The story begins with the worker at Swinings Tea House bringing in a customer for tea. It starts with one pig, but then keeps growing in numbers until it gets to 10!
It’s a super cute rhyme, but our poor tea host is stressed with planning for this party; until they order the whole menu. Which looks delicious.
My sister said we should make all the recipes, and we have made quite a few already; but I’m up to getting around to that challenge (eventually).
It’s an adorable read that kids in a wide range of ages will enjoy. It’s also perfect for kids who like tea, or for children you are trying to influence into liking tea.
As we read Anne of Green Gables for book club, we of course had to have an Anne of Green Gables tea. We drank actual tea but also needed to make raspberry cordial and definitely raspberry cordial not wine.
“But you can ask Diana to come over and spend the afternoon with you and have tea here.” “Oh, Marilla!” Anne clasped her hands. “How perfectly lovely!…Oh, Marilla, can I use the rosebud spray tea set?” “No, indeed! The rosebud tea set!…You’ll put down the old brown tea set. But you can open the little yellow crock of cherry preserves. It’s time it was being used anyhow—I believe it’s beginning to work. And you can cut some fruit cake and have some of the cookies and snaps.”
“I can just imagine myself sitting down at the head of the table and pouring out the tea,” said Anne, shutting her eyes ecstatically. “And asking Diana if she takes sugar! I know she doesn’t but of course I’ll ask her just as if I didn’t know. And then pressing her to take another piece of fruit cake and another helping of preserves. Oh, Marilla, it’s a wonderful sensation just to think of it. Can I take her into the spare room to lay off her hat when she comes? And then into the parlor to sit?”
“No. The sitting room will do for you and your company. But there’s a bottle half full of raspberry cordial that was left over from the church social the other night. It’s on the second shelf of the sitting-room closet and you and Diana can have it if you like, and a cooky to eat with it along in the afternoon…”
Back in 2020, some friends and I started a Tea Party/Bible Study/Book Club; Books, Tea, and the Trinity. We met every Wednesday and worked our way through the Chronicles of Narnia and are currently working through the Lorien Legacies. When we started I resolved to share all the recipes, but have fallen behind in posting and are trying desperately to catch up.
After we finished The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; the next book in the series was A Horse and His Boy. This book was a bit harder to plan recipes as it didn’t have as many starting off points as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but that also meant we could make whatever we wanted to.
I don’t have the empanada recipe as my friend made it and she winged it, but using a real recipe. As I don’t have that, I’m going to skip ahead to the next recipe, Rice Krispies Chocolate Chip Cookies.
This recipe I borrowed from my sister blog, Mysterious Eats and is one I LOVE to make over and over again.
“Not your traditional oatmeal cookie-an even better one! RICE KRISPIES add that extra crunch and the [chocolate chips] supplies the extra sweetness.”
Ingredients:
1 Cup of All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
1/2 Cup of Butter or Margarine, Softened
1/2 Cup of White Sugar
1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar
1 Large Egg
1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
1 Cup of Kellogg’s Rice Krispies
1 Cup of Quick-Cooking Oats
1/2 Cup of Coconut or Chocolate Chips
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
Lightly coat two large cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray or butter. Set aside.
Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
Place the butter in the bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy.
Add the white and brown sugars and beat until blended, Add the egg and vanilla, beating to incorporate.
Stir in the flour mixture. When well combined, stir in the cereal, oats and coconut or chocolate chips.
Drop the cookie dough by tablespoonful onto the baking sheets, leaving room between the cookies.
Bake for 12 mins, or until the cookies are lightly browned.
Remove from the oven and let cool.
These are soo delicious! I love making them and once you try them, you will love them too!
So every Wednesday, starting in October, I have been a part of a Tea Party/Bible Study/Book Club on The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. This is different from my book club and the Book Club Picks I have been reviewing (and desperately need to catch up on). This week was the last for TMN and we had Chai Tea, Cranberry Chai Scones, Cucumber Canapés, Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus, Mini Shepherd’s Pie, and Snickerdoodles.
I though it would be able to post these faster, but I have really fallen behind. I’m trying though!
So I will not be sharing the Shepherd’s Pie recipe as my sister made it and made it up without writing down how to recreate it. Instead I will be jumping straight to snickerdoodles. This recipe comes from The King Arthur Flour Cookbook.
