Strawberry Tartlets & book review of Tea with Jane Austen by Pen Vogler

If you've read my blog before you'll already know that I am a fan of Jane Austen's work and when I came across this little book titled Tea with Jane  I couldn't resist! Two of my favourite things tea time and Jane Austen.

When I say it's a little book it physically is a bit smaller then the average cookbook and only has 60 or so pages, perfect size to slip inside a bag! Don't let the size fool you, it's packed full of tea time treats inspired by the world of Jane Austen; her work and her life!

My favourite thing about Tea with Jane Austen is that our author Pen Volger includes an old fashion version of the recipe next to the updated recipe - or how we read/write/cook today!

Emma is probably my favorite Austen novel so I had to make the strawberry tartlets! They were, of course, inspired from Emma and the day that Mr. Knightley invited everyone to Donwell Abbey to pick strawberries!

With a baked strawberry custard set in a sweet short crust pastry these would make a great tea time treat or if careful a perfect picnic treat! I would like to think Mr. & Mrs. Knightley would agree!

Strawberry Tartlets

sweet shortcrust pastry:

225g plain flour
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons caster sugar
125g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons cold water

Mix the flour, salt, and sugar in large mixing bowl. Add the cubed butter and using your finger tips combine the flour mixture and cold butter cubes until it looks like bread crumbs. You don't want the butter to melt, so be quick and firm when rubbing in the butter. Mix the egg yolk and water together before adding to the flour/butter mixture. Using a knife stir it all together it should form big clumps. Then using your hands bring the dough together. Add water if you need to little by little. No need to knead. Wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

strawberry custard:

200g soft or damaged strawberries, hulled
3 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
40g plain flour
300ml milk

Grease 4 tartlet pans or a 9in/22cm tart tin. Heat the oven to 200C and take out the pastry from the fridge. Roll it out to about 1/4 inch or 5 mm thickened line the greased tartlet pans with the pastry. It's okay to leave some of the pastry having over the edge to help with shrinkage. Prick the pastry with a fork. Cover each tart pan with a sheet of grease proof paper and fill with baking beads and blind bake for 10-12 minutes for the tartlets and 15-18 for the tart tin.
Take them out of the oven and remove the paper and the baking beads and place back in the oven for 5 minutes or so.
While they are blind baking boil the milk and leave aside, cover it to keep it warm. Puree the strawberries and leave aside. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together with a whisk, until sugar has dissolved. Shift the flour in a third at a time beating well after each addition. Gradually pour in the boiled milk, whisking as you go. Return the custard mixture to the pan and heat until it just starts to boil - beat until the custard holds sits shape. Dip a wooden spoon into the mixture and pull it out. Run your finger down the spoon face, it should leave the line.
Take off the heat and beat in the strawberries. Pour into the pastry cases and bake for 10-15 minutes until the custard is set. Cool and serve! With strawberries or cream or meringues.

Suggestion: if you save the 3 egg whites from this recipe whip up some meringues to top your tarts with! Just half the recipe in this post I wrote: Waste Not Want Not!

notes: Tea with Jane Austen by Pen Vogler (check out her other title Dinner with Mr. Darcy!) was sent to me to provide a review - recipe is taken from said book with permission from the publishers, Ryland, Peters & Small. This title was published in February and is available at all good book sellers and online shops! All opinions are my own, no other compensation besides the book was given - please see my contact/policy page for more information!

Afternoon Tea at Home by Will Torrent {book review}

Afternoon tea is a classic British tradition that everyone should partake in! Of course it's always nice to go out and let someone else do all the work of creating the perfect afternoon tea for you, but there is also something to be said about doing it yourself!

Will Torrent's latest book Afternoon Tea at Home follows two other great titles Patisserie at Home and Chocolate at Home; the former of which I do not own and will need to remedy! Mr. Torrent likes to show us that these decadent and delicious treats can be made in the comfort of our own homes! I would have to say that the skill level varies - there are recipes that look very easy and non-complicated and a few that might take a little extra skill and know how. But nothing in this book is unachievable!

I really like the way the book is organised giving us a brief introduction, a little history on the tradition of afternoon tea, and a few essential recipes for jams and curds. Then he gives us the recipes we need to create a classic afternoon tea. The classic salmon and cream cheese sandwiches - the cream cheese is whipped to make it physically lighter! Along with scones, shortbreads, and of course the Victoria sponge!

