Tea Time

Dishes all set, waiting on the food. I LOVE Sophie Conran's tea things!

     As I mentioned in my previous post, this past Sunday I had a Jane Eyre Tea Party. Everybody brought tea-time treats, and I got to see the film I missed in theaters since my babe was newborn. My husband watched our little guy while I made scones and chocolate(and white chocolate!)-dipped strawberries. He also watched him for the whole film. Yay! A girly movie time without any boys, baby or otherwise :)It was wonderful.

   The food was great, too... my friends brought muffins, fruit, tea cookies, etc... and we drank cucumber water and two kinds of tea: "Tuscany Pear Rooibas"and "Early Grey de la Creme" (both from Distinctly Tea, my favourite tea shop). My husband even came down to sneak a few snacks... and he took the extra scones to work for lunch the next day. 

Pretty in pink, Cherry-Almond Scones

     These scones are usually a hit. I love this recipe because it is so simple, tasty, and easy to adjust to your own tastes. I got the basic recipe at All Recipes.Com here.

   I use the cherry-almond variety, but I use maraschino cherries instead of dried ones, and I add some of the extra cherry-juice, which gives the scones the pretty pink colour. I also use a food processor for the mixing, which makes it so much easier!

Here is my version of the recipe:

• 2 and a half cups all-purpose flour (the extra half cup is needed if you add the cherry juice)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons butter (= 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup maraschino cherries 
• ~2 tablespoons cherry juice (optional)
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg

Directions:

1- Grease pan & pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F

2- Combine all dry ingredients in food processor. Blend well.

3- Add wet ingredients, blend well... mixture should ball up together and start to leave the sides.

4- Need dough into a ball and press down (not as flat as a pizza, though)--- on a floured surface if dough is still sticky, otherwise you can do it right on the greased tray.

5- Cut into 12, tip: use a pizza-cutter

6- Bake 15-20 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown.

Serve with tea! :)

Healthier version: substitute whole wheat for wheat and vanilla/ plain/ or cherry yogurt for sour cream. You can use dried cherries or even pitted fresh cherries (with real cherry juice) instead of the maraschino...but make sure to decrease the flour back to 2 cups if you omit the juice.

    Happy Baking!

-J.L

ps~ On the topic of tea-time, I recently finished drawing a set of 3 tea-time cards. Images to come soon!