CHI ALPHA GALS FOR AFTERNOON TEA

Today I was blessed to give a Fall

Afternoon Tea for a group of Chi

Alpha college gals.  This is a Christian

Sorority funded by the Assemblies of

God and a wonderful program.

I took this photo outside 

at the end of our tea:

It was a beautiful day and we were

all lovely the cooler temperatures.

This was the menu:

Peaches and Cream

Scones Recipe (here)

Except I substituted buttermilk

instead of heavy whipping cream

A FALL AFTERNOON TEA

 Today I had an Afternoon Tea for a 

group I started back in March. (for the 

ladies living in my area)

 I was so glad it wasn't as hot as 

some of the

days we have had

this summer.

This was the table earlier as I was setting

up for 5 ladies plus myself.  As always,

some could not come as we all have

a lot going on.

I recently changed things up down in

the tea room by moving the cabinets

with tea wares to a different wall, moving

the mantle and mirror.  This is where

a husband really comes in handy!

I was blessed to be able to share

some "fallish" English cups

and saucers this time and I had

taken time to copy all the

recipes of the items we enjoyed.

I don't always have time for that

but this time it seemed to happen.

This was the menu and 

we had both iced and

later hot tea:

I always seem to miss taking

 photos of all the food

goodies!

PUMPKIN MUFFINS ON A FALL DAY

 This morning I made these muffins to 

take to a seniors church meeting.

You could make them for dinner tonight

or for a tea time.  There are lots of possibilities.  I guarantee they will be eaten!

This is a very simplified version of the

Pumpkin Muffins from the Sept/Oct 2012 issue of TeaTime: makes 12 muffins

Ingredients: 1 cup reg flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp bak powder, 1 tsp bak soda, 1 tsp grd cinnamon, 1/2 tsp grd ginger, 1/4 tsp grd cloves, 1/2 tsp salt

**1/2 cup dried cranberries or even raisins, 1 cup canned pumpkin, 2 large eggs 2/3 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup veg oil  (If I don't have buttermilk I just put a little lemon juice in milk)

Mix all the dried items and add moist items.

Fill the wells of large muffin tin tray 2/3 full and bake 18-20 min or 15 min in a convection oven.  I used some fun fallish muffins papers.

I hope you have been stocking up on some non perishable groceries at home.  Who knows where things are headed with all the decisions they are making.

**I used 1/3 cup craisins, 1/3 cup raisins and 1/2 cup walnuts  The recipe made 12+

THANKFUL FOR FRIENDS

While some have already decorated for

 Christmas this is the last week to

enjoy the fall decor at our house:

We are excited about bringing the smell

of roasting turkey and pumpkin pie

into the kitchen here this week as

our son and daughter in-law and

two "grands" come for Thanksgiving.

On Sunday I had a tea downstairs
 for some new friends from the church
 we attend.  It was a "Thankful For
 Friends" tea and it was a beautiful
 day to just relax and enjoy the
 calm before the busy week.

That little sign read "Gluten Free"!

So today we are enjoying a
 few leftover

treats from the tea:

Two recipes here at the bottom

are for the Pumpkin Cookies and

the Chocolate Peppermint Brownies. 
 I made the brownies in another
 batch using gluten free flour for 
some of the ladies so you can just 
substitute the flour in the recipe.

Pumpkin Raisin  Cookies:  350 degrees for 15 min MAKES ABOUT 60 medium or 46 large cookies

Combine ½ cup (1 stick) soft butter, 2 eggs ½ cup sugar, 1 ½ cups Brown Sugar, 1 Tsp vanilla, 1 Tb lemon juice

Combine: 2 ½ cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ginger,

 ¾ tsp baking soda, ½ Tsp salt, 1 tsp Cinnamon,   Next add these first 2 groups together and then mix in this: 1 ½ cups of canned pumpkin, (recipe  uses not quite a 15 oz can – rest will be for icing)  ¾ cup nuts and ¾ cup of raisins

TIPS:  I like to use parchment paper on my baking sheets to keep them clean.  Chill cookie sheets before dropping dough on them and also chill again in between batches - putting more on them.  Remove them to wax paper on counter/table to cool and get ready to ice them:

 ICING FOR COOKIES:  ¼ cup pumpkin, 4 Tb melted butter, 3 ¾ cups powdered sugar,  ½ Tsp lemon juice, pinch of salt and add ¼ cup of milk (or little more if dry) 

Chocolate Peppermint Bars 
This recipe will make about 4 dozen small rich bars:
#1  You will need for brownies base:    4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, 2 sticks butter, 4 eggs, 2 cups of granulated sugar, 1 cup all purpose flour,1 cups of nuts
#2  You will need for the mint filling:  1 lb.confect. sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), 1 stick butter, 3 Tb milk, 2 Tb imitation peppermint extract, ½ tsp vanilla extract, green food coloring
 #3  You will need for the glaze on top:  2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate and 3 Tb butter
 Get started on the brownies base:  melt the 4 squares of chocolate with the butter in a small pan. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and the sugar.  Add the flour to the egg mix and beat well.  Beat in the chocolate, and then fold in the nuts.  Bake 350 degrees in a greased and floured pan 11” x 16” or 2  8” square pans for 25-30 minutes.
 For the filling:  combine ingredients and beat till smooth. Spread as smoothly as possible on warm brownies.
 Melt the glaze ingredients together and brush on top of the filling.  Chill well.  Cut into small squares as these are rich,   You won’t be able to stay out of them!                  

PUMPKIN SWIRL BREAD TASTES YUMMY

Early in the week I baked this bread and it makes a total of 3 loaves so 2 went in the freezer:

This was before they were glazed:

Here is the recipe: 

here

This Ellsgreave teapot was 

a recent bargain find:

LEAF RAKING TEA

You and I can take a break from

 all this work and have a lovely cup of hot tea!

Over the last year I have found a number of these old afghans at bargain prices and this one was calling my name.  I cut some of the ones I found up to make tote bags for my shop but this one was a keeper.

I am sharing a Colough and a Sampson Smith cup and saucer from England and some little French plates with roses:

Definitely very colorful and fallish.

IT'S A BITTERSWEET TEA for "Tea In The Garden"

I apologize for being late with my Tea In The Garden this week.  I had just returned from my trip to Virginia at the end of September and three days later I left to drive out to Missouri.  It is an 11 hour trip and the last part was in buckets and buckets of rain.  In fact, when I got to Columbia the tornado sirens were going off.  I later heard that Boonville had gotten 6" of rain - yes I drove through all that!  Thank you Lord for a safe trip and a great time with my family.

Anyway, here I am home with my tea time in my garden this morning. My garden is also rather "spent" but it is a beautiful day just the same. Welcome to a BITTERSWEET Tea In The Garden:

I visited three antique malls and a flea market on my trip and I found this huge basket of bittersweet which I love!  I didn't see any in western Missouri but found some east of Columbia at the Artichoke Annie Antique Mall.

I have a few of the Price Kensington  English Cottage

 pieces that seem to scream fall.

Please pour yourself a cup of tea and enjoy the

 fresh fall air this morning!

I recently acquired a few pieces of Johnson Brothers Old Mill pattern which I plan to mix and match with some other  transferware for Thanksgiving.