The Magician’s Nephew: Snickerdoodles

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:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
3. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the shortening and sugar until smooth
4. 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.
5. Beat in the vanilla, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
6. Then add the flour, mixing slowly until combined.
7. Place about 1/2 cup cinnamon-sugar in an 8″ or 9″ round cake pan.
8. 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.
9. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2″ between them.
10. 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.
11. Bake the snickerdoodles for 11 to 12 minutes, reversing the position of the pans (top to bottom, and back to front) midway through.
12. 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.

For more from The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club, go to Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

For more recipes, go to Cranberry Chai Scones

For more pie recipes, go to Jane Austen Birthday Party Menu, Plus How to Dip Cookies in Chocolate, and a Sugar Cookie Recipe

For more tea posts, go to Melt-in-Your-Mouth Buttermilk Chocolate Cookies

The Magician’s Nephew: Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

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!

And eat scones!

I found this recipe from Plum Deluxe on Pinterest. I wanted to do something a little different and this sounded delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of Asparagus
• 3-3.5 oz of Prosciutto

Directions:

1. Wash your asparagus by holding the stalks under cool water for 10-30 mins.
2. Cut the white ends from the asparagus.
3. Boil a pot of water.
4. Sprinkle salt into water.
5. Once water has boiled, add asparagus. Make sure they are completely submerged under the hot water.
6. Let the asparagus cook for 2-4 minutes.
7. Your asparagus will be ready when they turn bright green.
8. Place asparagus in ice cold water.
9. Set the asparagus on a towel and dry the stalks.
10. Wrap each spear in prosciutto.

These were delicious and a perfect addition to our tea time.

Tea first!

For more from The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club, go to Cinnamon Bun Scones

For more recipes, go to Easy Fruit Tarts

For more pie recipes, go to Mini Apple Pies

For more tea posts, go to Brisket and Slaw Roulades

The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club: Cranberry Chai Scones

So every Wednesday, starting last 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 was 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, Tea Time Magazine’s Ham and Cheese Tea Sandwiches, Cucumber-Four Peppercorn Goat Cheese Canapés, Fotina & Pork Puffed Pastry, and Mini Apple Pies.

The second week we had Chami Spice Ginger Plum Tea, Dark Chocolate Ginger Scones, Curried Egg Salad Triple Stacks Sandwiches, Turkey-Apple Tea Sandwiches, Fotina Flower Puffed Pastry, and Lemon Gingerbread Cake.

The third week 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.

The fourth week we had Tiesta Tea Victorian Earl Grey, Lavender and Earl Grey Scones, Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Tomato Hummus Salad, Cranberry Feta Pinwheels, and Triple Berry Salad.

Week five we had NovelTea Tins The Picture of Earl Grey, Haarlem Tea Room’s Cheddar Scones, Eating Well’s Radish Tea Sandwiches, Tea Time Magazine’s Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, Brisket and Slaw Roulades, and Easy Fruit Tarts.

That brings us to week six, when we had Cinnamon Bun Scones, Curry Egg Salad Triple Stack Sandwiches, Cranberry Feta Cheese Pinwheels, Savory Meat Hand Pies, and Melt-in-Your-Mouth Buttermilk Chocolate Cookies.

And now for the last of our Magician’s Nephew book club/Bible study/tea party: Chai Tea, Cranberry Chai Scones, Cucumber Flatbread Canapés, Mini Shepherd’s Pie, Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus, and Snickerdoodles.

As I was unable to share these earlier I’m catching up now and am starting with scones of course!

This comes from TeaTime Magazine’s November/December 2020 edition. This was originally supposed to be gluten free, but as none of us have a gluten allergy, I just made them with regular flour. You were also suppose to refrigerate the steeping milk and chai tea, but I hadn’t read that and steeped it for only an hour. They still tasted good.

