The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club: Mini Pumpkin Crème Brûlée

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). I also need to catch up on these recipes. Week three we had Organic India Tulsi Masala Chai Tea, Parmesan and Chive Scones, Cucumber Aioli Canapés, Ham, Cheddar, and Apple Tea Sandwiches, Cranberry, Brie, and Rosemary Bites, and Mini Pumpkin Crème Brûlée.

I couldn’t share the recipes in October as I was in the middle of Horrorfest IX, so I am catching up and of course next is the dessert.

Let’s spill the tea.

This recipe comes from Better Homes & Garden.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Whipping Cream
• 3 Egg Yolks, Lightly Beaten
• 2 Eggs, Lightly Beaten
• 1/2 Cup of Sugar
• 1/2 Cup of Canned Pumpkin
• 1 Teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon of Ground Ginger
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Ground Cloves
• 10 Baby Pumpkins
• 1/4 Cup of Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a small saucepan, heat whipping cream over medium heat until bubbly.
3. Remove from heat; set aside
4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine egg yolks, eggs, 1/2 Cup of Sugar, pumpkin, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
5. Beat with a whisk or rotary beater just until combined.
6. Slowly whisk the hot whipping cream into the egg mixture.
7. Use a small serrated knife to cut off the top 1/2-inch of the baby pumpkins.
8. Discard the tops, use the spoon to scoop out the seeds.
9. Place the pumpkin in a roasting pan.
10. Divide custard mixture evenly among the pumpkins.
11. Place roasting pan on oven rack.
12. Pour enough boiling water into the the roasting pan to reach halfway up the sides of the pumpkins.
13. Bake 30-40 mins or until the centers appear nearly set when gently shaken.
14. Carefully remove pan from oven.
15. Remove pumpkins from water; cool on a wire rack.
16. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 8.
17. Before serving, let custards stand at room temp for about 20 mins.
18. Meanwhile, for caramelized sugar: in a heavy 8 inch skillet, heat 1/4 cup of sugar over medium high heat until sugar begins to melt, shaking skillet occasionally to heat sugar evenly-do not stir.
19. Once sugar starts to melt, reduce heat to low, cool 3-5 mins or until all sugar is melted and golden brown, stirring as needed.
20. Quickly drizzle sugar over the custards. (If sugar starts to harden in skillet, return to heat, stirring until melted.)
21. Serve immediately.
22. ***Instead of caramelizing the sugar in a pan, you can sprinkle the sugar evenly over the custards and use a culinary torch.

 

I’m not a Crème Brûlée type person, but everyone loved it!

For more from The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club, go to Cranberry, Brie, and Rosemary Bites

For more recipes, go to Ham, Cheddar, and Apple Tea Sandwiches

For more desserts, go to Lemon Gingerbread Cake

For more tea posts, go to How the Queen Found the Perfect Cup of Tea

For more pumpkin recipes, go to Harvest Pumpkin Scones

The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club: Cucumber-Four Peppercorn Goat Cheese Canapés

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). The first week we had Cederberg Tea Company Rooibos + Ginger Tea, Cranberry-Spice Scones with Maple Cream, Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, Cucumber-Four Peppercorn Goat Cheese Canapés, Fotina & Pork Puffed Pastry, and Mini Apple Pies.

I couldn’t share the recipes in October as I was in the middle of Horrorfst IX, so I will be starting now-and as I started with scones, I’m moving on to sandwiches.

Party time!

So this recipe comes from Tea Time Magazine Annual British Issue, and was originally called Cucumber-Blue Cheese Canapés, but I don’t like blue cheese. I think it is extremely gross.

So when I was browsing for a goat cheese substitute I spotted Laura Chenel’s Chèvre Four Peppercorn Fresh Goat Cheese Chabis and boy let me tell you, that cheese is absolutely delicious. So if you want the original recipe, you’ll have to buy the July/August 2020 issue as the recipe isn’t online.

Ingredients:

• 4 Slices of firm White Sandwich Bread
• 3 Tablespoons of Mayonnaise
• 1 Teaspoon of Laura Chenel’s Chèvre Four Peppercorn Fresh Goat Cheese ( I used way more as I love cheese)
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Chopped Parsley
• 1/2 English Cucumber
• Garnish: Parsley Leaves

Directions:

1. Using a serrated bread knife in a gentle sawing motion, trim and discard crusts from bread slices. Cut bread into 8 2.5×1.5 inch rectangles.
2. In a small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, cheese, and parsley until combined.
3. Spread a layer of the mixture onto the bread rectangles. Add more cheese to your desired taste.
4. Using a sharp knife, cut a cucumber in half lengthwise. Using a mandoline, cut 32 very thin lengthwise slices from cucumber halves. I actually did half and half as I love the cucumber cut into circles.
5. Arrange 4 cucumber slices width-wise in a shingled, parallel fashion on the mayonnaise side of the each bread rectangle, trimming cucumber slices to fit the bread rectangle.
6. Garnish each canapé with a parsley leaf, if desired.
7. Serve immediately, or cover with damp paper towels, place in a covered container, and refrigerate for up to an hour before serving.