The following chapters are divided by seasons. Afternoon tea isn't just for warm summer days, but all year round! He gives us seasonal recipes to create a spring selection, summer sensation, fall delights, and winter celebration afternoon teas each one better then the last. My favourites were the fall and winter selections, but that's not surprising as I have a love of all the warm comforting spices and flavours of those times of year!

The last chapter gives us a selection of recipes for something special. Birthdays, anniversary's, holidays and any day that means something to you and those you'll be enjoying the day with! Then our author leaves us with menu planners - guides to create the perfect afternoon tea for all those occasions referencing all the recipes through out the book! He even includes one for a Thanksgiving tea and because of that I love him. It's just the American in me! One couldn't ask for more!

I have never planned my own afternoon tea, but with the help of this book and a few of my friends I think we will need to plan one! Here is a menu of what I would consider the best afternoon tea using Afternoon Tea at Home as a guide:

Lisa's Ultimate Tea Party

• Pastrami and Emmental open sandwich with thousand island coleslaw on brown rye (page 91) 
• Chicken liver parfait with thyme and onion confit and fluted brioche (page 147)
• Blueberry and buttermilk scones with honeycomb butter (page 41) 
• PBJ cookie sandwiches (page 99) 
• Mince pie brownies (page 134) 
• Apple crumble and custard tartlets (page 155 pictured below) 
• Coffee and caramel eclairs (page 156) 
• Marmalade Madeira cakes with macadamias, hazelnuts, and almonds (page 83)

No idea if any of these recipes actually compliment each other, but they all sounded good! I wouldn't say no if they were all sat on a pretty three tiered stand waiting for me to eat! It was hard to choose and I bet if you asked me again in a month or so I'd pick all different things. Main point is that Afternoon tea at home offers a variety of amazing recipes that can help you make a perfect afternoon tea!

notes: I received my copy of Afternoon Tea at Home by Will Torrent from the publishers, Ryland, Peters & Small to review. It was published in February and is available at all good book sellers and online shops! All opinions are my own, no other compensation was given please see my contact/policy page for more information!

Pistachio & Cardamom Madeleines (inspired by The Hundred Foot Journey)

It’s funny how in life just one journey, wether it’s 100 foot or 23,321,760 foot, can change your life forever. The first step is what really matters though. Without the first step the journey cannot begin. Do you have a moment ingrained in your memory as the start of something new. That perhaps you didn’t know it at the time, but looking back you’re like that one decision, that one choice, that one step lead you to where you are now?

That’s what this story is about. The story does start at the beginning with a tragedy in Hassan Haji's youth that changed everything, but that's not where it really starts. It really starts when Hassan makes the choice to walk those 100 feet and start something new.

It’s the tragedy that takes his family first to England, then to France where they decide to make a new home. Once in France they move to a small town across the street from a classic French restaurant run by one Madame Mallory. She discovers that Hassan has a natural ability when it comes to cooking. Learning under the scrutiny of  Madame Mallory will he have what it takes to make it in Paris as a chef? You will need to read the book to find out!

There is a scene in the book where Hassan is having tea with Madame Mallory and he talks about the pistachio madeline’s they are enjoying with said tea. Having only used my madeline tin twice I thought it was about time I dragged it out to use again! Instead of just pistachio madeline’s I added cardamon as well to represent the different cultures that are brought together in this book. I also dipped mine in some melted white chocolate and chopped pistachio nuts!

They turned out good, the perfect balance of salty and sweet. If you’d like to try making these for yourself to eat with a cup of tea (or coffee) while reading this amazing book here’s how I made them!

Pistachio & Cardamom Madeleines

1 large egg
60g caster sugar
60g plain flour, sifted
40g pistachios, ground to a powder
60g butter, melted
3-4 cardamom pods, spilt open and seeds ground up
75g white chocolate, melted
40g pistachios, roughly chopped

