Tea Party Petit Fours

What tea is complete without petit fours.  We have all seen them in the bakeries.  Those cute little cakes  in bright pretty colors. These are very easy to make at home.

The foundation of these cakes are frozen pound cake.  You could make your own but using Sara Lee sure is easier.  Along with the canned frosting.

The first thing you need to do is thaw and then slice the pound cake.

Most petit fours are squares but I wanted a pretty shape.  Squares might be easier but I was afraid that I would not get them the same size.

I was able to get two flower out of each slice and I kept the two together.

They have all been cut out now.

Use some type of jelly for the filling.  I used several different types to make things interesting.

They are all filled.

I lined them up on the cookie rack.

Put one can of vanilla frosting in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for about 10-15 seconds.  Stir and then if you need to heat some more do. Add some gel coloring of your choice.  I wanted to do blue so I could have red white and blue but did not have any and forgot to pick it up.

Place the cake on a fork and drizzle the icing on top making sure to cover.  Tap the fork to remove the excess.

Then carefully slide back on the rack.  I placed waxed paper underneath to catch the drips.

The finished cakes.  You can decorate with sprinkles or whatever you like.

You can put them on cupcake wrappers.

The finished cakes.  Store in the refrigerator.


Petit Fours Recipe

1(16oz) frozen Sara Lee pound cake
jam of your choice
1 can vanilla frosting
gel cake color

Bubbles and Squeak

In researching recipes for my tribute to England during the Olympics, this recipe caught my eye and made my laugh.  After reading the ingredients I thought this recipe was doable.  Can't say the same for some of the recipes that I ran across.  No bangers and mash or liver and onions on this blog.  I hope you will try this you might decide you like it.

I wanted this dish to be my main course for dinner so I made a small adjustment to the recipe.  Basically the originally recipe called for leftover cabbage and potatoes.  They regularly eat this for breakfast.  I have eaten some strange things for breakfast but cabbage!!!

Slice up your head of cabbage to get it ready to boil.

Boil the cabbage pieces in a pot of water.  Salt and pepper to taste. This can be done ahead of time.

Dice a small onion.

Brown the onion in a little olive oil.  Then set the pan aside.  You might want to add a little butter for flavoring.  Cabbage and potatoes can lack seasoning so the butter helps.

This recipe said that you could add some sausage or roast beef to the mixture.  I chose smoked sausage and I cubed it.  Brown it in a skillet.

Cut 4 or 5 medium size potatoes and cook in a pot of boiling water.  Season with salt and pepper.  You don't want to cook them as long as you would for mashed potatoes but more like for potato salad.  You want them cooked but you want them to retain their shape.

Drain the cabbage and let it cool.

Finely chop the cabbage and put it in the skillet with the onions.  You don't need to put it on the heat yet.

Drain the potatoes.

Just roughly mash them.  Smash might be a better term.

Dump the potatoes on top of the cabbage and stir.  You might need a bigger pot. I switched back to the pot that I cooked the cabbage in.

Add the chopped sausage to the mixture.  You want the potatoes to have that nice brown crust.

The finished product.  I decided we would have field peas with this.  Not sure if they have them in England or not.  This was a very filling dish.  I might make it again sometime.  Try this dish with your family during the Olympics.

Strawberry Roll Up Sandwiches.

Not really sure if these are High Tea worthy but I added them to mine. I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought they would be a nice addition.

You will need fresh strawberries, 8 oz cream cheese, dash cinnamon, flour tortillas.

Put the 8 oz cream cheese that is softened in a bowl.  Add a dash of cinnamon.

Dice up about a cup of fresh strawberries and add to the cream cheese.

Mix well.  Now if you are not going to make the roll ups right then, cover and put back in the refrigerator.

Lay out one flour tortilla and spread some of the strawberry mixture over the entire tortilla.  Spread it all the way to the edge.

Completely cover the tortilla.

Roll up the tortilla.  Making sure the filling doesn't all run out the back edge.

Wrap tightly and put back in the fridge for a couple of hours.

