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

So as you know if you have been following my page, I just celebrated my 29th birthday with a Jane Austen Garden Tea Party.

Some of you might be wondering why I am so extensively going through all the party planning and it was because I had been planning to have this two years ago, but life got in the way so I decided to wait and now I’ve finally been able to have it.

Party time!

So far we have gone over invitations, decorations, prizes, activities to have, how to make your own piñata, etc. Before we go over the games I thought I would share the menu.

So starting with sandwiches, remember how we’ve been having those The Magician’s Nephew Bible study/book club/tea party? Well, those have also been a dry run for me as it gives me a chance to try out recipes and see which ones I really love. I decided to start off with one I really loved: Curried Egg Salad Triple Stacks Sandwiches

I also really love cucumber sandwiches and wanted to use the recipe from Spend With Pennies but to save time I used Chive and Onion Cream Cheese Spread.

I know not everyone will be into them so I needed some regular sandwiches. I decided on Turkey-Apple Tea Sandwiches:

And I rounded it out with Tea Time Magazine’s Ham and Cheese Tea Sandwiches:

Out of all of them, the Ham and Cheese did the best. They were all gone before the party’s end.

My mom made a salad for a side and then we went to the strawberry farm down the street and bought a ton of strawberries. Yep, I wanted it to be like Donwell Abbey.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any scones. I had wanted to make some, but I ran out of time. I had also planned to buy some, but when I went to the store they were all out.

But I had lots of desserts! I had made them a few weeks earlier and put them in the freezer until the day before the party. The first cookie I made was Crispy, Chewy, Matcha Green Tea Cookies.

People didn’t really like these as much as the other cookies, but I love them. They were eaten, just not as much as all the others.

The next cookie I made was Basic Shortbread:

But I used a cookie cutter to make them into teapot shape; along with cutting the other half of the cookies into a teabag shape. And I dipped them in chocolate

Chocolate Dipped Cookies:

1. Have your cookies baked and cooled.
2. Using a double broiler, melt a chocolate bar or chocolate chips.
3. If you do not have a double broiler, get two pots about the same size or have one be slightly smaller than the other. Heat water in one until it boils. Turn down the flame and take the other pot and hold it over the one with boiled water. Place the chocolate in the top pot and stir until melted.
4. When chocolate is melted, dip cookies and lay on wax paper. Put cookies in freezer or fridge to get chocolate to harden.

The last cookie I made was Better Home and Gardens Sugar Cookies.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 Cup of Shortening
• 3/4 Cups of Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla
• 1 Egg
• 4 Teaspoons of Milk
• 2 Cups of All-Purpose Flour (Sifted)
• 1.5 Teaspoons of Baking Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Salt

Directions:

1. Throughly cream shortening, sugar, and vanilla.
2. Add egg; beat until mixture light and fluffy.
3. Stir in milk.
4. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Blend dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
6. Divide dough in half.
7. Chill for one hour.
8. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 of an inch thickness.
9. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters.
10. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees F for 6-8 minutes.
11. Cool slightly, then remove from pan.

I had wanted to make Meyer Lemon Poppyseed Cake but I ran out of time and I ended up just buying an Almond Poppyseed cake from Raleys. It was good, but not as amazing as the Meyer Lemon Poppyseed Cake.

My friend also made Carrot Cake (my favorite) and carrot cake cupcakes. I didn’t take a picture of the cake (so good) but in the picture below, where the cupcakes are is where the cake was placed. All the cupcakes were gone by the end of the party. The recipe is a secret or else I would have shared that too.

I’ve been having so much fun sharing all these things with you, and even though the party has ended I will be continuing to share all my other party plans!

For more of my Jane Austen Birthday plans, go to Jane Austen Birthday Party: Croquet

For more Jane Austen party ideas, go to Jane Austen Birthday Party: Paper Fan Making

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

For more cookie recipes, go to The Picture of Earl Grey Tea Cookies

For more recipes, go to Savory Beef Hand Pies

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

Meyer Lemon Poppyseed Cake

So the last Monday of the month our book club meets to discuss the book we have been reading. I used to have Mondays off and we would go out after the other book club members got off, but my job changed and we now meet after I get off at 5. Typically we just have light snacks, but as this Monday I didn’t have to work due to the quarantine, I decided I would do a little tea party.

