Let's Whip Up Some "Besotted" Clotted Cream (Royal Wedding)

At our tea party, I knew we needed a very special menu to celebrate the Royal nuptials. Much thought was put into planning this menu with its selections that personally related to the life and times of Will and Kate. For example in the menu STARTERS I made Prince Phillip's Squash Soup as the grandfather of the groom (Phillip) had been out playing the game of squash when Prince Charles was being born. I roasted the butternut squash and then used a recipe to make the soup. Yes, I made up the name of the soup; don't look for it in any cookbook! In the presentation, I piped sour cream to look like "C" for Catherine and "W" for Will, but I need to perfect those skills as you can see below.

Following the soup and Jolly Good Champagne course, the SCONES selections were served. A chocolate chip scone, which I called Will's Request "I Love Chocolate" scones due to his desire to have the Groom's cake of chocolate biscuits. The plain scones were called Kate's Plain "Tired of Waiting" scones due to their exceedingly lengthy courtship. The scones were served with Queen Mum's Orange Marmalade and clotted cream, sometimes known as Devonshire cream. Due to the nature of Charles and Camilla's relationship, I called the clotted cream Charles and Camilla's "Besotted Clotted" Cream. Lucky you - I am going to give you a recipe for the delicious dollops you can spread on your own scones:

CHARLES AND CAMILLA'S "BESOTTED CLOTTED" CREAM

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with a mixer until stiff. Refrigerate until ready to use. Best when prepared and served on the same day. Makes 1 to 1 1/2 cups.

There were four kinds of TEA SANDWICHES served: Uncle Gary's "Turkey" Sandwiches served on Raisin "Nut" Bread (google him to find out the turkey and nut connection), Upper Crust Cucumber Sandwiches, Pippa's Perfectly Petite Poultry Popovers (chicken cream puffs), and Old Goat Cheese and Tomato Sandwiches. I choose to not elaborate publicly as to why I named these sandwiches accordingly.

Finally, we arrived at the culinary destination of DESSERTS. A very typical British tea cake is the Victorian Sponge Sandwich which is neither sandwichy or cakey. It has layers of lemon curd and raspberry jam.

Most assuredly tea and coffee was served with this cake. After having spent much time polishing my Mom's silver tea service set, I may or may not have poured the hot beverages from these spouts. I'm counting on "What happens at Lady Debra's tea parties, stays at Lady Debra's tea party" confidentiality.

There, you have it, dear readers. I believe that, as of this post, I have worked through the

Royal Wedding memories cranial file. But, there be more brewing...I don't quite want to close the chapter on this happy time quite yet. We'll see.

Apples Make it a Bit Better

Okay, I admit it - I am not going easily into the new season of Fall. I love summer, not so much due to the heat, but due to all the things one might do to fill in a day. Walks, parks, outdoor concerts, dining al fresco, dipping toes in bodies of water, opening windows, watering flowers, ice cream stands, trips to the cabin, summer weddings...and so on. Whenever Labor Day comes around, I feel a bit sad. However, today turned out to be a great kick-off for the Fall season when we had spur-of-the-moment outing with Anne, Jed and Ellie to a nearby apple orchard. The weather was warm enough, but not too hot. The McIntosh apples were ready for picking!

Ellie thoroughly enjoyed the experience as well. The apples were just right for her little hands to grasp, and she loved (of course) putting them in her mouth. With no teeth, she really didn't have a chance to choke on anything.

Once we got back home, it was time to make the Apple Crisp. This recipe was provided by Joan G. in our LCC cookbook (don't you just love church cookbooks?).

APPLE CRISP

6 peeled, cored and sliced apples (or more if small apples)

1 c. sugar

2 T. flour

cinnamon

Place sliced apples in a 9 x 9 pan. Cover with sugar and flour, sprinkle with cinnamon. Mix together topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of apples. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

TOPPING:

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. butter or margarine

1/2 -3/4 c. oatmeal

1/2 c. brown sugar

I think I'm feeling better already!

Gramma's Little "Helper"

Now that her Mommy has gone back to work, I am the lucky care-giver for Miss E one day a week and I L-O-V-E it. She is such a sweet little dearie to hang out with. We've gone on shopping trips (sorry about bringing her to WalMart, Jed), out to lunch with a special friend, to visit my library friends, out on neighborhood walks and so on. A couple of weeks ago, Ellie even "helped" out in the kitchen at the condo! We made a yummy chocolate cake and baked some flower cookies. Two different days, though.

Surprisingly, it is easier to hold Ellie in a carrier than with no carrier as far as the back is concerned. She loves all the motions of cooking as I stir, roll, mix and blend. Here's the recipe for the chocolate cake we made together --- and note that it has leftover coffee and applesauce in the mix.

