Old Time Citrus Raison Scones

 I don't think anyone can go past a good scone. I know i can't. Especially with Jam and Cream (when i could eat cream - i am now a lactose intolerant sufferer! Oh the pain of it all). When my husband and I travelled around Europe and made a stop in England for a few weeks & that was something we saw a lot of.... cute little tea houses serving tea time snacks starring beautifully made scones with jam and clotted cream... and including the best accompaniment... a good pot of tea.

I like the different varieties of scones that you can make as well. The possibilities are endless really, date scones, blueberry scones, pumpkin scones, savoury scones and these delicious little morsels...... Ole Time Citrus Raison Scones. Yum.

The key to any fabulous scone is sifting the flour twice to make it light and fluffy, stir the ingredients with a butter knife to combine the ingredients, when applying the milk glaze be careful not to let any touch the edges and a hot oven. Remember these simple tips and your in business for some fantastic scones!

{Download & Print Recipe}

Old Time Citrus Raison Scone

Ingredients:

150ml Milk

150ml Cream

1 Egg

3 Cups Self Raising Flour

3 Tablespoons Sugar

Pinch Salt

1 Cup Raisons

Juice of 1x Orange

Zest of 1 x Orange

Milk for Glazing

Method:

~ Preheat oven to 200 - 220 degrees. 

~ Zest orange in a bowl set aside, juice the same orange and toss with the raisons in a separate bowl and let it macerate for 20-30 min.

~ In a bowl add milk, cream and egg. Whisk together and set aside.

~ Sift flour and salt together in a separate bowl, add sugar and zest.

~ Make a hole in the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients & orange juice and raison mixture  working quite quickly use a metal knife to stir the ingredients through.

~ Place dough on a floured surface and carefully roll out to be about 1/2 inch thick. 

~ Using a scone cutter cut out and place on a lined tray.

~ Brush tops of scones with extra milk (*Be careful to not get any on the edges of the scone - this will inhibit the rising of the scone)

~ Cook for about 15 - 20 Min or until golden brown.

Simply Tea Selections

I would have to say one of the best tea's from our range that just fits with these scones is either English Breakfast Supreme or Earl Grey Premium. These are classic blends going back centuries and you can't go past a tried and true combination! These tea's are traditionally served in the quaint English tea houses in England with the famous scones, jam and clotted cream! Our Earl Grey Premium blend is classically scented with natural Bergamot oil which gives a refreshing, lightly citrus flavour. Our English Breakfast Supreme blend is a traditional blend of the finest Assam and Ceylon teas, producing a delicate aromatic blend with lots of golden tips

Early Grey Premium - $9.00/100g or $2 for 10g Sample Bag

 English Breakfast Supreme - $8.00/100g or $2 for 10g Sample Bag

Why not order one of these tea's and whip up a batch of these delicious scones for afternoon tea!??

Visit Us At: The Simply Tea Shop ~ "For The Love Of Tea" ~

Black Forest Chocolate Cake....

It was my husband's birthday yesterday. I don't know if he would like me sharing his age to the blog world so i won't but a Big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear husband. His request for his birthday cake was this delectable Black Forest Chocolate Cake. It's his favourite. Mind you i made i last year for his birthday so i wonder if it is going to become a tradition in our house every year to make a Black Forest Cake!? I don't mind. 

There is something theraputic about creating a masterpiece (when it turns out). Sifting and measuring ingredients for the chocolate cake, smelling the aroma's of it cooking in the oven.

Beating runny cream into something soft and pillowy (is that even a word?) and the cherries. The cherries are the crowning glory of this cake. Adding cherry juice to a sauce pan with a nip of cherry brandy, sugar and cornflour and creating a mouthwatering cherry delight. 

Cutting a beatufully cooked cake into layers can be tricky but with a little patience and finesse -voila- you in business to start assembling your masterpiece. After layering soft whipped cream, boozy cherry mixture and with a sprinkling of grated chocolate to finish off the piece de resistance you are now the proud creator of a mouthwatering Black Forest Chocolate Cake.

{Download & Print Recipe}

 Black Forest Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
1 x 470g pkt chocolate cake mix (or your fave choc cake recipe) –
1 x 680g jar morello cherries
2 Tablespoon caster sugar
1 Tbsp cornflour
600ml thickened cream
60 ml cherry brandy essence (or brandy essence)
2 Tbsp boiling water
2 Tbsp caster sugar, extra
100g dark cooking chocolate, coarsely grated.