The book we had just finished reading wasThe Secret Adversary, and the two main characters go to tea a few times at Lyons Tea Cafe. The book is set in 1921, and I tried to find a menu of the time but couldn’t.

I did find one from 1913 which did included pommes pont neuf and a few other things. I had decided what to make when my coworker gave me a whole box of Meyer’s Lemons.

That’s not good.

We had been talking about the lemons as I shared I wanted to try making lemon curd, as I have more free time, but I thought she was just going to give me one or two, not a box full.

Uh oh

So instead of what sweets I planned to make, we were doing a lemon theme.

So 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. And we all had a wonderful time talking about our book, snacking, and drinking tea.

After all:

I had planned to share each recipe with you, starting with the scones, but then Marnie Cannon on instagram asked about the cake recipe, so instead we will be starting with that. But I will still share the others throughout the month. If any interest you, I encourage you to try them out.

This recipe comes from Browned Butter Blondie.

Cake Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup of Butter at Room Temperature
• 1 Cup + 1 Tbsp of Sugar
• 3 Large Eggs at Room Temperature
• 1.5 Tbsps of Lemon Zest
• 2 Tbsps of Lemon Juice
• 1.5 Tsp of Vanilla
• 1.5 Cups + 2 Tbsp of Flour
• 1/2 Tsp of Salt
• 1/4 Tsp of Baking Soda
• 1/4 Tsp of Baking Powder
• 1.5 Tbsp of Poppyseeds
• 1/2 Cup of Plain Greek Yogurt at Room Temperature

Glaze Ingredients:

• 1 Cup of Confectioner’s Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
• 3-4 Tbsps of Whole Milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the ovem to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray a 9 x 4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
4. Use an electric mixer to beat the sugar and butter together.
5. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each egg.
6. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Mix until combined.
7. With the mixer on low add some of the flour mixture, and mix.
8. Then add the yogurt and mix. Repeat alternating between flour mixture and yogurt.
9. Remove from mixer and mix in poppyseeds, but just until they are incorporated. Do not overmix.
10. Pour batter into pan and cook for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
11. Remove from oven and cool for 10 mins.
12. While cake is cooling, whisk confectioner’s sugar and milk together.
13. While cake is warm, spoon the glaze over the top.
14. Sprinkle with poppyseeds if desired.

This was extremely delicious! If you like lemon and lemon cake I suggest you try it out for yourself.

For more recipes, go to Irish Soda Bread

For more desserts, go to Crispy, Chewy, Matcha Green Tea Cookies

For more tea parties, go to Literary Tea Parties

London Fog Smoothie

So even though it is summertime, you all know I will not give up my tea.

Not for nothing or nobody

And pinterest knows this so they send me lots of tea recipes.

This one I found sounded very good, London Fog Smoothie. I love London Fog lattes, I love smoothies, why not combine the two?

The picture with the ingredients was saved from a site called womansbust.com, but when I clicked on the link there was nothing about tea on it, only enlarging a woman’s breasts.

Oh well.

Tea first!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup of Vanilla Yogurt (I used Greek Yogurt)
• 1/3 Cup of Almond Milk (I don’t like almond so I used regular)
• 1/3 Cup of Earl Grey Tea
• 1 Cup of Crushed Ice
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Vanilla
• 1 Teaspoon of Honey

Directions:

1. Combine all and blend.
2. Serve.
3. Top with whipped cream if desired.

This was better than the Fauxccino as I think having the cup of tea added to it better than the ice cubes. It came out a bit watery so I really thinking combining the two would work best. It didn’t come out super sweet with the Greek Yogurt and regular milk, so I added French Vanilla Creamer to sweeten it up. Regular yogurt would have been a better choice. But I know for next time. The cinnamon was very strong too, I would have done way less-just a dash.

Otherwise, it was very good. And a great tea drinking method for the summertime.

For more tea posts, go to Got Tea?

For more recipes, go to London Fog Fauxccino

For more Jane Austen Quotes, go to You’ve Persuaded My Heart