These were soooo good. I loved the mix of the four peppercorn cheese with the cucumbers. In fact I used the leftovers to make sandwiches the next few days and it was fantastic. This is a wonderful addition to any tea party.

It was delicious, just as I planned.

For more from The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club, go to Cranberry-Spice Scones with Maple Cream

For more recipes, go to Brown Sugar and Cream Cheese Scones

For more cucumber sandwiches, go to Cucumber Sandwiches

For more sandwich recipes, go to Basic Chicken Salad

For more tea posts, go to Mug o’ Tea Treats Christmas Gift

Ginger Cardamom Meyer Lemon Crinkle Cookies

So the last week my book club met and discussed the book The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie. Typically we just have light snacks, but as I didn’t have to work due to the quarantine, I decided I would do a little tea party.

In the book, The Secret Adversary, the two main characters go to tea a few times at Lyons Tea Cafe. I originally wanted to try to make something like the tea shop would have, but then my coworker gave me a whole box of Meyer’s Lemons.

What am I going to do with all these?

So instead we had egg salad sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches, french fries (pommes pont neuf), Scottish Oat scones, lemon curd, lemon crinkle cookies, and meyer lemon poppyseed cake. Instead of putting all the recipes in one post and making it too long, I decided to break it up and share each recipe separately so that if interested, you can make your own and eat it with a cup of tea and some Jane Austen.

And eat cookies!

This recipe comes from Pineapple & Coconut. 

Ingredients:

Cookies:

• 2 Cups + 2 Tbsps of Flour
• 1.5 Tsp of Ground Ginger
• 1.5 Tsp of Cardamom
• 2 Tsp of Baking Powder
• 3/4 Tsp of Salt
• 1 Cup of Sugar
• 4 Tbsp of Meyer Lemon’s Zest
• 10 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
• 2 Large Eggs, Room Temperature
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tbsp of Meyer Lemon’s Juice

Topping:

• 1 Cup of Sugar
• 1 Cup of Powdered Sugar (Confectioners Sugar)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cardamom, ginger, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a separate bowl combine sugar and lemon zest. Rub the zest between your fingers until it is fully mixed in with the sugar.
3. Cream butter and sugar-zest mixture together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 mins.
4. Add eggs in one at a tim, mixing well.
5. Add in vanilla extract and lemon juice, and mix again.
6. Add flour and mix slowly until combined, do not over mix.
7. Chill dough 3-4 hours.
8. Preheat the oven 350 degrees F.
9. Place the sugar in one bowl and powdered sugar in the other.
10. Take the chilled dough and roll into 1.5 Tbsp sized balls.
11. Roll in sugar first, then roll in powdered sugar-making sure it is completely covered.
12. Place dough on prepared sheets about two inches apart.
13. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are golden.

These cookies were delicious!

I could not stop eating them!

No, stop! Alright.

If you like lemon and cookies, you should defintely make these!

And proper quarantine masks.

For more cookie recipes, go to Crispy, Chewy, Matcha Green Tea Cookies

For more recipes, go to Meyer Lemon Poppyseed Cake

For more tea parties, go to Literary Tea Parties

Nobody calls me Chicken: Chinese New Year

So I’m not a big chicken fan, but I will do my best to continue my tradition and count down by favorite rooster or chicken moments in film, TV, or books.

But before I go there, let’s talk about those born in the year of the Rooster. Roosters are trustworthy, with a strong sense of timekeeping and responsibility at work. Some famous Roosters are Donny Osmond, Dolph Lundgren, and Jennifer Lopez. Roosters are best with Oxen and Snakes; but should avoid Rats, Rabbits, Horses, and Pigs.

.So now onto the countdown.

4) Back to the Future:Part II (1989)

Back to the Future: Part II picks up where the first leaves off. Marty has come back to 1985, slightly altered from his time travel, and eager to continue his weekend plans. However, that all changes when he and his girlfriend, Jennifer, go with Doc to the future, 2015, to help their children. As they are occupied there, old Biff steals the time machine and using a futuristic almanac, goes to 1955 to alter the future. Now Doc and Marty must return to 1955 in order to fix their future, but things are more complicated. They must avoid their previous selves, or else destroy the entire space-time continuum.

Best Chicken Scene: “Nobody Calls Me Chicken”

Marty has the almanac and has completed the mission, but is stopped by Biff. Biff calls him chicken, which we know is Marty’s undoing. He goes to begin the fight, but gets himself knocked out by his earlier time traveling self. How sad and hilarious. Poor Marty!

For more on Back to the Future: Part II, go to We’re in the Future: Good-bye 2015

4) Chicken Run (2000)

Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy run a chicken farm in Yorkshire that is failing. Mrs. Tweedy comes up with the idea of switching from raising chickens to starting a Chicken Pot Pie Farm.

Ginger, one of the chickens, has been trying to free herself and the other chickens, with no avail. This increases as they discover what the Tweedys are planning.

