Back in 2020, some friends and I started a Tea Party/Bible Study/Book Club. We met every Wednesday and worked our way through the Chronicles of Narnia and are currently working through The Chronicles of Prydain. When we started I resolved to share all the recipes, but I couldn’t keep up and that’s why I’m still three years behind (but I’m getting there!) All recipes are now going to be titled Books, Tea, and the Trinity.
After we finished The Magician’s Nephew, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; A Horse and His Boy,Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: the next book in the series was The Silver Chair.
The first week we had: Cheese and Basil Scones, TeaTime Magazine Cucumber Canapés with Lemon-Basil Butter, teatime magazine Egg Salad and Watercress Sandwiches, and yogurt fruit bark; along with Winter Grey tea.
This recipe comes from TeaTime Magazine, a wonderful gift from a friend that keeps on giving! 🙂 I love anything with radishes or another way to use up the lemons and lemon juice from our tree that never stops being full of fruit.
Ingredients:
1 English cucumber
3 slices white sandwich bread, frozen
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons finely minced fresh basil
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Garnish: radishes, sliced
Directions:
Using a fork, scrape the sides of the cucumber lengthwise to create lines.
Using a sharp knife or a mandoline, slice the cucumber into 12 thin rounds. Place cucumber rounds on paper towels to absorb liquid.
Using a 2-inch round cutter, cut 12 rounds from frozen bread slices, discarding scraps.
In a small bowl, stir together butter, lemon zest and juice, basil, and salt until combined.
Spread a thin, even layer of butter mixture onto each bread round.
Top each with a cucumber slice. Serve immediately, or cover with damp paper towels, place in a covered container, and refrigerate for a few hours until ready to serve.
Just before serving, garnish each canapé with a radish half, if desired.
Back in 2020, some friends and I started a Tea Party/Bible Study/Book Club. 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, we have made-but I haven’t gone through them as quickly as I hoped.
When we completed The Magician’s Nephew, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; and A Horse and His Boy; we moved on to book 4 Prince Caspian. This book is one of my favorites in the series as I love Prince Caspian (although the Disney film version is horrible). Like A Horse and His Boy, this book did not mention a lot of specific foods, so we planned whatever we wanted to make.
As I wasn’t in charge of this book, there will be no discussion questions, just recipes.
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup thick applesauce
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Glaze:
• 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
•2 cups confectioners’ sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan, line bottom with parchment and butter paper.
In one bowl beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Add the egg to the butter and sugar mixture.
In a separate bowl, stir baking soda into the applesauce.
In a third bowl mix the remaining ingredients
Add the second and third mixture to the first butter mixture in 3 additions; alternating between the two.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake until the top springs back when pressed, about 50 minutes.
Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack.
Make the glaze by mixing the lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar.
Spoon the glaze over cake.
These are so delicious. You can’t go wrong with potatoes and cheese! This is also easy to make, and doesn’t take that long to bake. I definitely recommend!
For more from our Books, Tea, and the Trinity tea times, go to Cheese Potato Crisps
So last October, every Wednesday, I have been a part of a Tea Party/Bible Study/Book Club. We started on The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis, and when we finished moved on to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. This is different from my book club and the Book Club Picks I have been reviewing (and desperately need to catch up on).
The second week we were inspired by the time Edmund spends with the White Witch.
“Perhaps something hot to drink?” said the Queen. “Should you like that?”
Yes please, your Majesty,” said Edmund, whose teeth were chattering.
The Queen took from somewhere among her wrappings a very small bottle which looked as if it were made of copper. Then, holding out her arm, she let one drop fall from it on to the snow beside the sledge. Edmund saw the drop for a second in mid-air, shining like a diamond. But the moment it touched the snow there was a hissing sound and there stood a jewelled cup full of something that steamed. The Dwarf immediately took this and handed it to Edmund with a bow and a smile; not a very nice smile. Edmund felt much better as he began to sip the hot drink. It was something he had never tasted before, very sweet and foamy and creamy, and it warmed him right down to his toes.
‘It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating,” said the Queen presently. “What would you like best to eat?”
‘Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty,” said Edmund.
The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.
Of course as that only mentions one thing to eat, we ended up adding other recipes that sounded good. We decided to go with: Rose Petal and Green Tea, Rose Petal Earl Grey Tea, Blueberry RosePetal Scones, Radish Ruffle Canapés, Zuppa Toscana Soup,Meatloaf, and Turkish Delight.
One thing I will be doing differently here than in my earlier posts, is that I will be sharing discussion questions that your group can discuss as you read and eat. I didn’t post discussion questions in the previous posts on The Magician’s Nephew, as I wasn’t in charge of that book. For discussion questions, click on this link.The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Discussion Questions Chapter 4-6.pdfDownload
Line pans with greased wax or parchment paper. (The final candy will be sticky, and that will help with the unmolding process.)