Method:
1. Prepare and back the chocolate cake. Cool completely. Use a large serrated knife and cut cake horizontally into 3 even layers (2 if your cake is not thick enough to do so)
2. Drain the cherries, reserving 160ml of the juice. Reserve 10 cherries to decorate. Place the remaining cherries and reserved liquid into a saucepan. Add sugar and cornflour. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring until the mixture boils and thickens. Transfer to a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill.
3. Use an electric beater and beat the cream in a bowl until firm peaks form.
4. Place the cherry brandy essence, boiling water and extra sugar into a jug and stir until sugar dissolves.
5. Place 1 cake layer on a serving plate and drizzle over half the cherry brandy mixture. Spread a thin layer of cream and half the cherry mixture. Repeat with remaining cake, cherry brandy mixture, cherry mixture and cream, finishing with a layer of cake.
6. Spread some of the remaining cream over the top and side of cake. Sprinkle the chocolate evenly over the top of the cake and gently press over the side to coat (note: i didn’t do this and it still looked good)
7. Place the remaining cream in a piping bag fitted with a 1cm fluted nozzle and pipe rosettes around the edge of the cake.
8. Arrange the reserved cherries between the cream rosettes. Cut into wedges to serve. (I found it cut best after a period of time in the fridge)

*can be made a day ahead - store in an airtight container in the fridge

Simply Tea Selections

Why not try something different with this cake such as our Rooibos Chai. It is a 'Super grade' Rooibos herb leaf, with a soft, sweet aromatic taste, blended with warm spices cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and ginger. 

ORDER TODAY!

Not Sure What Rooibos is?

 The name Rooibos comes from the Afrikaans word for red bush. It is produced from the leaf of the South African herb shrub, not the camellia sinensis plant like all other teas. Rooibos is grown only in a small area in the region of the Western Cape Province in Southern Africa, which is harvested during the summer months.

Is it good for me?

 Rooibos is becoming more popular in western countries particularly among the health conscious consumers, due to is high level of antioxidants, lack of caffeine and low tannin levels. Rooibos is known to assist with nervous tension, allergies and digestive problems. Traditional medicine uses of Rooibos in South Africa include: alleviating infantile colic, allergies, asthma and dermalogical problems.

You can purchase our Rooibos Tea through our Online Teashop. We have two flavours of Rooibos - Original or Chai. You can purchase 100g  Pouch of Original Rooibos Tea for $11.00 or $12.00/100g for Rooibos Chai. We also have $2.00 sample bags available for purchase for those wanting to give it a try.

Visit Us At: The Simply Tea Shop ~ "For The Love Of Tea" ~

What I Whipped Up..... Linky Party

For all those baking, cooking, roasting, grilling queens (and kings) i have started a 

"What I Whipped Up" Linky Party.

The rules of the linky party are all you simply have to do is add The Simply Tea blog button to your blog and click on the "Click here your next" below to add your masterpiece and follow the prompts. Easy Peasy!

I hope this gives an opportunity to those who love to cook to show there delights to the world. So the more the merrier!!! Tell your friends and fellow blog lovers.

Visit Us At: The Simply Tea Shop ~ "For The Love Of Tea" ~

Ginger Crunch Cookies

Who loves a warm, spicy melt in your mouth biscuit straight from the oven, preferably while sipping a good cup of tea with your legs up relaxing in a comfy chair. 

Yep I would put my hand up for that!
 That's what these cookies do to me.. just make me feel all warm and cosy and the need to just chill for a while!

They have a gorgeous combination of cinnamon and ginger with chunks of glazed ginger sprinkled throughout and a finished crunch of almond. Devine.

Could be even better than a holiday... hmmm maybe not quite! That's what i am truly in the need of though a holiday.. not a sight seeing or "tripping" round kinda holiday but one that involves doing N.O.T.H.I.N.G!

The pure indulgence of sitting around in a beach chair on a sandy secluded stretch of beach with a good book,  my toes scrunched up in the sand, the wind playing in my hair, the seagulls squawking in the background and a nice Ginger Crunch Cookie to munch on... yep that would suit me right to the ground just about now!

Anyone else feeling the New Year Blues? The New Year Blues seem to hit around now i think. Holiday season is over, school and work have started back and the reality of the daily grind gets you!

I have just the solution for the New Year Blues...... yep a Ginger Crunch Cookie (That's if you can't have a holiday)!

{Download & Print Recipe}

Ingredients:
2 Cups Plain Flour
½ Tsp Bicarb Soda
1 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Cup Castor Sugar
125g Butter
1 Egg
1 Tsp Golden Syrup
2 Tbsp Glace Ginger – Finely Chopped
Almonds

Method:
1.    Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
2.    In a bowl place sifted dry ingredients and butter. Rub together with fingertips until a “crumb” forms and butter is rubbed in.
3.    Add egg, golden syrup, and glace ginger and mix together until combined.
4.    Knead on a floured surface until smooth.
5.    Roll round teaspoons of mixture into balls, place on lined cookie tray and flatten slightly and press in an almond. Place each biscuit 3cm apart.
6.    Cook for 20 min or until golden brown.

