A Berry Princess Tea Party

So being the cool mom that I am (I'm sure my girls will think differently in a few years, but I'm cool for now) I decided to let my girls have some friends over for a real, big girl tea party. The girls all dressed up like princesses, I let them wear some of "Mommy's special jewelrey," and used the good dishes. To add to the affair, I wanted to create a menu fit for afternoon tea at the Plaza. While I may not have quite accomplished that, the spread was certainly better than their usual fare of imaginary cookies and water tea. Here is what we had:

Berry Green Tea (with sugar in a sugar bowl)
Tea Sandwiches (cucumber, egg salad, and peanut butter & blackberry jelly)
Carrot and Celery Plate
Strawberries with Whipped Cream (piped into them, of course)
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Raisin Scones with Raspberry Jam and Mock Devonshire Cream (since the real version is insanely expensive and very hard to find)

Here is a picture of our lovely tea party table:

My absolute favorite part was the Raisin Scones. I had never, ever made scones before, but I wanted the girls to have something extra special for their tea (the little one is now asking if we can have "stones" for breakfast, as she can't quite remember how to say "scones") so I decided to give it a shot. Hey, if I failed, I failed. Its very rare that I have a complete and total flop, but I usually try to avoid using a new recipe when I have company coming, just in case. But alas, if you don't take risks, you end up with just PB&Js for lunch...

So here was the scone recipe that I found at Allrecipes.com, with a few alterations:

Raisin Scones

Ingredients
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup raisins (optional)


Directions:
-In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
-In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt, and cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or hand mixer. Stir the sour cream mixture, egg, and vanilla into the flour mixture until just moistened. Mix in the raisins.
-Kneed dough briefly in bowl a minute or two, till it can be gathered into a flaky ball (like pie crust). Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round. Cut into 12 wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
-Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom.

Chocolate Chip Cookies and Raisin Scones

It was a very lovely tea party. I think the girls had a lot of fun, and so did their friends. And Mommy got to have some adult time, so it was a happy day all around. Just a few more highlights:

Tea Sandwiches

Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Ah yes, before I forget...speaking of whipping cream, a fantastic addition to the scone recipe is a Mock Devonshire Cream recipe. Of course, its not like the original or clotted cream, however it is a pretty darn good substitute, and quite simple all you do is this:

Mock Devonshire Cream

Ingredients
3oz cream cheese(room temp, very important)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 c heavy whipping cream

Directions
Simply add these ingredients to a bowl, and using a hand mixer (or a whisk, if you're feeling old fashioned), and whip like you would standard whipped cream. The addition of cream cheese makes this a thicker, richer version that is perfect for spreading on scones - with raspberry jam of course. Happy Baking!

Is summer over yet? Craving winter foods...

The past couple of weeks have been an interesting change. I've had to move out of the office I've had for about five years now, and transitioned into a home office. After three weeks of hard work, the house finally came together and my office has appeared out of the mess. One of the big upsides to this work-from-home experience is that I've had more time than usual to do what I do best - baking.

So with this extra time, I felt the need to turn on my oven (yes, in 105 degree August Texas weather) because I had a hankering for some good old-fashioned bread pudding, done my way. I've adapted the recipe that Paula Deen uses (simply because hers has entirely too much sugar, even for a sweet-tooth like mine) to create my own, and I'm quite proud of it. Here it is, for your enjoyment:

Texas Style Bread Pudding

Bread Ingredients
3 cups (about one loaf) cubed Italian bread, allow to stale overnight in a bowl
1 tsp spices (any combination - pumpkin or apple pie, cinnamon and nutmeg, etc)
1 cups granulated sugar
5 large beaten eggs
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
6oz cup chopped pecans

Sauce Ingredients
1/2 bag individually wrapped caramels
1/4 - 1/2 cup heavy cream (you know I don't really measure - start with the 1/4, then if you need more, add some)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

Leave cubed bread in large mixing bowl to stale overnight. Toss with spices to coat cubes before making the pudding mixture, then add raisins.

Mix together granulated sugar, eggs, and milk in a bowl; add vanilla. Pour over spiced cubed bread and raisin mixture; let sit for 10 minutes.

In another bowl, mix and crumble together brown sugar, butter, and pecans.

Pour bread mixture into prepared pan. Press brown sugar mixture over the top and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until set (a knife should come out clean). Remove from oven.

After removing from oven, begin making caramel sauce. Unwrap caramels, and place in small sauce pan with heavy cream on medium to high heat. Constantly stir until caramels are melted into a sauce that is thick, yet thin enough to drizzle. Using your spoon, drizzle sauce over pudding, either the whole pan, or individual servings for a pretty effect if being served immediately.

Happy Baking!

Too many strawberries!

Tis the season for fresh berries. I found a quart of strawberries at HEB for $3 yesterday afternoon, and it didn't take me long to figure out what to do with them...

That's right, Strawberry Pie! I decided to go a different route today, not wanting to go through the normal hassle of my Strawberry Apple Pie, plus, I didn't want to run my oven for very long (its 108 degrees in Texas), so I decided to make a fresh pie that only required me to pre-bake a pie crust. So here's the recipe I came up with after reading and not liking a few of them:

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Ingredients
1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
1 quart fresh strawberries
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons flour
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Quarter and arrange about three-fourths of the strawberries in baked pastry shell. Puree (food processor or blender) remaining berries with sugar, water, flour, and vanilla, then pour into saucepan. Place saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Allow to boil about two or three minutes, until thickened. Carefully pour mixture over berries in pastry shell, and toss berries lightly with spoon to coat. Chill for at least an hour before serving.

Top with whipped cream if desired. Happy Baking!