Celebrate Afternoon Tea Week with these scrumptious sweet and savoury recipes.

Image: Mosney Mill

Afternoon tea week is just around the corner (10th to 16th August) so we’ve come up with a few quintessential British recipes for you and the family to enjoy.

Chorizo scotch eggs

Image: Pique 

Is there anything better than a traditional scotch egg? Make this delicious recipe with a twist!

Ingredients

• 200g sausage meat
• 200g chorizo sausages
• 4 sprigs of thyme
• 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• Handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Place all the ingredients apart from the flour in a blender and roughly blitz, tip out and add the flour. If it’s too dry, add the juice of a lemon. Season to taste.
2. Have a bowl of plenty of very cold water ready next to the pan.
3. Boil a pan of water, there should be plenty of room to get your eggs in one go.
4. Gently lower in your eggs and start the timer for 6 mintes.
5. Remove eggs and place straight into the cold water to cool for at least 5 minutes.
6. Peel the eggs by gently tapping on a surface, rinse them in the water to remove any shell and dry on kitchen towels.
7. Take your sausage mix, form a patty about the size of your hand, on your hand and 0.5cm thick. Place an egg on the patty and gently fold around to wrap the egg – you want it to be an even thickness throughout and not too thick. Pinch off any extra and add more to areas if needs be.
8. Once all your eggs are wrapped, roll each one in flour, followed by egg, followed by breadcrumbs and set aside.
9. Heat vegetable or sunflower oil in a pan to around 170°C, its ready when a chunk of breadcrumb turns brown in 30 seconds.
10. Gently lower in your eggs and fry each for 6 minutes, carefully remove and drain on kitchen paper. Allow to cool, then refrigerate.

Perfect cheese scones

Image: Watercress

No afternoon tea is complete without a scone – whether it be sweet or savoury.

Ingredients

• 100g watercress
• 225g self-raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp mustard powder (optional)
• A pinch of salt
• 50g butter, cubed
• 75g mature Cheddar cheese, grated
• 200ml buttermilk plus a little for brushing the tops
• A pinch or two of cayenne pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/Fan 200°C/ Gas Mark 7. Reserve a few small sprigs of watercress to decorate the tops. Finely chop the remainder.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and mustard into a large bowl. Add the salt, butter, then use your fingertips to rub it into the dry ingredients. Stir in the chopped watercress and two thirds of the cheese, mix well.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the buttermilk and mix together with a round bladed knife to form a soft dough.
4. Very lightly knead on a floured surface, then use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough to a thickness of 2.5cm. Use a 6cm plain round cutter to press out circles of the dough, re-rolling lightly, as necessary. The mixture should make 9 scones.
5. Place the scones on an oiled large baking sheet. Brush each with a little buttermilk (or milk), top with a sprig of watercress, then scatter over the remaining cheese.  Dust with a little pinch of cayenne if liked, then bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 mins or until golden on the top. Leave to cool on the baking tray for 5 mins before serving warm.

Maple eclairs

Image: Maple from Canada

For an extra special sweet treat, these maple eclairs will definitely hit the spot.

Ingredients

For the maple cream

• 360ml whole milk
• 80g caster sugar, split
• 1/2 tsp ground salt
• 30g cornflour
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 egg yolks
• 40ml pure maple syrup (preferably amber syrup for its rich taste)
• 40g unsalted butter, chopped

For the choux pastry

• 240ml water
• 120g unsalted butter
• Pinch salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 140g flour
• 4 eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 beaten egg, for egg wash

Method

For the pastry cream

1. Add the milk and half the sugar into a medium saucepan. Over medium-high heat bring the milk to a simmer, almost to a boil.
2. Whilst the milk is heating up, in a medium bowl placed on a tea towel (to prevent it from slipping), add the rest of the sugar, salt, corn flour, vanilla extract and yolks and whisk until combined.
3. Once the milk starts to bubble, remove the pan from the heat. Whilst continuously whisking the egg mix, slowly pour a quarter of the milk in a thin steady stream into the egg mix to temper it. When it has been tempered, pour the egg mix back into the milk saucepan.
4. Place the saucepan back onto medium heat and heat the custard base whilst whisking constantly until it starts to thicken. Once bubbles appear turn the heat down to low and keep whisking for a further 2 minutes. Add the maple syrup and butter and whisk until melted.
5. Remove from the heat and push the custard base through a sieve over a medium bowl. Immediately cover the surface of the custard with cling film, allow to cool to room temperature and chill in the fridge until required.