Grease a plastic pipping bag with butter, leave to the side. Beat the egg and sugar together with the whisk attachment in a free standing mixer or a hand mixer until it’s tripled and has reached ribbon stage, the batter dripping from the whisk should remain on the surface for a minimum of 3 seconds. Gently fold in the flour and ground pistachios until just combined before adding the cooled melted butter. Again gently fold it in being careful not to knock any of the air out! Place the batter into your prepared piping bag and leave in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, but ideally 4 hours.
When you are ready to bake heat the oven to 210C. Grease the madeline tin with warm butter and sprinkle with flour, knock off any extra flour (over the sink) and pipe the madeline batter into each mould. Bake in the heated oven for 7-9 minutes. They should spring back when pressed gently with your thumb. These you do not want sitting around in the tin! Wearing oven mitts give it a sharp rap on the counter to release the madeleines. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Once cool to the touch dip in the melted white chocolate and then dip in the chopped pistachios. Enjoy!

notes: This post is part of my #storybookbakes series. 4,417 miles is approximately the distance between The United States and The United Kingdom. I borrowed The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais by a friend before obtaining my own copy. All opinions are my own please see my contact/policy page above for more information. Recipe is adapted from John Whaite’s Pistachio and Cardamom Madeline’s found here. The recipe is missing the amount of butter so I made an educated guess and it as far as I am concerned turned out okay! I am entering these madeline’s into this month’s Treat Petite hosted by Cakeyboi & The Baking Explorer. These madeleines are also being entered into the Perfecting Patisserie blogging challenge hosted by The Baking Queen!

Double Chocolate Strawberry Mini Tarts

This month’s Pastry Challenge is chocolate! The possibilities of a chocolate and pastry combination are endless! When faced with a lot of different choices the only way to narrow it down is to figure out what it is you want.

First I knew I wanted a chocolate pastry and a fresh fruit. So, I started looking through blogs and books for different options.

Then the chocolate and cherry tart I made in February kept coming to mind…but it was too dark for the beautiful weather we've been having. Then I knew I wanted something light and springy!

That’s why this chocolate short crust pastry with a white chocolate ganache and fresh strawberries came to exist. Since chocolate can be so rich it made sense to make these tarts little or mini. It makes the perfect chocolaty bite, without being too rich and sickly. We all love chocolate, but let’s be honest it can too much sometimes!

These would make a great spring teatime treat! So, let’s get baking…

Chocolate Short Crust Pastry

200g flour

25g cocoa powder

50g icing sugar

350g unsalted butter, cold & cubed

3 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift the flour, cocoa, and sugar together and gently rub in the butter so that the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Try not to touch it too much because you want to keep the butter from melting. Add the egg yolks and vanilla; mix together until you get a soft dough. Form into a ball and smoosh it down a little so it’s disk like. Then rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or over night.

Just before you take out of the fridge grease your mini tart pan or tart tins with soft butter. Sprinkle a little flour on the counter before rolling out the pastry - rotate every other roll to get a nice circle. You don’t want it too thin or too thick, but use your own judgment based on your tart tins. Then cut out circles somewhat bigger then your tart tins, you want the over hang. Presses gently into your pan/tin getting the pastry down into the corners, and carefully trim the excess dough off.

*If you are making little ones like these you will have extra pastry. There are two options either freezing it for a couple of months or make a double batch! Cover with cling film and rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. I left them in for about 45 minutes.

Heat the oven to 180C. Once it’s at temperature take the pan/tin out of the fridge. Using a fork put holes in pastry. Place a piece of grease proof paper in each, I cut out individual circles, and fill with baking beads press down to make sure they are holding the pastry down. Bake for 8-10 minutes, then remove the baking beads and bake for a further 5-8 minutes or until it looks dried out. I don’t know how else to describe it, because with chocolate pastry it won’t be brown. Cool for a few minutes before filling with the ganache and strawberry!

White Chocolate Ganache

50-100g white chocolate, broken up

50-100g double cream

20 or more fresh strawberries

The varied amount is due to your tart tin/pan size. You might need more or less. These ones used only about 50g of each. Place an equal amount of both ingredients in a heatproof bowl over a simmering pan of water. Stir until melted. Fill each tart case and top with a fresh strawberry!

notes: chocolate pastry recipe is adapted from Eric Lanlard’s Tart it Up! and can also be found online on The Telegraph’s website. Use up the egg whites making meringues!

These tarts were entered into these challenges:

The Pastry Challenge (theme chocolate) hosted by myself with Jen's Food 

Tea Time Treats (theme chocolate) hosted by Lavender and Lovage with The Hedge Combers 

Treat Petite (theme spring time) hosted by The Baking Explorer with Cakeyboi 

Changing of the Seasons: Caramel Apple Pie Scones

The change in seasons has been influencing my taste buds at the moment.

