Tea, Books, and the Trinity: Cheese and Basil Scones

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 catching up!) 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 Lemon-Basil Butter Cucumber Sandwiches, teatime magazine Egg Salad and Watercress Sandwiches, and yogurt fruit bark; along with Winter Grey tea.

The first recipe, the scones, I actually came up using an old recipe as a base.

Ingredients:

• 8 Tbsps (1 Stick) of Cold, Unsalted Butter, Cut into Small Pieces, Plus Extra for Baking Sheets
• 3.5 Cups of All-Purpose Flour, Plus Extra for Later
• 2 Tsp of Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp of Salt
• 2 Cups of Grated Cheddar Cheese
• 1 Tbsp of Fresh Basil, Chopped
• 1.5 Cups of Sour Cream, heavy cream, or Buttermilk
• 1 Egg, Beaten, or Milk for Brushing Scones

Directions:

1. Preheat the Oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Coat two baking sheets with butter.
3. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl.
4. Add butter, using fingertips to combine until mixture takes on texture of fine cornmeal.
5. Stir in 1.5 cups of grated Cheddar cheese and 1 Tbsp of chopped fresh basil into mixture.
6. Add sour cream, buttermilk or heavy cream and stir until flour mixture is just moist and dough begins to stick together.
7. Gather dough into a ball and knead lightly until fully integrated.
8. Place dough on floured work surface and roll with a floured rolling pin to 3/4 inch thick.
9. Dip a 2-inch cutter into flour and cut out scones as close to one another as possible or roll out and cut into wedges.
10. Place on prepared baking sheets with space in between. Let stand ten minutes, then brush the tops with egg or milk.
11. (Optional Sprinkle tops with an additional 1/2 cup of Cheddar cheese before baking.)
12. Bake until golden brown, 10-12 mins

These were absolutely delicious! For for anyone’s table.

Emma (1996)

For more scone recipes, go to Glazed Cinnamon Scones

For more from our Books, Tea, and the Trinity tea times, go to Pepper Teigen’s Thai Sweet Chili Tea Sandwiches

For more recipes, go to Marilla’s Raspberry Cordial

For more tea posts, go to Tea for Me, Tea For You

Glazed Cinnamon Scones

When we had our Anne of Green Gables book discussion we had raspberry cordial and of course we had to have scones.

This recipe comes from Money Saving Moms.

And eat scones!

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup butter very cold, cut into small pieces
• 1 egg separated
• 3 Tbsp honey
• ⅓ cup buttermilk or ⅓ cup milk mixed with ½ tsp lemon juice

For the Crumb Topping

• 2 Tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon

For the Icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1-3 tsp milk
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.
4. Separate the egg white and yolk. Set the egg white aside.
5. In a smaller bowl, mix egg yolk, honey, and buttermilk (or milk/lemon juice mixture).
6. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
7. On a floured work surface, form the dough into a ball.
8. Roll or pat the ball into a half-inch-thick disc, roughly 8 inches in diameter.
9. Cut dough into eight equally-sized pieces.
10. Transfer the dough to a greased baking sheet (a pie spatula makes this very easy).
11. Whisk the egg white until froth forms and brush over the tops of the scones.
12. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over egg-white-topped scones.
13. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes.
14. While scones bake, mix powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until a thin glaze forms.
15. Drizzle glaze over scones after they come out of the oven.

This recipe was delicious and one that since that time my mom loves make again and again whenever she wants scones.

For more scone recipes, go to Dragon Cheddar and Tomato Scones

For more recipes, go to Marilla’s Raspberry Cordial

For more cinnamon scone recipes go to, Apple Cinnamon Scones

For more Anne of Green Gables, go to Which Austen Characters are Kindred Spirits to Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe?

Magical Matcha Latte

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

I hope you all have a wonderful and magical day.

I was on Instagram and scrolling through reels and saw this Saint Patrick’s Day matcha latte made with Lucky Charms by Steven Smith Teamaker. It looked delicious and I knew I would have to make it!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon Matcha
• 3 Tablespoons of hot water
• 1-1.5 Cups of milk
• 1 Cup of Lucky Charms Cereal (I used the discount brand)
• Sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Remove marshmallows from cereal.
2. Pour a cup of Lucky Charms or other cereal in a bowl. Add 1-1.5 cups of milk.
3. Mix to combine and let stand for 30 minutes.
4. Strain cereal and milk mixture through a sieve/cheesecloth and gently apply pressure to remove all the milk.
5. Put the Matcha powder, sugar if using it, and water in a mug
6. Whisk together to ensure no lumps (use a matcha whisk or electric stirrer.
7. If making a hot matcha latte; warm the cereal milk and pour into the mug. If making a cold latte, pour cereal milk into the mug.
8. Add marshmallows on top of the drink.