These cookies would make a great the perfect gift, boxed up with one of our bags of 100g pouches of Tea in a little hamper. I packed these cookies in a large cupcake box and finished it off with brown paper, jute twine and cardboard which i had lying around!

Simply Tea Selections

A great Simply Tea blend to accompany this gingery cookie would be it's ginger twin - Thai Delight. It is a zesty blend of lemongrass and ginger which creates a refreshing and wild taste sensation. You can purchase this taste sensation for $13.00/100g or a sample bag for $2.

Yes, Please I'll have that!

 If that wild combination is a bit much for your taste buds a milder recommendation would be our Pu-erh Oolong. A special semi-fermented tea with a typical earthy, light and sweet taste, has many therapeutic qualities, often taken for indigestion and cholesterol ailments. This tea is packed full of health benefits and you can learn more about this tea here. You can purchase our Pu-erh Oolong for $10.00/100g or $2.00 for a sample pack.

Pu-erh Oolong Tea

Visit Us At: The Simply Tea Shop ~ "For The Love Of Tea" ~

Contented Baby Cupcakes

I threw a baby shower for a friend of mine over the weekend. It was a great time to catch up with her and spoil her with this day. It was going to be an afternoon tea and i knew i had to find some form of baby related cupcake to make for the afternoon tea.  I found these cutest cupcakes on the net and i knew i just had to try and make them. 

I found that they were quite easy to make and weren't too fussy to decorate which i was happy about! I made chocolate cupcakes for the base but you could use any flavour. They were a real winner at the shower and i received many comments about them!

Aren't they just adorable??? 

 

(Download & Print Recipe)

Ingredients:
 

Chocolate Cake-
150g Butter
1 ½ Cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
1 ¼ Cups Water
2 ¼ Cups Plain Flour
1/3 Cups Cocoa Powder
1 ¼ Tsp Baking Soda
¼ Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt

Butter Cream Icing-
125g Butter
250g Icing Sugar
2 Tsp Hot Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
Food Colouring

Dummies
Musk Lifesavers
Peppermint Lifesavers
½ block Cooking White Chocolate
Food Colouring (Blue, Red)

Dark Chocolate, to pipe facial features


Method 

Cake:

1.    Beat butter and sugar till creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined.
2.    Sift together in a bowl, flour, coco powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3.    Transfer wet ingredients to a large bowl and carefully mix in dry ingredients and water.
4.    Pour into prepared cupcake papers and bake in 180 degree oven for approx 25 min. Set aside to cool.

Icing:

1.    Beat the butter until light and fluffy.
2.    Sift in icing sugar, milk and vanilla. Beat until smooth
3.    Place in an air tight container until ready to use.

Dummies:

1.    Melt white chocolate until smooth. Divide between two bowls and colour with food colouring to pink and blue.
2.    Place coloured chocolate into piping bags and pipe circles onto grease proof paper placed over a oven tray.
3.    Place the musk life savers into the pink chocolate circles and the white ones into the blue chocolate.
4.    Place in fridge to set.

Assembly:

1.    Cut the tops off the cupcakes if they are too rounded. Ice with butter cream icing all the way to the edge of the cupcake.
2.    Place the chocolate dummies in the lower center portion of the cupcake.
3.    Melt the dark chocolate and pipe the smile, eyes and nose.
4.    On grease proof paper using the dark chocolate pipe small swirls for the hair. Let it set. Place in the top of the cupcake.

 Simply Tea Sipper

If your serving these cupcakes as part of a "high tea" or afternoon tea for a baby shower i would suggest serving two types of tea. A nice strong black tea always goes down well as part of a afternoon tea and our "Simply Tea" blend suits that. It is a good strong fine leaf blend of Ceylon tea . You can purchase our Simply Tea for $7.00 for 100g or our sample pack for $2 (which make one pot of tea). 

Simply Tea Blend

 ORDER TODAY

The second tea which i would recommend serving is our "Vanilla" tea. It is a China and Ceylon tea blended with the finest natural vanilla flavour, aroma enriched by vanilla pieces from Madagascar. How devine does that sound. You can purchase our vanilla tea for $11.00 for 100g or our sample pack for $2.

Vanilla Tea

ORDER TODAY

Visit Us At: The Simply Tea Shop ~ "For The Love Of Tea" ~

Get Into The Aussie Spirit!

It's Australia Day tomorrow and what better way to get into the Aussie Spirit than to whip up a batch of Fresh, Soft, Chocolaty Lamingtons! Just perfect to share with your friends and family! (If there is any left after you finished icing them)

 I cannot take ownership of this recipe as it is from one of my favourite recipe books - Classic Country Collection!

