ivory ribbon.  Don’t ask me how many roses! This was definitely a labor of love.  I wish you could all see it in person as these pictures do not do it justice.  Good news is that I can use it to decorate for spring, so we will get a lot of miles out of this thing.

To use as table centerpieces, I bought six of these little $1 birdhouses from Jo-Ann’s Fabric.  Then I painted them brown and hot glued green Spanish Moss, also from Jo-Ann’s, to the roofs.  On three of them I made “Fairies Welcome” signs made from stuff from my yard.  The other three I left blank.  And that’s scrapbook paper they are sitting on. Now that the party is over, I’m using the scrapbook paper to make a mini Birthday Party scrapbook using a small photo album. The kids got to take the birdhouses home along with their goodie bags.  The girls got the ones with signs and the boys got the plain ones to be “bug houses.”  I meant to stick some flowers in the moss, but left them at home.  Oh, well.

Speaking of goodie bags, here they are.  They are just brown lunch sacks that have Tinker Bell and friends printed on the front.  I can’t remember where these were bought, but I’ve seen them all over.  Behind them are more fairy lights with flowers attached. These were made by dying white coffee filters in water and food coloring.  After drying, I stacked four filters of the same color and pinched them in the middle and tied a twist tie around the pinch.  Then I fluffed the flowers and attached them to the lights with their twist ties.  It’s super easy!

The kids made necklaces with “Fairy Treasure”. 

The food table was a challenge. As you can see there is a plain brick wall behind the table.  Leigh and I hung streamers and white paper lanterns over the table.  More fairy lights grace the table behind the food.  Aside from the food I’m about to mention, we also had a fruit and veggie tray, dip and chips, and Starburst Jelly beans, which just happen to be the best jelly beans to be found on this Earth, just sayin’.

We served lemonade out of this cute dispenser bought for 6 bucks at Walmart.  It has a lovely pattern on it too, which worked well with the theme.  Behind it are the napkins I fanned into a wing pattern, don’t know if anyone noticed but it thought I was clever.  Punch cups for the adults and Tinker Bell cups and straws for the kids.  Leftover lanterns rest in a wire basket.

Our choice of cookies were Oreos, to cater to a child with nut and egg allergies, and these cute flower shaped sugar cookies made using Nigella’s recipe and Wilton’s Royal Icing in Lavender to match our theme.

I wanted to serve Tinker Bell inspired cupcakes, so I sketched a few ideas and settled on these two.  In the yellow baking cups (both ruffled baking cups made by Wilton) are Yellow Cake (from a box because I haven’t found my perfect yellow cake recipe yet).  The purple cups hold the most amazing chocolate cake ever (from Pioneer Woman).  Both are toped with That’s The Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had.  The chocolate cupcakes are iced to look like grass with purple wildflowers.  The yellow cupcakes just scream ‘Tink’ to me.  On top of the green swirl rests a pearlescent gumball from Party City.  It’s pretty and tastes good too!

I brought Sophie’s Tinker Bell costume which she had to wear for singing to her, blowing out the candles and opening presents. 

We’re blessed to have a playground at the church building, so the kids got to play.  I think they had a good time.

Sophie had a great birthday party, she’s still talking about it.  Now we just have to sit back and wait for a fairy to take up residence in our little fairy house. “Come on Tink, we’ll even share our jelly beans!”

Linked to Made It On Monday, Bear Rabbit Bear and Muffin Monday.