The Earl of Chocolate gets Sconed!

It's time to swap again. I love swapping. It's something you often do with friends and around the Holidays there are a lot of cookie parties; however I had not figured out how to get a group together and swap with strangers. Fortunately, we found SF Swappers and now I don't have to organize anything at all! I just show up with my goodies and trade. Stephanie and Aimee are the co-organizers and the swap was their 2-year anniversary, so congrats ladies! J.K., Mel and I attended our first swap last year, so we haven't been involved from the get-go (more's the pity) but we've become regulars. Every swap brings new inspirations, ideas to steal, food to take home and appreciate, even the potluck prior to the actual swapping can give a person foodie ideas. I won't share all the items I took home in this post. However, if you want an awesome scone recipe and more information about Tipsy Tea, this is the spot to get it!

Packs of Two to swap. Tea+Sugar.

Earl Grey Tea, dried orange peel, cacao shells, chocolate chips

The scones are ready to swap!

Mel and I brought Tipsy Tea product to swap including Triple XXX Peppermint Tea paired with Vanilla Sugar, The Earl of Chocolate Tea paired with either Hibiscus Sugar Or Chocolate Sugar. We brought a Tipsy Tea cocktail to share at the potluck featuring the Peppermint Tea and Vanilla Sugar (with vodka!) and it was a hit. I also made The Earl of Chocolate Scones by adapting a recipe I had used for the Tipsy Tea Party. They turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. If you're wondering why the scones aren't round, well, it's because they're from a teapot shaped cookie cutter! I used a "tea tag" cookie cutter as well. Both were given to me by J.K., who got them at last year's Cookie Cutter Collectors Club convention. The theme of the convention was Garden Tea Party, and all the convention cutters reflected that theme. These ladies can be pretty fanatical about their finds, and they are really inspired by their hobby. If you like cookies, this is the club for you. I wonder if I could get some of the Cookie Cutter Collectors to come to the swap? Although J.K. might want to keep her hobbies separate. I'll have to ask her....

J.K. brought Hamantaschen to swap, which will appear in our next Cook The Book Post, and Peanut Butter Middle cookies for the potluck. Check out the tea scone recipe below, I adapted it from a cookbook I've had for a long time (I got it from a second hand store or maybe a Library book sale? I forget.), The Great Big Cookie Book.

Ingredients and tools.

My two cutters, tea tag (bottom) and teapot

All my dry ingredients.

Tea inside the cookies shaped like teapots, I'm feeling very Martha right now.

"Tea Tag" shapes as well as teapots.

A new twist on an old favorite!

Tea Scone Recipe
makes 12-16 depending on size

INGREDIENTS
2c. flour (I used whole wheat, but whatever you prefer is fine--even gluten free flour)
1/4t salt (I like to use a flavored salt, in this case Vanilla Salt)
1/2t baking soda
1t cream of tartar (I now have enough cream of tartar to choke a horse, had to buy it from Smart and Final)
2T butter
1T tea your choice (use a spice grinder to make a consistent size, unless you like leaves showing)
1/2c chocolate chips
3/4c buttermilk (add vinegar to sour your 'regular' milk)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Stir together dry ingredients including the tea. (Make sure your baking soda has not expired!)
Rub in your butter, cold butter makes a better crumb.
Add enough milk to make all the ingredients wet, but Not sticky. Start with 2/3 cup and add more if needed. The tea tends to soak up a bit of the moisture, so play it by ear.
Knead it in a bowl until mostly incorporated then knead on a flat surface until all dry ingredients are gone.
Roll out to 1" thick (use paddywacks if you're JK) and choose your cutter. Remember that if you use a drinking glass that scones may stick inside due to suction. Make sure to rim the glass with flour if choose to use it, as that should reduce sticking.
Place scones on the baking sheet and brush the tops with leftover milk.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly browned. (maybe a tan)
These depending on the size of your cutter these scones may take a minute longer to bake.