It was delicious! The cereal made it sweet enough for me so I did not add any sugar or sweetener to my drink.

My marshmallows did end up melting fairly quickly, so I would watch for that if you make the drink hot. It probably is better to have the marshmallows in a cold matcha latte. But otherwise, it was truly magical and delicious. I would definitely make this again!

For more matcha recipes, go to Brown Butter Matcha Brownies

For more tea recipes, go to How to Make Royal Milk Tea

For more recipes, go to Pepper Teigen’s Thai Sweet Chili Tea Sandwiches

For more tea posts, go to Spill the Tea: B & B (Bakery and Boba)

Books, Tea, and the Trinity: Roast Beef & Watercress Tea Sandwiches

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 two years behind. 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, the next book was  The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Today we continued our discussion of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We had Golden Tip Lapsang Souchang tea, Dragon Cheddar Scones, Roast Beef and Watercress Sandwiches, BLTs, Pizza Balls, and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies.

Party time!

This recipe comes from Oh, How Civilized

Ingredients:

• 6 slices white bread
• 12 slices roast beef
• 8 watercress leaves
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon horseradish
• pinch of pepper

Instructions:

1. Mix together horseradish, mayo, and pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Cut circles out of the roast beef.
3. Use the same cookie cutter to cut out 24 roast beef circles.
4. Cut circles out of the bread. Use the cookie cutter to cut out 12 bread circles out of the white bread.
5. Cut 2 circles out of each slice of bread, avoiding the crust.
6. Assemble tea sandwiches.From the bottom up: bread, horseradish mayo, roast beef, horseradish mayo, bread, horseradish mayo, roast beef, horseradish mayo, bread, and watercress skewered on with a cocktail fork.
7. Start with a bread circle, then spread on a thin layer of horseradish mayo, and top with 3 roast beef circles. Spread on a thin layer of horseradish layer, top with bread and repeat with the horseradish mayo, 3 roast beef circles, horseradish mayo, then bread. Place the watercress on top and keep it in place with a cocktail fork

These were delicious and eaten up so fast just like the recipe said.

For more from our Books, Tea, and the Trinity tea times, go to Dragon Cheddar and Tomato Scones

For more sandwich recipes, go to Hummus and Veggie Sandwiches

For more recipes, go to Apple Buttermilk Cake

For more tea posts, go to How to Throw a Valentea Party

Books, Tea, and the Trinity: Dragon Cheddar and Tomato Scones

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 two years behind. 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, the next book was The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Today we continued our discussion of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We had Golden Tip Lapsang Souchang tea, Dragon Cheddar Scones, Roast Beef and Watercress Sandwiches, BLTs, Pizza Balls, and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies.

This scone recipe comes from the Cookipedia

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3.5 Tablespoons of Dragon salted butter (or regular butter if you can’t find the dragon brand)
• 1 egg beaten & 3.4 fluid oz cup of milk mixed together
• 8 tablespoons of Dragon mature Welsh cheddar cheese or other Cheddar Cheese
• 2 tablespoons of chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil (drained weight)
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning or mixed herbs
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425° F
2. Sieve the flour with baking powder into a large mixing bowl.
3. Run in the butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Sprinkle in herbs and black pepper, and stir in sun dried tomatoes and cheddar cheese
5. Gradually add egg & milk mixture until you have a dough, if this seem too wet do not add all the liquid.
6. Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth.
7. Flatten out to approx. 3cm deep and using a round cutter stamp out scones.
8. Bake on a tray lightly dusted with flour for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.

These scones were delicious and eaten up so fast just like the recipe said.

For more from our Books, Tea, and the Trinity tea times, go to Apple Buttermilk Cake

For more scone recipes, go to Dark Chocolate Peppermint Scones

For more recipes, go to Radish-Dill Canapés

For more tea posts, go to Spill the Tea: Alley Cat Cafe