Tiny Tea Cakes: Two for the Price of One!

Tea is a bit of a family tradition. Both my nana and papa emigrated from the UK and were avid tea drinkers. It’s the only caffeine I had until I was well through college and learned what real coffee beans tasted like. And while I start my day with a cup or two of Peet’s Major Dickasons, my go-to beverage the rest of the day is tea, be it hot or cold.

While Lipton was my early introduction to tea, I expanded to the Bigelow brand in my teens and herbals in college. While I am not a fan of flavored and fruity teas, I do love a good Earl Grey, and mint or chamomile after dinner. A culinary trip to Taiwan in 2004 got me more into leaf teas and certain blooming flower teas, as have my frequent forays to the U.K. over the last decade. 

There are times when I wish I was a throwback resident in London, working in an office where the tea cart came round twice a day. But sometimes I pretend and make some little tea cakes and sit down in the afternoon with a pretty pot and cup and saucer. Occasionally I invite over friends or neighbors to partake in a little tea party.

Hence my constant search for a good tea cake to serve. In early March, before this whole shelter in place edict, two of my neighbors joined me for tea and I made my nanny’s shortbread along with cherry and almond tea cakes and some fresh strawberries. 

I found the recipe on Pinterest and it’s actually from Martha Stewart. You use stemmed cherries, and the stems poke out the top of each little cake. The recipe calls for a fresh sweet cherry, like a Bing, but I had a jar of Trader Joes Pitted Amarena Cherries with Stems (in syrup) that I keep on hand for cocktails and ice cream sundaes. They worked really well. Up to you what type you use, just make sure they’re pitted!

I also made a really delicious batch of mini lemon tea cakes about two weeks prior to Easter. They originally appeared on the blog, Back for Seconds, also found via Pinterest. I brought a basket of these little gems to each neighbor, along with decorated Easter cookies and a little bunny door decoration I made. We were a few weeks into the quarantine and I thought everyone could use a bit of cheer. 

Both recipes are worth a share. Both are pretty darn easy to make and the lemon ones make a whopping 48, so they can be shared, as I did, or frozen for later consumption. 

You’ll find the recipes after the jump….

Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Goodness

I often entertain people who have food allergies or sensitivities. In this day and age, it’s really not uncommon. My own family has struggled through 3 generations of milk allergies, as well as sensitivities to alliums and nightshades. In fact, my most recent cookbook, Food Is Love, has a whole section on cooking with dietary restrictions. 

One of the more common issues I see is gluten intolerance. So, I’m always on the lookout for tasty gluten-free recipes, particularly for desserts. I’ve got several tried-and-true recipes, tested by family and friends, but am always on the hunt for more. 

Recently we hosted a social distancing Cinco de Mayo event for the neighborhood. We placed a fire pit in the middle of the cul-de-sac and everyone brought their own chairs and cups. Everything that was served was in single serving containers: tamales, sauce, tacos, street corn salad, gazpacho shooters, dulce de leche cupcakes, and Mexican wedding cookies. 

Most of the items were already gluten free, except the sweet treats. As one of our neighbors cannot tolerate gluten, I decided to make a cookie reminiscent of the Mexican wedding cookies—a crumbly pecan round coated in powdered sugar. They’re a mess to eat but so delicious that you don’t care if white specks cover the front of your shirt. Of course, I’m partial to anything with nuts, which is one of the reasons that I love these. 

My search yielded a simple recipe on the blog Eating Bird Food. What I really liked about this version is that it only makes a dozen or so cookies. So, if you need a gluten-free cookie for just one or two guests, this is the recipe to use. (Of course, those of us that can eat gluten love these as well!) 

The original recipe is for crescent-shaped cookies, with a yield of 23. I am highly suspicious of that number, as making round cookies only yielded 12. I suppose if you made them small enough, you might be able to squeeze out 11 more. So, it’s up to you on the shape and size of the cookies. You can make rounds or crescents and you can have 10-12 generously sized cookies or 20-24 tiny ones. Either way, you will not be disappointed. (And apologies for not having a picture of them.)

I also found that you can substitute almond meal for the almond flour. Almond flour is super fine and usually light beige or yellowish in color. Almond meal looks more like ground up almonds that had the skin on. I buy Trader Joe’s Almond Meal, as it is affordable and I can almost always use it interchangeably with almond flour.

Oh, and depending on the shortening you use—like Earth Balance—these can also be made in a for those who are strictly vegan. 

Check out the delicious recipe after the jump….

Bread x Two

I like to make bread and find the act of kneading to be very zen. I drift off as I work the dough into a nice smooth ball, ready for its second rise. Needless to say, I’ve been baking a fair amount of bread during this whole quarantine thing. Partly because I have the time, and partly because I hate making too many trips to the store, even though our county has been fairly devoid of any cases and no deaths whatsoever.

My neighbors have enjoyed this activity as well, as I share the bounty. They have learned that if they see yeast or flour in the store to grab it up for me. So I am doubly blessed, I get to eat fresh bread and I often don’t have to shop for the ingredients!

