cooking ala mel

Iced Strawberry Lemonade

June 3, 2011

What’s a tea party bridal shower without lots of delicious refreshments? On the tables, we had little baskets of assorted tea bags so that each guest could choose their own tea if they so wished. Coffee was also served, of course. There was some peach mango iced tea from Lipton that my mom made..and then there was iced strawberry lemonade. It was gone within a half hour.

This was the only one of the recipes I had chosen for the menu that I allowed someone else to make. I had just a little too much stress/not enough time to be able to make that one on my own as I was slicing bread for the crostinis, toasting it, and assembling all of the other foods. My sister’s roommate from college, Megan, made this lemonade for me, and she did a fantastic job. I only got a small glass, it went so quickly, but it was heavenly. Cool, refreshing, slightly sweet, slightly sour..perfect for the summer.

Iced Strawberry Lemonade

from Family Kitchen

10 strawberries (or 5-6 very large ones)

2/3 cup sugar

4 whole lemons, rinds off

3 cups ice

1 1/2 cups water

In a blender, combine the strawberries, half of the sugar, 1/2 cup ice and 1/2 cup water. Blend until smooth (will be thick). Pour into the bottom of four glasses or a glass pitcher. Rinse out your blender and then add the lemons and the remaining sugar, water and ice. Begin on a slow blending speed, and then raise it to high speed. Blend until smooth. Pour over the strawberry mixture and serve.

Maple Nut Scones with Cappuccino Glaze

June 2, 2011

I’ve been wanting to make scones for a very, very long time (see the Summer Recipe Goal List). And so of course, when throwing a bridal shower tea party..scones are a MUST. Perfect opportunity! The only problem was deciding what KIND of scones to make. Blueberry lemon like this sounded delightful, as did these strawberries and cream scones from KAF. I ended up choosing maple nut scones reminiscent of Starbuck’s from the family kitchen. Why? Maybe I hadn’t had waffles for a while and I was really in the mood for some maple syrup. That’s probably it. And I wanted some nuts..and an excuse to make a delicious cappuccino glaze to complement the maple flavor.

These scones were delightfully nutty, oaty, with just the right amount of sweetness from the glaze. And oh boy, is this glaze fantastic. I made sure to get it all over my fingers as I drizzled so I could taste as much as I could get my hands on..not because I’m messy. It just appears that way.

I made sure to put the scones on almost every single tier/plate of desserts I could. They’re just too cute! They’re so simple to make, too. I always was a bit afraid of the rolling out of scone dough and cutting it, but that was surprisingly easy. And they were light and soft inside, just how I wanted them to turn out!

These scones are perfect for breakfast (especially if you throw in some white whole wheat flour, which I will surely do next time) or for dessert..or anytime, really. And they’re mini, so you can have a few without feeling guilty.

And because I haven’t shared the full dessert table with you…

We were set with sweets. And you’ll notice that this is the only table that’s near any natural light; my mom and I had several arguments the morning of the shower because of that – I wanted to be able to take some great pictures! Alas, it was not to be..but I still took some anyway to share with you all!

Maple Nut Scones with Cappuccino Glaze

yields roughly 3 dozen mini scones

For the scones:

1 cup rolled oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 t salt

1 T baking powder

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 1/2 T cold butter

1 egg

1/2 cup half-and-half (I used fat-free!)

2 t maple extract

2/3 cup pecans, finely chopped

In a food processor, grind the oats into a flour (fine crumbs). Stir in the salt, baking powder and flour. Add the maple syrup and butter and mix. In a separate dish, beat together the half-and-half, egg and maple extract. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture and then gently fold in the pecans. Roll out onto a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Cut long strips through the dough and then cut each of these strips into squares (2″). Cut the squares in half diagonally to make triangles.

Bake the scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper at 425ºF for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned. Allow to cool on wire racks. Once cool, drizzle with the cappuccino glaze and allow to harden before serving.

For the cappuccino glaze:

1/2 t instant coffee

1/2 t water

1/4 t vanilla

pinch of salt

1 T half-and-half (again, I used fat-free)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together the instant coffee, water, vanilla and salt until the coffee granules are completely dissolved. Slowly whisk in the half-and-half and powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Pour into a small plastic bag and snip the corner off of the bag. Drizzle the scones and allow to harden before serving.

Chocolate Chip Tea Cookies

June 2, 2011

It’s been quite a while! It’s been a very busy few weeks around these parts. As soon as the bridal shower for my sister was over, I was off to my grandma’s to bake dozens upon dozens of cookies for the wedding. As soon as I got home, I had to start packing up to move into our new apartment! We’re finally settled in for the most part other than a few finishing touches, and we finally got our internet set up today – thank goodness! We’ve been doing lots of cooking but have had little time to document any of it, so I’m going to continue sharing the treats from the shower – they were all so delicious, it’ll be quite a while I’ll be sharing these recipes!

These chocolate chip tea cookies are light and fluffy – they’re like little pillows of buttery, chocolatey goodness. They’re my dad’s favorite from all of the shower goodies, which is saying quite a lot, considering chocolate cupcakes were also involved! He loves anything chocolate. I really can’t choose a favorite, I loved them all so much, but I keep going back to these ones that are left over stashed in my freezer!

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