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…”
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:
Remove marshmallows from cereal.
Pour a cup of Lucky Charms or other cereal in a bowl. Add 1-1.5 cups of milk.
Mix to combine and let stand for 30 minutes.
Strain cereal and milk mixture through a sieve/cheesecloth and gently apply pressure to remove all the milk.
Put the Matcha powder, sugar if using it, and water in a mug
Whisk together to ensure no lumps (use a matcha whisk or electric stirrer.
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.
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!
From all I heard about it, I really expected it to be the novel with recipes for food mentioned in the book; along with historical info or facts about Jane Austen and the recipes. It was really promoted as the first of its kind, a book to table classic, with the actual Pride and Prejudice novel and recipes for the perfect teatime.
This book was not what I was expecting. It wasn’t a bad book but from all that Martha Stewart talked it up I was expecting more recipes. Something more along the lines of the The Mitford Cookbook or The Betty Crocker Celebrate Cookbook.
The first thing that surprised me with this book is that there is no foreword about Martha Stewart’s love of Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, or why she even wanted to make this book.
Hmm…?
The book goes right into the novel with recipes put here and there. The recipes are:
Sugar-and-Spice Cake
Linzer Hearts
Cream Scones with Currants
Rosemary Pound Cakes
Petits Fours
Chocolate Shortbread Fingers
Old-Fashioned Berry Layer Cake
French Almond Macaroons
Fruit Turnovers
Gingerbread Icebox Cake
Lemon Madeleines
Hazelnut Cookies
The other thing that surprised me is that there is nothing in here why she picked these recipes or why they would be perfect for a Pride and Prejudice cookbook. These recipes aren’t ones mentioned in the novel and some are interesting choices, like the icebox cake, which was made popular in the 1920s. Why is that perfect for a Pride and Prejudice tea party?
For someone, who according to her author bio, “is America’s most trusted expert and teacher and the author of more than ninety books on cooking, entertaining, crafts, homekeeping, gardens, weddings, and decorating”; I excepted more. Unfortunately I don’t think as much effort went into this as could have been implemented. It makes me wonder if they moved up the publication date to cash in on holiday sales and then weren’t able to add all the extras.
Even though I’m a little disappointed in Martha Stewart as this wasn’t what I was expecting or how they marketed it I still like that this was a wonderful gift from my friend, is another book to add to my Jane Austen collection (and Pride and Prejudice collection), and am looking forward to trying out some of these recipes.
I’m not one of those people who likes to take their holiday decorations right when the holiday ends and set up for the next one. I also celebrate Valentine’s Day until February, but last year I threw a Valentea party in two weeks and wanted to share it with you all. However, I know people need more time than that and wanted to share it with you all.
Christmas 2021 my friend was given a book that had ideas to hold a tea party every month. She held the first party on January 29th and no one wanted to do the next one, the Valentine’s Day party. I agreed and of course had to change the direction to Valentea and Jane Austen.
Invitations:
So the first thing you need for a party is invitations. I like to make my own cards and sent everyone a Valentine. I used romantic and love quotes from my favorite books.
Decorations:
After planning that came decorations. I’m lucky that I still have the ones from my bridal shower. I have reused those so many times! Yep, I used my pink floral table runners, framed Jane Austen quotes (which can be purchased from this shop); along with pink and white flowers.
Menu:
I was able to figure out my menu pretty quickly as I have a Tea Time magazine subscription, a Betty Crocker holiday cookbook, a Nancy Drew Cookbook, etc. I had a lot of recipes to choose from.
Tea Choices:
I wanted everything to be pink and red as it was a Valentea party so I had MadsenCreations make a Red Chai and Pink Moon Tea. I also picked Tiesta Tea Nutty Almond Cream Tea (which turns the water pink).
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon cold heavy whipping cream, divided
2 large eggs, divided
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest until combined. Using a pastry blender or 2 forks, cut in cold butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.
In a small bowl, whisk together ½ cup cold cream, 1 egg, and vanilla extract. Add to flour mixture, stirring until a dough begins to form. Working gently, bring mixture together with hands until a dough forms.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead gently 4 to 5 times. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to a 1-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch fluted round cutter dipped in flour, cut 13 scones from dough, rerolling scraps as needed. Place scones 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.
In a small bowl, whisk together remaining 1 tablespoon cold cream and remaining egg until combined. Brush egg mixture over tops of scones.
Bake until edges of scones are golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean, 18 to 21 minutes. Serve warm.
Optional: Add a glaze.
Tea Time Magazine Lavender White Chocolate & Cranberry-Raspberry Scones
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon dried culinary lavender
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold salted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup chopped dried Cranberries and Raspberries
1 (4-ounce) bar white baking chocolate, such as Ghirardelli, chopped
1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine flour, ⅓ cup sugar, baking powder, lavender, and salt, whisking well.
Using a pastry blender, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add cranberries, strawberries, and chocolate; stirring until combined.
In a liquid-measuring cup, combine cream and vanilla extract, stirring to blend. Add to flour mixture, stirring until mixture is evenly moist. (If dough seems dry, add more cream, 1 tablespoon at a time.) Working gently, bring mixture together with hands until a dough forms.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently 4 to 5 times. Using a rolling pin, roll dough to a ½-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch heart-shaped cutter, cut 12 scones from dough. Place scones 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet, and sprinkle tops with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
Bake scones until edges are golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in the centers comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.
Games:
Game 1: Who Said It?
For this game I took all the romance quotes I had used on the Valentines and people had to match up the quote with who said it.
Game 2: Who Can Name the Most Romance Movies?
For this game I had everyone turn their sheet of paper over and write down as many romance films they could think of in a minute. This was a ton of fun as afterwards we all talked about which ones we liked and what films were our favorites to watch.
I had a lot of fun with our tea parties, and I hope this helps if you want to plan a Valentea party.
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