Grab some Double Devon Cream and your favorite jam or jelly---Chow Down! 

Tea Time enjoys good fish by B. Selengut

J.K. and I had a fishy lunch this week which featured a recipe found in this month's cookbook, good fish, by Becky Selengut. However, this selection for March cook the book doesn't have a single sweet recipe. Instead JK used her favorite shortbread recipe, Chocolate Liqueur Shortbread, from The Sophisticated Cookie, by Jeanne Benedict to create our dessert. We're going to split this post in two, getting fishy (part 1/Angela) and the cookies+cutters (part 2/J.K.).

For lunch we had Sardine and White Bean salad (p197). This appealed to me because I Love white beans and also the interesting introduction by the author, "I think you can get all the ingredients at a gas station." Which may or may not be true (I think it's possible!), but I definitely found them over at my local produce store. I didn't buy any bread as there were some leftover ends in the freezer which made perfect toaster oven croutons. The chosen Sardines turned out to be perfect for this cookbook recipe since they were clearly labeled as sustainable on the package. The opened tin contained lovely nearly whole fish, just minus heads, tails and guts. (I drained the oil and gave it to the cats for a treat, extra shiny coats this month!) I also love pickled red onion, but hadn't thought to make them myself as 'fridge pickles'. Thanks to the inspiration of this recipe, there is a batch of them chillin' right now. They are ready and willing to be tossed on any salad or used as garnish on a hot meal. Looking at ingredients, I subbed a nutty cow cheese (not aged) instead of Parm like in the recipe. J.K. and I really enjoyed this lunch. We ate the flavorful White Bean salad next to spinach leaves topped with olives and avocado. I also made a small compote of plain yogurt with walnuts and mandarin to go with our dessert cookies. This was a simple, yet tasty and satisfying meal. If you want a quick dinner, Sardines and White Beans with Fried Egg will hit the spot.

Ingredients!

Sardine and white bean salad with fried egg!

and JK, not pictured here, fish cookies for dessert.

Table for 2=Angela

I bookmarked several recipes in this months cookbook, but I just couldn't find the time to get the ingredients and make them. One of them I wish someone one else would make so I can eat it is the chilled crab soup (p55). I love a good soup and this one sounds divine. I also wanted to make the Quinoa cakes with smoked fish (p157). On a Hawaiian vacation we stopped at one fish shop/resto several times to buy up their delish fish salad and I am hoping this recipe could fill the smokey hole in my life. Really though, I can't wait to see what everyone else has cooked up this month, especially ohbriggsy and Grow and Resist, our intrepid cook the book leaders. (In fact, they've just posted the next four cookbooks, so why don't you check them out with us?) When they go, they go all out! I'm also wondering what they made for desserts to go with their dinner party meal?
 
Here's the scoop on the Dessert from J.K.

I started by digging out my fish cookie cutters, but I also have a few new toys to play with. March 14 is Pi day, so I ordered all three sizes of Pi cutters from CopperGifts.com in Kansas. The Doctor Who cutters were made by WarpZone, who sells on Etsy. The fish aren't signed, so I don't know who made them.

There are only five ingredients for this recipe. I chopped my frozen butter before putting it in the bowl with the sugar.

Then I wisked the flour and cocoa together, and measured the liqueur.

    

Pat your dough into a more-or-less square shape. I used my ¼" paddywhacks for the outline cutters. Paddywhacks are no longer being made, but Perfection Strips are currently available.

I covered the dough with a piece of psychic–er, I mean silicone–paper, to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.

A bit of dough did stick to the silicone paper.

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper and place cut cookies close together to freeze.

Place frozen cookies far enough apart on cookie sheet and bake while still frozen. This will help them keep their shape.

The 3/16" paddywhacks worked better with the Whovian impression cutters.
That's just the end of the dough between the two K-9s.

Baked fish cookies-Chocolate Dessert Deliciousness.