Begin by mixing together the first 3 ingredients (sugar, 3/4 c. water, and citric acid) in a heavy bottom pan, and bring to a slight boil before lowering the heat.
Heat, without needing to stir, over low to medium heat until you reach 260ºF. You can occasionally use a spatula to wipe down any sugar crystals from the side of the pan throughout this process.
Meanwhile, mix together the solution of cornstarch and water.
When the sugar syrup has reached the right temperature, temporarily take it off the heat source and ladle in a bit of the sugar syrup into the cornstarch mixture to warm it.
Slowly drizzle the cornstarch mixture into the sugar syrup while continuously stirring them together.Once all of the cornstarch solution has been completely incorporated, begin to stir the mixture over low heat.
You will notice that the mixture should get quite thick almost immediately.
Despite the fact that the mixture is quite thick, you will want to reduce and thicken it even more before adding in your flavorings. Keep the mixture over a low heat so that the sugar won’t caramelize on the bottom, affecting the flavor of the final product.
As you heat and stir, you should notice that the gel becomes quite transparent. It will also reduce slightly in volume.To determine the point when you should add your flavoring, test the consistency of your candy by dipping a spoon into the gel, and then dipping the gel covered spoon into a glass of ice water.
As the candy cools, you can judge the consistency and stop when you are happy with it. The longer you cook the candy at this stage, the chewier it will become and the more it will hold its shape at room temperature.
Add in your flavorings and colorings. Use a combination of 2 Tbsp. rose water, and 2 Tbsp. rose syrup.
Once you’ve incorporated all of your flavorings, check the texture once more to make sure that the addition of any new liquids hasn’t affected the consistency of your candy too much.
If necessary, slightly mix and warm your mixture a little longer at very low heat to help evaporate a little water, but be careful and take into account that doing this for too long can alter and diminish the flavorings you have added.
When you are happy with your result, pour the mixture into your prepared molds and spread it out as best you can with a spatula. It should be very thick and sticky.
Let cool for several hours. Cut into small squares, using cornstarch to keep the candies from sticking to one another.
If you do choose to use powdered sugar for dusting, keep in mind that the candy may sweat and the sugar coating may end up “melting” off of the candy so you may have to add in more cornstarch or reapply the coating before serving your candy.
So to be honest with you guys, I don’t get what Edmund was going on about. I mean I know they are magical/enchanted but Turkish Delight is not worth betraying your whole family for. I found it to be too sweet and not something I could ever find myself wanting. The rest of the group loved it, but I just was not a fan.
I guess I’m just not angry and envious enough? Maybe I’m too much like Lucy? All I know is Turkish Delight was not the thing for me.
For more from our The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe teas, go to Zuppa Toscana
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 the last thing we have to review is dessert.
This comes from Tea Time Magazine andI actually screwed this dessert up as I thought it was cookies, but realized after I had already started the batter-it is cakelets. Not only did I read that wrong, but it turns out that I did not read through all the directions and did not have all the right supplies. There wasn’t time to go get other ingredients or do another recipe so instead I converted it into a cake, with some substitutions.
From Clueless
Oh, well!
Ingredients Cake Batter:
2.5 Cups of Flour
1/3 Cup of Granulated (White) Sugar
1.5 Teaspoons of Ground Ginger
1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon of Ground Cloves
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
1/2 Cup of Unsalted Butter, Softened
1 Large Egg
1 Tbsp of Fresh Lemon Zest
3/4 Cup of Hot Water
1/2 Cup of Molasses (Or Substitute with Honey)
1/2 Cup of Honey
1/4 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
Lemon Glaze Ingredients:
4 Cups of Confectioner’s Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
1/2 Cup of Fresh Lemon Juice
Cake Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray loaf pan with nonstick cooking spay or grease pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour sugar, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
Add butter, egg, lemon zest, hot water, molasses or the substitute, honey, and vanilla extract.
Beat mixture at low speed for about 30 seconds.
Increase speed and beat for 3 minutes.
Fill pan.
Bake until for 20-30 minutes, continue baking until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Let cake cool before pouring lemon glaze.
Directions for Lemon Glaze:
In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar and lemon juice until smooth and creamy.
Pour over cake.
So because this was cooked in a pan instead of the little molds it took much longer to bake. It also was taking a really long time to bake so I ended up cutting the cake a bit so that it would cook faster and throughout. The frosting covered it, so I didn’t end up having to worry too much about the presentation.
Even though I made a few mistakes and this was not as the recipe intended it to be, it was extremely delicious and we all loved it. I had to send the leftovers with home with my friend as I couldn’t have it with me, I’d eat it all up.
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