YUM!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup of Whole Milk
• 3 Tablespoons of Masala Chai Loose Leaf Tea
• 2.5 Cups of Flour
• 4 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
• 5 Tablespoons of Unsalted Butter, cubed
• 1/4 Cup plus 1 Tablespoon of Sugar (Granulated), divided
• 1/2 Cup of Dried Cranberries
• 2 Medium Eggs
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. In a pint jar with lid, combine milk and loose leaf tea. Steep for 6 hours.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Using fingers, rub in butter as lightly as possible until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
5. Stir in 1/4 cup of sugar and then the cranberries.
6. Using an infuser or fine-mesh sieve, strain infused milk.
7. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons of infused milk, and vanilla extract.
8. Add egg mixture to flour mixture, and stir until dough begins to form.
9. Working gently, being mixture together with hands until the dough forms.
10. Turn out dough onto a floured surface, and gently knead by patting dough and folding it in half 3 or 4 times.
11. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to a 1-inch thickness.
12. Using a 2.5 inch fluted round cutter dipped in flour, and cut as many scones as possible from the dough.
13. Place scones on the prepared baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes.
14. Preheat ovens to 400 degrees F.
15. Sprinkle tops of scones with 1 tablespoon of sugar.
16. Bake until scones are lightly Golden, 16-18 minutes.
17. Serve immediately.

These were extremely delicious and as you see, I enjoyed them the next morning as well with Purple Jasmine tea (this pic is from my Tea Advent Calendar Swap 2020.)

For more from The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club, go to Melt-in-Your-Mouth Buttermilk Chocolate Cookies

For more recipes, go to Jane Austen Birthday Party Menu, Plus How to Dip Cookies in Chocolate, and a Sugar Cookie Recipe

For more scone recipes, go to Cinnamon Bun Scones

For more tea posts, go to Savory Meat Hand Pies

I Tried Madsen Creations’ Reusable Cloth Teabags

 

MadsenCreations gave me this reusable teabag in exchange for an honest review. 

So when I first heard “cloth teabag” I wasn’t quite sure. We all know what happened the last time I experimented with a different kind of tea bag.

I also had a few other qualms, being cloth wouldn’t the dye get into the tea? MadsenCreations assured me that she pre-washes every one so there won’t be any issue with that.

Hmm…

I was also wondering about the bags keeping the tea inside as you just tie them closed instead of having a built in closure. But she assured me that you fold it over twice and nothing would come out.

Hmm…

I also wasn’t sure if they would work for repeated usage as I don’t drink just one cup of tea, and when I do it is actually the size of two cups. Wouldn’t it stain the bag? Wouldn’t it be hard to get the leaves out? Madsen Creations told me that each bag holds 4 tsp of tea, so plenty for me. She also said that the rounded edges makes it easy to clean out. Dump the leaves, rinse, and let the bag dry or drop in you washing machine. 

I loved that as I have several infusers and the one I use the least is the one that is pointy on top as it is hard to get the leaves out.

Also being cloth I realized this would be perfect for any size cup or teapot. It can easily work for any cup you have or squish into a teapot with a small opening. And holding 4 tsp, it is perfect for a tea party. 

So I brewed myself a cup and tested it out.

This works fantastic.

It is super easy to use, just put your tea in, roll the top over twice and tie it up. Steep the amount you need to, clean out the tea, rinse, and you are good to go. You can wash it in the washing machine or hand wash in the sink.

Now I really like to drink tea, so after rinsing my teabag of the leaves I just leave it out to dry on my drying rack. Then the next day I use it again.

I’ve been taking it to work every day as it is so nice to not worry about my infuser getting crushed in my bag, spilling the tea out, or having to take a tin and teaspoon. I just pack it with tea in the morning, put it in the pocket of my bag and then use it at lunch. I bring it back in my washed lunch container and let it dry, then repeat for the next day.

The other really nice thing about this is that the teabag floats, so if you have a tall glass or mug you are using, it is really easy to remove when it is finished steeping.