For the choux pastry

1. Heat your oven to 210°C. Line two baking trays with parchment paper. In a medium sauce pan add the water, butter, salt and sugar and bring to the boil over medium heat melting the butter.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and tip the flour into the saucepan. Stir until completely combined and the mixture forms a ball. Place back onto the heat and cook out the flour for 3 minutes to dry out the dough. Remove from the heat and place in a bowl to cool for 10 minutes or until the dough has stopped steaming but is still warm. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. The mixture will make a smooth and shiny paste.
3. Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain nozzle and pipe 11cm long lengths on baking paper leaving a couple of cm gaps between each length. Dip your finger in water and smooth the ends of the length so that it doesn’t have a point. Gently brush the choux dough with egg wash.
4. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven, poke a hole in the bottom of each choux to allow the steam to escape and cool for at least an hour.
5. Decorate with the maple cream and sprinkle with your favourite topping!

Millionaire’s shortbread

Image: Easy Peasy Baking 

This one is for all of you chocolate lovers out there. In our opinion this classic dessert is perfect for an afternoon tea set-up.

Ingredients

• 100g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 50g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 125g plain flour
• 25g cornflour
• 300g toffees
• 150ml double cream
• 300g milk chocolate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan).
2. In the mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with the electric hand whisk.
3. Add the flour and cornflour and continue to mix with the electric hand whisk until a crumb consistency is achieved, then pour the mix into the lined tin. Spread it out evenly and push down so the crumbs form a smooth base, before baking for 15 minutes.
4. Whilst the base is baking, put the toffees and double cream in the saucepan over a medium heat, constantly stirring until the toffees have melted and combined with the cream.
5. Once baked, remove the base from the oven and pour the caramel over the top in an even layer. Allow the whole thing to cool. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between each time and then pour over the cooled base and caramel to form another even layer.
6. Place the whole thing in the fridge to chill for at least an hour – longer is preferable before removing from the tin and portioning.

Elderflower tartlets

Image: Fine Dining Lovers

Place these pretty tartlets on the top of your cake stand for a floral showstopper.

Ingredients

• 150g flour
• A pinch of salt
• 100g of butter
• 50g of caster sugar
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, retain the juice
• 1 egg, beaten
• 125 ml elderflower cordial
• 300 ml cream
• 2 tablespoons of caster sugar
• Icing sugar to decorate
• Raspberries and blueberries to decorate

Method

For the pastry

1. Put the flour in a mixing bowl and stir in the salt.
2. Rub in the butter with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Stir in the sugar, lemon zest and egg and mix with your hands to form a dough.
4. If the mixture is too dry, add a little water, if it is too wet add a little more flour. Shape into a ball.
5. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
6. Heat the oven to 150°C (130°C fan) gas 2.
7. Grease 6 muffin tins or moulds.
8. Divide the pastry into 6 pieces and press into the tins.
9. Line with non-stick baking paper and baking beans and bake for 20-30 minutes until lightly golden.
10. Remove the paper and beans, prick the bases with a fork and bake for a further 5 minutes.
11. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

For the filling

1. Mix together the elderflower cordial, cream and sugar in a pan.
2. Heat until just boiling, then remove from the heat immediately.
3. Whisk in the lemon juice and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
4. Pour into the pastry cases and leave to cool.
5. Chill for at least 4 hours until the filling has set.
6. Sift over a little icing sugar and serve with berries.

Which recipe is your favourite? Let us know on social! Tweet us @goodhomesmag or post a comment on our Facebook page. 

 

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