Teatime Treats

I know, I know…I have been a truly awful blogger this past month. I don’t have any excuse so how about some sweet treats to get your taste buds excited!

With this gorgeous weather we’ve been having recently (finally summer arrives) it seems the perfect time for afternoon tea picnics, and in fact that’s just what I’m doing as a surprise for the boy to celebrate our anniversary (shhhh, don’t tell him!). So here are two recipes to make your high tea even yummier!

Fairy Cakes

These are seriously a doddle and you only have to remember 2, 4, 4 and 4. That is; 2 eggs and 4 ounces each of flour, sugar and butter. Seriously, that’s it! If you want bigger quantities then just increase the mix (3 eggs, 6 ounces, 4 eggs, 8 ounces and so on). This is a classic sponge recipe and can be adapted for various things, adding chocolate drops, cocoa, cut it in half and put jam in the middle…its like recycling, the possibilities are endless! Oh and don’t make the mistake of adding baking powder, it will be give your cakes nipples.

Ingredients

2 eggs

4 oz plain flour

4 oz butter (at room temperature)

4 oz caster sugar

You will need an electric whisk or  some guns (muscles that is)!

  

Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl (cutting the butter into small cubes makes this next bit much easier) and whisk together (start at low on electric whisk and increase to high as mixture gets softer and less likely to go all over your kitchen.)  You want to whisk these together until they are pale and creamy, and then keep whisking some more!

I can’t stress how important this step is, this should be what takes the longest time whilst making these as its this step that ensure they have enough air in to rise and be light and fluffy.

Sift half the flour into the bowl, make a well and crack one egg into it. Mix on a low speed until its all incorporated and then repeat with the rest of the flour and last egg. And voila! You have cake mixture.

Put a dollop of mixture into each fairy cake case, put into a preheated oven at about 180 and bake for 13-17 minutes. They are ready when you can lightly press the top and it springs back.

Scones

Whereas I have been making fairy cakes since year dot (my Grammy was an excellent baker and helpfully had a slow oven) scones are a new addition to my repertoire, but I don’t know why it took me so long to try them out!

If you don’t have buttermilk you can use a homemade substitute. One cup of milk with one tablespoon of lemon juice left for 15 minutes will turn and is perfect to use instead.

This recipe comes from my very trusted Good Housekeeping Step-by-Step cook book.

Ingredients

8 oz self-raising flour

3 oz butter

1 ½ oz caster sugar

1 egg

4-10 tbsp buttermilk

Pinch of salt

You will need some kind of round cookie cutter

  

Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter up into cubes and add to the bowl, then rub the butter into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs (somebody once told me the way to do this is to tickle the butter and flour like a baby’s bottom!) Add the sugar and mix in.

Break the egg into a bowl/jug/appropriate sized receptacle and add 2 tablespoons of buttermilk. Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and pour in your egg and buttermilk mixture. Using a normal kitchen knife, mix together until it’s too stiff to use the knife, then it’s time to get your hands dirty! 

If it’s too dry to bring together into a ball, add more buttermilk a tablespoon at a time; the end result should be soft but not sticky.

Flour the work surface and roll out the dough until it’s about an inch thick. Cut out the scones using the cookie cutter and place onto a greased baking tray (or onto floured greasproof paper). You will most likely have to reshape and re-roll the dough in order to cut the scones out efficiently.

Bake at the top of the oven at 220 (200 for fan ovens) for about 10 minutes until golden on top and cool on a wire rack.