Ingredients 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour 1/3 cup cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce 1 cup cold water or chilled brewed coffee

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 2 tablespoons cider vinegar Mocha Frosting 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened (4 tbsp. butter flavored Crisco also works well) 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 2-3 tablespoons milk or soymilk Directions 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Generously oil an 8-inch square or round baking pan and dust with a little sifted cocoa or line the bottom with parchment paper. 3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, soda, salt, and sugar. 4. In another bowl, combine the oil, applesauce water or coffee, and vanilla. 5. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until well-blended and smooth. 6. Add the vinegar and stir briefly; the baking soda will begin to react with the vinegar right away, leaving pale swirls in the batter. 7. Without wasting any time, pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. 8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. 9. Cool for 20 minutes, then frost with frosting. 10. For the frosting, combine powdered sugar, cocoa, butter and vanilla in large bowl; beat until combined. 11. Add additional milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating to desired consistency. 12. Makes about 1-1/4 cups frosting.

The second time we baked together, Ellie sat in her little Bumbo on the counter top, watching every step of the process. I used the cut-out cookie recipe posted previously to make springy flowers.

Such fun times together --- and we've only just begun!

Two Requested Fika Recipes

Cut-out cookies and Chocolate Balls really flew off the platters at our recent Halloween Fika. Hence the recipes are making a requested appearance here on this blog. Both recipes are certainly appropriate for serving at NON Halloween gatherings as well!

CUT-OUT COOKIES (From the Naperville Covenant Church little cookies and bars cookbook recipe by Gail B.)

2 sticks soft butter

2 1/2 c. flour

1 c. confectioners sugar

1 T. milk

1 t. vanilla

Directions: Cream butter. Add flour and sugar alternately. Add milk. Add vanilla. Mix well.

Roll out dough in batches about the size of your fist clenched. Use cookie cutters to make shapes. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake 9 - 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool. Decorate with your choice of frosting. This is a no-fail recipe with ingredients you most likely have on hand already. Yum! Anne requests these every year!!

CHOCOLATE BALLS (Translated by Anne from a Swedish cookbook! IKEA has good measuring cups for the metric system)

100 gr. butter (room temperature)

150 ml granulated sugar

1 msk (or 1 T.) vanilla sugar (conf. sugar is a decent substitute)

3 msk (or 3 T.) cocoa powder

500 ml oats

2-3 msk (2-3 T. water)

DIRECTIONS: Combine first the butter and sugar. Add all the other ingredients. Form into balls. Coat with topping of (pick one) pearl sugar (shown in the picture above), flaked coconut

or granulated sugar. Refrigerate - no baking.

As you'll probably notice, there's a whole lot of butter in these recipes. Like Julia Child said,

"There's nothing like butter!" Of course, moderation is always the way to go....right?

Our First Applefest in the 'Hood (and a recipe!)

When this cheery red apple signboard went up a week or so ago, I knew we had to go! And go we did. The morning weather was just right for this fest...sunny with a slight chill in the air - long sleeve weather.

We selected Honeycrisp Apples and headed back to our City Nest. Not long afterwards, I mixed up the annual sinful fare; so many calories it can only be made but once a year. Dipping apples in this warm, creamy, gooey concoction of fallish deliciousity is worth every caloric overload point!

Caramel Sauce (recipe #69479 from Recipezaar)

3/4 c. butter

1 1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar

2 T. water

1/4 t. salt

3/4 c. evaporated milk

1 T. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1.Combine butter, brown sugar, water and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly.

2. Bring to a boil for 3 - 5 minutes depending upon thickness desired.

3. Remove from heat and stir in evaporated milk and vanilla.

Life is sweet. Literally.

The Feta Phase

Because of going to a new (to us) grocery store, I am discovering a new (to me) cheese. Sure, I have had feta cheese in salads and such, but never has it ended up in my grocery cart. A big chunk of it begged to come home with me - it was on super sale! This recipe was found on one of my favorite recipe websites: Recipezaar. There were pages and pages of recipes with feta cheese, and this one was chosen because I just so happened to have all the ingredients on hand...it's a winner! Barbeque Chicken Pizza Ingredients 1 prepared pizza crust (12 inch) 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided 1 cup grilled chicken breast, coarsely chopped 1/4 cup prepared barbecue sauce 1 (4 ounce) package crumbled feta cheese 1 small red onion, halved, thinly sliced and separated into rings Directions 1Preheat oven to 450°F 2Place pizza crust on ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese. 3Toss chicken with barbecue sauce; spoon evenly onto crust. 4Top with feta cheese, onions and the remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. 5BAKE 10 to 12 minute or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown. 6Let stand 5 minute before cutting to serve. Do you have any favorite recipes with feta cheese?