There are two recipes that I have been using a lot of. One is a variation on the 5 Minute Artisan Bread, that I’ve been making for the past 8 years. Everyone in the family makes a version of this 5-minute bread, which is a crusty loaf of goodness. The problem is that the 5 minutes is the hands-on time. While the bread requires no kneading per se, it does take 12 to 18 hours to rise. I don’t always want to wait that long. So, I’ve tried a few different alternatives to mimic it and hit upon one that I modified to fit with the utensils I own.

The recipe for the Rustic Italian Crusty Bread comes from the Ciao Florentina blog. This dough does not need to be kneaded and it only takes about 2-3 hours to rise and another 45 minutes to bake. The original recipe calls for it to be baked on a pizza stone, which I don’t own. So, I split the dough in half and cooked each half in my cast iron enameled pans. This also makes it easier to share with neighbors. (Original recipe can be found here.)

The second recipe we are loving right now comes from the blog, Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes. I wanted something a bit earthy that included molasses, and her Maple Molasses Oatmeal Boule was the perfect find…and it makes two loaves! This bread is heavenly when right out of the oven, with a schmear of butter and a sprinkling of salt. It’s also great with some lemon curd and can be used for sandwiches or as an accompaniment to a hearty soup or stew. You won’t be disappointed. 

Note: Both of these recipes are very forgiving, so if you are a breadmaking novice, there’s almost no way to screw these up, so give em a try. 

Recipes for both these breads can be found after the jump…..

Tasty Taco Tuesday

I love a good alliteration and I love a good taco, so I’m bringing you an easy, tasty recipe, perfect for any time of year. 

During this quarantine, we have tried to do takeout from one local dining establishment every week. Several weeks ago, The Standard Pour in Sonora offered Taco Tuesday, and we did a big order to share with the neighbors. We got shrimp, carne asada, grilled chicken and pork. All the proteins, as well as the accompaniments, came in individual containers and we built our own. We ate everything and enjoyed every bite.

This week I wanted to do my own Taco Tuesday. I had some frozen shrimp I’d bought on sale and a recipe I wanted to try for honey-chipotle shrimp tacos. So, I defrosted two pounds of shrimp and set out to make my own tortillas. 

You’re saying, “What?!?!?” This meal is supposed to be easy.”

The recipe overall is definitely easy. I certainly don’t expect you to make your own tortillas. I just had some time on my hands and happened to have some masa flour left from making tamales, so I thought I’d give it a go. And to be perfectly honest, most store-bought corn tortillas are actually really good and probably beat mine all to hell, especially as I didn’t have a tortilla press and if I described how I made them so perfectly round you would laugh your ass off. But I digress….

This meal is super simple, taking about 10 minutes of prep and 4-5 minutes to cook. Can’t beat that! Now, the shrimp have a little kick to them, so this may not be the best option for small children, but adults will gobble these tacos up. I served them with some homemade black beans, but they’d also be great with some grilled corn on the cob and charred green onions, or plain old refried beans. (Actually, they’d probably be good with burnt cauliflower or overcooked peas, they’re just that good.)

The shrimp is served with a nice avocado crema, chopped cilantro, thinly sliced onion and cabbage. Some nice slivered radishes would also be delicious

The recipe serves 4, but it can easily be doubled to serve 8, which is what you will want to do when this whole quarantine is over. In fact, throw in some ice-cold beer and frosty margaritas to wash it all down with and toast to your survival!

Note: The recipe calls for medium-large shrimp, which run about 31-40 per pound. I often get larger shrimp on sale and there’s no reason not to use them. You can either cut them in half lengthways or in thirds crossways…whatever is easier.

Honey-Chipotle Shrimp Tacos

1 pound medium-large raw shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 tablespoons adobo (from a can of chipotles in adobo*)

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons corn or vegetable oil

1/2 head Napa cabbage, thinly sliced

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

3 limes, cut in wedges

Salt

1 avocado

1/2 cup each sour cream and mayonnaise 

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Corn tortillas

Make the shrimp marinade by mixing the adobo sauce and honey. Toss in your shrimp and stir to thoroughly coat all the shrimp. Set aside. 

To make the avocado crema, mash the avocado and then sprinkle with the juice of half of a lime and a bit of salt. Mix in the sour cream and mayo and stir until no lumps remain. 

Take the thinly sliced onions and toss with lime juice from 2 of the lime wedges and a half teaspoon of salt.

Next, you’ll want to heat your tortillas—on the stove, on the grill or in the microwave—and keep warm. 

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large nonstick fry pan on medium-high. When it gets hot, gently toss in your shrimp and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook time will be dependent on how hot your pan is, how crowded the shrimp are, and how large the shrimp pieces are. The shrimp is done when it has turned completely pink. 

Top a warm tortilla with your shrimp, a squirt of lime juice, a good dollop of the avocado crema, then the onions, cilantro and cabbage. Dig in and prepare to be amazed!

Serves 4

*You can use the leftover chipotles in this delicious Chipotle Cream Sauce, an all-purpose sauce that has some heat to it. I have used it in all varieties of Mexican dishes, from tacos to burritos and as a dressing for taco salads. It also works well as a pasta sauce and a dip for chips.