I don’t know about you but my life is out of this world crazy. Between work, two busy little boys, a house to take care of, mountains of laundry that need washing and countless other little life issues that pop up I barely have time to sit down and breathe blog. It’s been weeks since I have had a conversation with my girlfriends and even longer since we had been able to get together and spend an afternoon chatting and relaxing. Well enough was enough! On a Saturday afternoon I scheduled in a tea party on my planner. That’s right a tea party.
I’ll admit there was something a little silly about it, but every time I called up one of my friends and asked “So are you free Saturday, I’m having a tea party?” I got a huge smile on my face and a giggle out of them. Everyone I invited wanted to be there. Maybe it was remembering those afternoons as a little girl filling our plastic teapots with water and sneaking cookies out of the kitchen. Or maybe it was just a fun afternoon to escape life. Either way, it was an afternoon worth the effort.
I tried to keep the menu very simple because I didn’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. But at the same time wanted it to be some nice food, that we don’t normally have. I did some research on English teatime and found some food suggestions.
What I made
- Vegan cupcakes with almond frosting
- Marzipan strawberries
- Madelines
- Almond Mango Thumb prints
- Egg Salad Lettuce Wraps
- Roast Beef and Swiss Tea sandwiches
- Moroccan Mint tea
I think these strawberries are so cute. I always marveled at these tiny little cookies they make in Morocco. For our wedding there were lemon marzipan cookies (I love lemon). But I thought there must be some trick to this. No trick just some artistry. A lot of people don’t like the taste of marzipan and that’s ok – just accept them as a cute little addition to a plate!
Almond Mango Thumbprints – sooo good. I’m going to be honest. I had every intention of sharing this recipe but…I forgot where I wrote it down! I’ll have to make these again to figure it out, but in the meantime you can use any almond cookie or sugar cookie recipe for thumb print cookies to get great results. The mango jam was really what made this for me!
Then the Madelines. People are really intimidated by these. Maybe it’s because of the seashell pan? But they’re not hard and they are so tasty! The hardest part might be getting the pan. I’ve never seen a Madeline not in this shape. But I will share this recipe with you!
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon orange blossom water
- 1/4 cup butter – melted
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Melt butter. In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs, vanilla and salt until light and airy.
- Continue beating while slowly adding sugar; continue beating for about 5 minutes.
- Turn down the speed of the beaters to low (or fold in with a spatula) and slowly pour flour into the egg mixture about 1/4 at a time.
- Add orange blossom wanter and melted butter. Quickly combine butter and orange blossom water.
- Butter and flour the madeline pan (I use Pam baking spray with flour – works wonderfully!)
- Fill each mold with batter to the top of the seashell. (If you have additional batter place it into the refrigerator until you’re ready for the next batch).
- Bake about 15 minutes until cookies are slightly brown. You don’t want them too brown because they should remain a spongy cookie, not hard.
- Remove from oven and use a knife to gently break the seal of the cookie in the pan. Turn out onto a cooling rack.
- Bake 14 to 17 minutes, or until cakes are golden and the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertip.
- Use the tip of the knife to loosen madeleines from pan; invert onto rack.
- You can sprinkle with powdered sugar, vanilla sugar, cocoa powder or dip in chocolate. I love them plain.
It’s so important for mom’s to take a break to reconnect with their girlfriends. I really encourage you to take an afternoon off, and host a tea party. Trust me you’ll feel like you’re 8 again!
Amanda is a curious world traveling, mom of two busy boys, foodie at heart, addicted to social media and lover of all things Moroccan. If she’s not talking about food and Morocco at MarocMama.com, she is engaged in her daytime role as a non-profit fund development and community outreach coordinator.
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