Rocky, a rooster, is running away and flies into the chicken farm. They agree to hide him, as long as he teaches them how to fly. He begins the preparations, but it turns out he is a liar and cannot fly without assist from the circus cannon.

They begin building an airplane in the hopes to fly, but will the Chickens figure something out before they are turned into pies?

Best Chicken Scene: But I’ve Seen Ev’rything
When I See a Chicken Fly

The chickens are finally able to fly but it isn’t a smooth take off.

2) Robin Hood

Disney has taken its hand at the classic Robin Hood, but has told the story with animals! Robin Hood, a fox, must outwit the Sherriff of Nottingham (a wolf) and Prince John (a lion). To aid him are Little John (a bear), Alan-a-Dale (a rooster), and Friar Tuck (a badger).

Best Chicken: Alan-a-Dale

Alan-a-Dale is a friend of Robin Hood and tries to help him as much as he can; but even more than that Alan is our narrator and helps tell the story. Through him and his songs, we are relayed information about the characters and their situation.

For more on Robin Hood, go to Waiter, There’s Some Disney in My Jane Austen

1) Foghorn Leghorn, Looney Tunes

Foghorn Leghorn is a large rooster, who’s voice and way of talking is based on Senator Claghorn from The Fred Allen Show.

Foghorn is a blustery character who is constantly fighting the barnyard dog in a Coyote-Roadrunner relationship. He also has to outwit a tiny boy chicken hawk and babysit Egghead Jr. in order to woo Miss Prissy.

I loved how he would say, “I say, I say, I say…”

For the 2016 Chinese New Year, go to A Little Monkey Business: Chinese New Year

For the 2015 post, go to Well I Feel Sheepish: Chinese New Year

For the 2014 post, go to A Horse’s Tale: Chinese New Year

For the 2013 list, go to Snakes on a Post: Chinese New Year

Harvest Pumpkin Scones

So this recipe comes from my sister blog MysteriousEats.wordpress.com. Typically I just reblog her posts onto my site, but I noticed that they don’t look the best and kind of come out weird looking. So instead I decided that I would just copy and paste her post onto my site. Here we go.

Ready for scones & tea.

So we were having a tea at church and I needed a scone to go with our food. I had already decided on a savory (will be posting soon), but needed a sweet scone.

I started scouring the internet when I came upon this recipe on The King Arthur Flour website. Everything I have made from them has been fantastic so I thought I would give it a try.

 

Ingredients:

• 2-3/4 Cups of King Arthur Unbleached Flour or Regular Flour
• 1/3 Cup of Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of Baking Powder
• 3/4 Teaspoon of Salt
• 3/4 Teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Ground Ginger
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Ground Nutmeg
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Ground Allspice
• 1/2 Cup of Cold Butter
• 1-2 Cups of Chocolate Chips
• 2/3 Cup of Canned Pumpkin
• 2 Large Eggs
• Cinnamon sugar (1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon and 1 Tablespoon of granulated sugar), for topping
• Milk

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl; whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and the spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, & allspice).
2. Work in the butter until the mix is unevenly crumbly; it’s ok for some larger chunks of butter to remain unincorporated.
3. Stir in the Chocolate Chips.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and eggs till smooth.
5. Add the pumpkin/egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened and holding together.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment; if you don’t have any use the sheet without parchment,but don’t grease it. Instead sprinkle a bit of flour on the parchment.
7. Scrape the dough onto the floured parchment or pan and divide it in half.
8. Round each half into a 6″ circle, about 3/4 an inch thick.
9. Brush each circle with milk and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture.
10. Using a knife, cut each circle into size wedges.
11. Carefully pull the wedges away from the center to separate them just a bit, about 1/2 inch space between them.
12. Place the scones in the freezer for 30 degrees uncovered. While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
13. Back the scones 22-25 mins or until golden brown and toothpick inserted into a center of one comes out clean. The edges should be baked through.
14. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

 

 

THOUGHTS AFTER BAKING:

I loved them! They were perfect!

 

They were just so delicious everyone ate them right away and wanted more.

 

I cannot recommend more strongly that you should definitely make them.

For more scone recipes, go to Lemon Scones

For more on Peter Pan, go to It’s Always Tea Time  

And for weekly recipe reviews, go to Mysterious Eats

 I wasn’t really planning on including this in my Christmas countdown, but hey a post is a post so it needs a song to go with it.

So I had never heard this song before until the other when I was driving to work. At first I was like what is this? Who is Dominick the donkey?

But then as I listened, it quickly grew on me. So much that I actually listened to it later at home and decided to include it in our countdown. After all, donkey’s need love too.

So this song is called Dominick the Donkey and was written in 1960 by Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg and Wandra Merrell. It was recorded by Lou Monte and is about a donkey that Santa owns, used to help deliver presents to children in Italy as reindeer cannot climb the mountains.

To start our 25 Carols of Christmas from the beginning, go to It Was a Pleasure to Burn: Fahrenheit 451

For more Christmas Carols, go to Your Cases Have Indeed Been of the Greatest Interest to Me: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

For more Christmas donkeys, go to the 25 Films of Christmas