Afternoon Tea.

A friend of mine who lives in a country town took a visitor to a community event recently — a kind of a fete —  and after looking around for a while, buying this and that from the many stalls, they went in search of a cup of tea. Imagine her delight when she not only found a tent selling cups of tea (and coffee), but it was done in real style, with not just perfectly brewed tea, but it was served in lovely cups on tables laid with gorgeously embroidered old-fashioned tablecloths. That’s her table below.

Isn’t it pretty? I have several table cloths like that from my grandmother, and I must use them more often. And how much nicer to drink tea from proper tea-cups instead of cardboard or polystyrene cups. I’m not sure what that cake on the bottom right was, but my friend said it was delicious. And in that plastic container on the bottom left, there are Welsh Cakes.

I’ve been intending to make Welsh Cakes for ages, and this might give me the inspiration I need. I’m cautious about what I bake, not because I’m a reluctant baker — I’m not — but I don’t want to tempt myself too often with delicious sweet cakes and biscuits, so when I do make something I keep a few for me, but I give most of what I bake to friends. There’s a recipe for Welsh Cakes here.

In fact I have just baked a batch of Sugar Cookies. I was inspired by this site, where the writer pressed a design into the unbaked cookies, using an old bowl with a patterned base. It looked so pretty, I immediately combed my cupboards for an appropriate press.  My friend Fay, who volunteers in an op-shop (charity shop), also found the perfect press for me, so today I baked a batch and experimented with the different presses. 

I used the recipe on the site I linked to above, but halved the quantities. And since I can’t get Crisco shortening — well I could if I wanted to pay $45 on amazon —  I used the last of a jar of coconut “oil” (which is solid until heated) and made up the difference with butter. The cookies taste faintly of coconut, which I like, so I’ll probably do that again, instead of trying to find some alternative shortening. Here are some of my biscuits (cookies) with different designs pressed into them. What do you think?