Ingredients:
1 cup (184g) shortening
1 1/2 cups (298g) sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups Flour
Cinnamon Sugar
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the shortening and sugar until smooth
Then beat in the eggs, again beating until smooth. The mixture will become lighter, and lighter-colored, as you beat; this is the result of air being absorbed.
Beat in the vanilla, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
Then add the flour, mixing slowly until combined.
Place about 1/2 cup cinnamon-sugar in an 8″ or 9″ round cake pan.
Drop the soft dough by tablespoonfuls into the pan with the sugar, about 6 to 8 balls at a time. Gently shake the pan to coat the dough balls with sugar.
Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2″ between them.
Using the bottom of a glass, flatten each cookie until it’s about 1/2″ thick. Repeat until you’ve used up all the dough.
Bake the snickerdoodles for 11 to 12 minutes, reversing the position of the pans (top to bottom, and back to front) midway through.
Remove the cookies from the oven once they’re set and just starting to turn golden. Transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
These were delicious and a perfect addition to our tea time.
So as you know if you have been following my page, I just celebrated my 29th birthday with a Jane Austen Garden Tea Party.
Some of you might be wondering why I am so extensively going through all the party planning and it was because I had been planning to have this two years ago, but life got in the way so I decided to wait and now I’ve finally been able to have it.
So starting with sandwiches, remember how we’ve been having those The Magician’s Nephew Bible study/book club/tea party? Well, those have also been a dry run for me as it gives me a chance to try out recipes and see which ones I really love. I decided to start off with one I really loved: Curried Egg Salad Triple Stacks Sandwiches
I also really love cucumber sandwiches and wanted to use the recipe from SpendWith Penniesbut to save time I used Chive and Onion Cream Cheese Spread.
I know not everyone will be into them so I needed some regular sandwiches. I decided on Turkey-Apple Tea Sandwiches:
Out of all of them, the Ham and Cheese did the best. They were all gone before the party’s end.
My mom made a salad for a side and then we went to the strawberry farm down the street and bought a ton of strawberries. Yep, I wanted it to be like Donwell Abbey.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have any scones. I had wanted to make some, but I ran out of time. I had also planned to buy some, but when I went to the store they were all out.
But I had lots of desserts! I had made them a few weeks earlier and put them in the freezer until the day before the party. The first cookie I made was Crispy, Chewy, Matcha Green Tea Cookies.
People didn’t really like these as much as the other cookies, but I love them. They were eaten, just not as much as all the others.
But I used a cookie cutter to make them into teapot shape; along with cutting the other half of the cookies into a teabag shape. And I dipped them in chocolate
Chocolate Dipped Cookies:
Have your cookies baked and cooled.
Using a double broiler, melt a chocolate bar or chocolate chips.
If you do not have a double broiler, get two pots about the same size or have one be slightly smaller than the other. Heat water in one until it boils. Turn down the flame and take the other pot and hold it over the one with boiled water. Place the chocolate in the top pot and stir until melted.
When chocolate is melted, dip cookies and lay on wax paper. Put cookies in freezer or fridge to get chocolate to harden.
The last cookie I made was Better Home and Gardens Sugar Cookies.
Ingredients:
2/3 Cup of Shortening
3/4 Cups of Sugar
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla
1 Egg
4 Teaspoons of Milk
2 Cups of All-Purpose Flour (Sifted)
1.5 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
Directions:
Throughly cream shortening, sugar, and vanilla.
Add egg; beat until mixture light and fluffy.
Stir in milk.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Blend dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
Divide dough in half.
Chill for one hour.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 of an inch thickness.
Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.
Bake on greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees F for 6-8 minutes.
Cool slightly, then remove from pan.
I had wanted to make Meyer Lemon Poppyseed Cakebut I ran out of time and I ended up just buying an Almond Poppyseed cake from Raleys. It was good, but not as amazing as the Meyer Lemon Poppyseed Cake.
My friend also made Carrot Cake (my favorite) and carrot cake cupcakes. I didn’t take a picture of the cake (so good) but in the picture below, where the cupcakes are is where the cake was placed. All the cupcakes were gone by the end of the party. The recipe is a secret or else I would have shared that too.
I’ve been having so much fun sharing all these things with you, and even though the party has ended I will be continuing to share all my other party plans!
janeaustenrunsmylife 