This also is great when you are at the end of your tea. Often the last bit of tea in the tin is too small and comes out of your infuser when it is steeping. With this cloth one you won’t waste any tea as you can use up the very last bit of it. 

These also make cute gifts or favors as you could pack a friend some tea to try. 

Right now she has the options of getting four for $10 and they come in Harry Potter, Frozen, Star Wars, Justice League, and Care Bears; but you can always DM her and request a specific one. 

I highly recommend it for any tea fan. If you love tea, add one of these to your collection of infusers.  

For more tea posts, go to Lavender and Earl Grey Scones

For more on Madsen Creations, go to I Won the Madsen Creations Giveaway

For more on tea accessories, go to How to Clean Your Tea Infusers

In other news, I will be taking a small vacation and won’t be posting on here for the week. I still will be on Instagram, and tiktok (I have quite a few ideas I want to post)

The Picture of Earl Grey Tea Cookies

So I found this recipe on Earl Grey Tea cookies on Pinterest. It immediately grabbed my attention as the baker named them The Picture of Dorian Earl Grey Cookies. I love Earl Grey Tea and I love the book and film The Picture of Dorian Grey. So this was definitely a win for me.

When I did that tea with my friends a couple of months ago, I thought about making it but for some reason I thought you needed to freeze the dough and I didn’t have time for that. So I just forgot about it…until I purchased some The Picture of Earl Grey Tea from NovelTea Tins. 

I thought it would be perfect to use, but then worried that maybe the jasmine in The Picture of Earl Grey might not blend as easily, after all the recipe called for Earl Grey Tea with Lavender not jasmine and rose petals.

Hmm…

So I decided to try both teas out. The recipe makes a small batch, so it wasn’t too much effort to make a NovelTea Tin’s The Picture of Earl Grey Tea cookies and a batch of Tiesta Tea Victorian Earl Grey Tea cookies.

Tiesta Tea Earl Grey Tea on the left and The Picture of Earl Grey Tea on the Right

This recipe originally comes from The Dough Also Rises. 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup of Butter
• 1/2 Cup of Sugar
• 1/4 Tsp of Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp of Vanilla
• A Few Twists of Salt (I did a few pinches)
• 1/2 Cup of Flour
• 1/2 Tsp of Loose Leaf Earl Grey Tea
• Lavender (optional)
• Milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Crush the tea with a mortar and pestle (I used the end of a rolling pin.)
3. Beat the butter and sugar together.
4. Add Vanilla and salt. Mix well.
5. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and tea (lavender as well if you adding it in.) Mix well.
6. If dough is too dry, add a little milk.
7. Create 1 inch balls of the dough, roll into sugar, and place on a cookie sheet (far apart, cookies spread.)
8. Bake for 6 minutes or until the edges are brown.
9. Cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a plate.

The Picture of Earl Grey Tea Cookies

 

Tiesta Tea Victorian Earl Grey Tea Cookies

 

The dough has no egg and did come out a bit dry, so I had to add some milk into it, just a little. So these cookies bake really fast. The original recipe said 10 minutes, but my cookies all burned. I had to bring the time down, finding 5 mins they aren’t baked through, and with 7 mins they burned-6 seemed just right.

But they were delicious. Both The Picture of Earl Grey and the Tiesta Tea Victorian Earl Grey Tea cookies came out wonderful! They were so good, I had to force myself to stop eating them.

I tried to stop myself so I wouldn’t overdo it with drinking Earl Grey Tea and eating Earl Grey Tea cookies, but I didn’t. I ate and drank far too much.

For more Earl Grey Tea Cookies, go to Lavender Earl Grey Tea Shortbread Cookies

For more cookie recipes, go to Ginger Cardamom Meyer Lemon Crinkle Cookies

For more recipes, go to Cucumber Sandwiches

For more tea posts, go to I Won the Kumi Crochet and Tea India Giveaway