When you are ready to use take out and cut into rounds.

Place on a pretty plate and you are ready for your High Tea.

They are a nice addition with strawberries and scones.

Strawberry Roll Ups.

8 oz cream cheese softened
dash cinnamon
1 cup diced fresh strawberries
4-5 tortillas
Mix cream cheese, cinnamon, and strawberries together.  Spread on the flour tortilla.  Roll up tightly and wrap.  Place in fridge for a couple of hours.  Take out, unwrap and slice.

Orange Poppy Seed Scones

Continuing the Olympic theme I am bringing you scones today.  I like scones but had never tried making them.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy they were to make.  You should try some soon for your family. So break out your leftover Devonshire cream and try some new scones.

Some simple ingredients that you probably have at home.  I have to tell you I planned on using the food processor you see to mix them but I couldn't get it to work. It's new and I didn't take the time to work with it a lot to get it to work.  So I had to drop back and punt and make them by hand.  Still they were easy to put together.

Add 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour to your bowl.  I am getting to use my new measuring cups today.  There is a 2 cup cup that came in really handy.

Then add 1/3 c sugar.

Add 3 tablespoons poppy seeds.

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar goes in next.

Add 3/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

The key to making flaky scones is cold butter.  Leave the butter in the fridge until you are ready to use it.  Cut 3/4 c unsalted butter into 1/4 inch pieces.  You don't have to measure to make sure they are 1/4 inch just into small slices.  The smaller the slices the easier to mix.

In a bowl on the side you will want to beat lightly one egg.  While you are doing this you might want to put the butter back in the fridge.

You need 2 teaspoons grated orange zest.  I used a microplane to zest the orange.  It smells really good while you are zesting.

5 tablespoons of orange juice.  If you want to juice the orange that you have zested that would be good too.  I used bought orange juice.  The little glass measuring cup comes in handy.

Now comes the fun part.  Using a pastry cutter or two forks you are cutting the butter into the flour mixture.  You want it to be well blended.

It is pretty well blended.  You will want to clean off the pastry cutter during the process.

Once it is well blended you will want to add the egg mixture.

Adding the egg-orange mixture.

Blend that well and scrap down the sides.

Gather the dough into a ball and turn out onto a lightly floured counter.  Then you will press the dough out into a circle about 1/2 inch thick.  It can be thiner.

I used a cookie cutter to cut out these scones.  You can use a biscuit cutter or cut them into pie shapes whatever you want.

You need to make an egg wash of one egg and 1 tablespoon of milk beaten together well.  

Brush the scones well with the egg wash.  This will give them a little shine and make them lightly brown when baked. Place in a preheated 400 degree oven.  Bake for 10-15 minutes.  I set the timer for 10 minutes so I could check them and then added 2 minutes.

While they are baking, mix up a little glaze to drizzle on top.  I used some powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of orange juice and some orange zest.

Glaze is mixed.  I got the rest of the powdered sugar lumps out before I brushed on top.

The finished scones.

Ready for some Devonshire cream.

Orange Poppy Seed Scone Recipe

2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1/3 c sugar
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 c chilled unsalted butter cut into pieces
2 large eggs divided
5 tablespoons orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1 tablespoon milk

Glaze
1/4 c powdered sugar
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
Mix well.  If it isn't pourable add just a little more orange juice until you get it the thickness you like.

Mix the dry ingredients and butter until well incorporated.  Then add one egg, orange juice, and orange zest.  Mix well.  Turn out onto a lightly floured space and press out to about 1/2 inch thick.  Dip cutter into flour to keep from sticking.  Cut out shapes cutting as close together as you can.  Pull scraps back together and continue cutting.
Brush the tops of scones with an egg wash of one egg and one tablespoon of milk whisked together.

Place in a preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.  I would set timer for 10 minutes and add one to two minutes at a time.  You do not want to over bake.

While still warm you can add an orange glaze.  Mix powdered sugar, orange juice and zest together well and brush on tops.  Let cool completely then place in a covered container.