Definitely craving apples, pumpkin, cinnamon, and other seasonal dishes. Like stews, soups, and pies the list could go on forever!

Usually this time of year I bake a lot of apple bakes, but our tree has produced no more then 5 edible apples this year.

Which is very sad really, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from baking with apples at least once this autumn!

After much thought and deliberation I decided to give a classic teatime treat an apple twist. No, not a Victoria Sponge, but the humble scone.

I made Caramel Apple Pie Scones. They are by far one of the most delicious scones I have ever made. Which isn't really saying a lot because I don’t make scones that often.

That doesn't make them any less delicious though!

They would be perfect for an Autumn Afternoon Tea! 

The scones themselves are seasoned with apple pie spice and have fresh apples in them. I topped them with the traditional clotted cream and instead of jam used some delicious caramel!

Caramel Apple Pie Scones

500g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

2 tsp golden caster sugar

2 tsp apple pie spice

50g unsalted butter, cold and cubed

25g vegetable shortening/Trek, broken up

300ml buttermilk

75g or ½ an apple chopped into little cubes

sprinkle of sugar

clotted cream

caramel sauce

Start by chopping the apple and sprinkling with sugar, leave in a colander so the juice from the apple drips out. Press between a towel or paper towels to dry them completely.

Heat the oven to 220C and line a baking sheet.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl before rubbing in the butter and shortening. Add the buttermilk and chopped apple and mix together until it forms a soft dough.

On a lightly floured surface smoosh the dough into a thick circle, using a medium to small circle cutter cut out the scones. I got about ten, but it depends on the size of your cutter. Then place on prepared baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes. They should rise in the oven and slightly brown. When you transfer them to the cooling rack they should feel light. Cool for a bit before adding the clotted cream and caramel. Enjoy! 

notes: These are my entry for The Great Denby Cake Off blogger competition. Apple Pie Spice isn't very common in the UK, however if you add a tsp of ground nutmeg and a tsp of ground cinnamon and maybe a baby pinch of ground cloves it will pretty much be apple pie spice. This could also be tried with dried apples. 

White Peach Curd

Another weekend another Monday.

It’s weird how we wish our weeks away for the weekend. As a mostly stay at home parent weekends have become just another day.

I say mostly because I have recently picked up a very flexible part time job at a lovely manor house near to where I live. It suits my life with two little ones and stuff.

This weekend I went a bit baking mad. I made a cake for coffee this morning and I made a cake for my Clandestine Cake Club tonight.

This post is for neither of those cakes!! Don’t worry they will both be up either this week or next!

This post is about a fun component of one of those cakes!

Peach Curd.

I know. I was a bit skeptical myself. Peaches in the UK have little to no flavor, unlike the peaches in the USA. I had a lot of peaches when I was visiting this summer.

So, I gave it a go and it turned out okay. I did wish it had a bit more of a peachy taste, but it suited my cake perfectly!

So, if you want it for cake or just because peach curd sounds awesome and would taste great on scones here is how I made it!

White Peach Curd

1 ½ fresh white peaches, pitted and quartered

400g granulated sugar

1 egg

2 egg yolks

½ lemon, juiced

85g unsalted butter

Sterilize a couple of jars by washing in the dishwasher and drying out in the oven.

Puree the peaches until smooth - I used my hand blender. Add the sugar, egg, egg yolks, and lemon juice to the peach puree and whisk together until combined. Melt the butter in a heatproof bowl over a simmering pot of water. Once melted add the peach puree mixture and whisk constantly for about 5-10 minutes until the curd has thickened and can coat a wooden spoon without dripping.
Pore the peach curd into the sterilized jars (leave a little room at the top) and seal tightly. Run a knife around the edges to help remove air bubbles. Boil some water in a stock pan and place the jars of peach curd into them. Once it starts a rolling boil cover with the lid and leave for about 10 minutes. Carefully remove the jars from the pot and place on a wooden cutting board and let the jars cool completely. Once cool to the touch place in the fridge.

notes: Recipe is slightly adapted from allrecipes.com. Am I the only person in the world that didn't know that Peaches by The Presidents of the United States of America was about women private areas? I literally just found out. I am so naive!