It has some great old style recipe's, the ones you remember as a kid such a her famous pumpkin scones, fruit cakes, neenish tarts, lamingtons etc etc!

Lady Flo's Lamington Recipe

{Download & Print Recipe}

Ingredients:
125g Butter
125g Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
2 Eggs
250g Self Raising Flour
pinch salt
1/2 Cup milk

Icing:

250g Icing Sugar
6-8 Level tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon butter
few drops vanilla essence
desiccated coconut for coating

Method:
Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time and beat well. Sift flour and salt together. Add flour alternately with milk to the mixture. Turn into a greased and floured lamington tin.

Icing:
Sift icing sugar into a bowl. Blend in cocoa with a little boiling water, add a few drops of vanilla essence, add butter, mix well, adding a little more boiling water if necessary, until icing is smooth. Dip each cake into icing and then roll into coconut. Set aside until firm.

Simply Tea Sipper

A perfect accompaniment to any aussie delight such as these lamingtons would be our Australian Daintree. It is a superb black tea, grown near the Daintree rainforest of northern Queensland. The rich, fertile, lowland soil produces a well-rounded, medium strength tea.

ORDER TODAY

You can purchase our Australia Daintree tea for $7.00/100g or $2.00 for a sample Bag.

Visit Us At: The Simply Tea Shop ~ "For The Love Of Tea" ~

Belated Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Belated Wishes To You All.....

 

Where has Christmas & New Year gone.... they have raced by while i had my eyes shut! In a blink of any eye the year ends and another begins. Crazy. The pack up from Christmas begins taking down tinsel, fairy lights and baubles. Packing away Christmas carol Cd's and Christmas recipes books.... (meanwhile trying to unpack those Christmas calories that we all indulged in over the festive season)

BUT before you put your Christmas Recipe books away add one last recipe to your Christmas time baking repertoire. I was meant to post this Gingerbread recipe before Christmas and well it seems the season got away on me and here i am posting a out-of-date recipe and photos. Bear with me though.... if your like me and wonder where all that effort and preparation went over the season why not whip a batch of these gorgeous gingerbread (maybe cut different shapes) and sit back with a cuppa and savour the last of the Christmas flavours and ponder on all the happy memories of the season past.

Download Recipe From Here - Thanks to Taste.com.au

Merry Gingerbread Men & Women

Ingredients:

    * Melted butter, to grease
    * 125g butter, at room temperature
    * 100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
    * 125ml (1/2 cup) golden syrup
    * 1 egg, separated
    * 375g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour
    * 1 tbs ground ginger
    * 1 tsp mixed spice
    * 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
    * Plain flour, to dust
    * 150g (1 cup) pure icing sugar, sifted
    * Silver Cachous Balls

Method:
1.Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush 2 baking trays with melted butter to lightly grease.

2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the golden syrup and egg yolk and beat until combined. Stir in the flour, ginger, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Press dough into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

3.Meanwhile, place egg white in a clean, dry bowl. Use an electric beater to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add icing sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Cover with Cling wrap and place in fridge.

4.Place the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper and roll out until about 4mm thick. Use a 9cm gingerbread man cutter (or whatever shape you like) to cut out shapes. Place on trays about 3cm apart. Repeat with any excess dough.

5. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven. Transfer to a rack to cool.

6. Place prepared icings in small plastic bags. Cut a small hole in a corner of each bag. Pipe icing over gingerbread men to decorate. Finish with Silver Cachous balls.

Simply Tea Sipper

I would with no hesitation  recommend our Chai tea to have with these gingerbread men/women! A strong base of India teas, blended with rich warm spices; cinnamon, cloves, cardamon and ginger. These flavours will perfectly compliment the similar flavours and the soft buttery texture in the gingerbread..... simply delightful!

Order Now......

NEW YEAR SPECIAL

Purchase 100g  of any of our Loose Leaf Tea's and receive

Four of our 10g Samples bags - any flavour* of your choice for............. FREE! (rrp $8)

So if you need to re-stock your favourite flavour now is the time to do it, 

because while you do so you can try a few new flavours for Free while your at it??

To get in on this offer all you simply need to do is place your order of at least one 100g bag of tea of your choice.

Once you have checked out and paid simply email us at: orders@thesimplyteashop.com.au 

with the four flavours you would like sent with your order.

Offer Ends: 15th January 12pm EST

*Does not include Buddha's Tears

And don't forget to add this delicious gingerbread to your recipe book! 

HAPPY SIPPING!!!

Visit Us At: The Simply Tea Shop ~ "For The Love Of Tea" ~