Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Teacup Tuesday: A Valentine Tea

Today's teacup is a from my from my set of "good" china. I used it just last week. Every Valentine's Day, Mr. L and I have an afternoon tea. It's called Silver Maple by Royal Albert.

 

 Last week on the blogger version of this blog, Loveamystery asked for a good scone recipe.  Here's one I like and I included it in my cookbook, Recipes To Die For.

WALNUT SCONES
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, cold
¾ cup milk
1 egg
½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped*
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons cold water
¼ raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350ยบ. Sift the dry ingredients together. Using a pastry blender (or a fork), cut the butter into the dry ingredients until crumbly. Beat the milk and egg together. Pour into the dry ingredients, stirring until a dough forms. Add the chopped nuts, combining well. You can use an ice cream scoop to form the scones and place them on an aluminum (or parchment paper) lined baking sheet, or pat the dough into a circle and score with a knife.* Beat the egg yolk with the cold water. Using a pastry brush, glaze each scone with this mixture. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot or cold. (Hot is better! *You can substitute pecans or any other nut you prefer. Pistachios make an interesting scone.)

Yield: 10-12 scones.

(*BTW, I use a scone pan that makes perfect wedge-shaped scones.)

Here's what this year's tea looked like.  (And no, we weren't able to eat it all.  We love leftovers!) Isn't my Valentine orchid gorgeous?



 ~~ And now for the giveaway! ~~


Today's teacup is called Duchess, and isn't it pretty?

How can you win it?  By sending an email to me at contest @ LornaBarrett .com and leaving a tea time memory you wouldn't mind sharing (I won't use last names) with everyone on the blog.  I'll pick a name at random.

But wait! There's more! Betsy Bean from Latteda.com will send a free sample of Boneyard tea to another lucky winner every week.  But you can't win if you don't sign up.