How to Create a Crepe Bar

How to Create a Crepe BarWe use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

I absolutely love crepes and thought I would share my favorite recipe for making crepes and filling ideas for creating a crepe bar!

How to create a crepe bar - complete with crepe recipe and crepe filling ideas!

First though, let’s admire the finished product:

Filling Ideas:

  • Raspberries
  • Strawberries
  • Bananas
  • Blueberries
  • Blackberries
  • Peaches
  • Nutella
  • Raspberry Coulis Sauce
  • Blueberry Sauce
  • Blackberry Sauce
  • Lemon or Lime yogurt Sauce
  • Caramel Sauce
  • Whipped Cream
  • Lemon Curd
  • Ricotta

Now, to make crepes a crepe pan is a must have. You can use a regular skillet but it just does not cook the same as a crepe pan, IMO. This is the crepe pan I have exactly, however there are a few other cheaper options: This is a 3-piece set for $40 with spreader and flipper. Here is just a crepe pan without the set OR you can just get the spreader and flipper here and use a skillet that you already own.

Cooking the crepe on the crepe pan!

Now fill your crepe with the goodness and enjoy!

Crepes With Raspberry-Cassis Sauce recipes by Martha Rose Shulman

YIELD 6 servings

Ingredients

For the crepes:

* 1 ¼ cups/300 milliliters low-fat milk, such as skim or 1 percent

* 2 large eggs

* ¼ teaspoon salt

* 1 tablespoon/15 grams sugar

* ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon/55 grams unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted

* ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon/55 grams whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour, sifted

* 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus butter for the pan

* 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest (from about 1/2 lime)

For the raspberry coulis:

* ¼ cup sugar

* ½ teaspoon rose water

* 1 6-ounce box raspberries (about 1 1/4 cups)

* 1 tablespoon crème de cassis liqueur

For the yogurt filling:

* 1 ¼ cups/300 milliliters plain Greek yogurt (2 percent fat)

* 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon mild honey, such as clover or acacia (more to taste)

* 1 ¼ teaspoons finely grated lime zest (from about 1/2 lime)

* 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons fresh lime juice (to taste)

For the garnish:

* 1 6-ounce box raspberries (about 1 1/4 cups)

* Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

PREPARATION

Step 1- To make crepe batter, place milk, eggs, salt and sugar in blender. Turn on and, with the motor running, add flours, then melted butter and blend at high speed for 1 minute, until well mixed and smooth. Transfer to a bowl, stir in lime zest, cover and let rest for at least 30 minutes. If resting batter longer, refrigerate. (Whisk again before making crepes.)

Step 2- While batter is resting, make raspberry sauce. Combine 1/3 cup water and sugar in small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat. Stir in rose water, raspberries and cassis liqueur. Return to heat, bring to a simmer, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat and strain the mixture into a bowl. Press the raspberry pulp through strainer with a spatula and discard seeds. Whisk or stir to blend pulp and syrup and set aside.

Step 3- Make the yogurt filling: In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, honey, lime zest and juice. Taste and adjust sweetness. Set aside.

Step 4- To make crepes, heat 8-inch nonstick crepe pan or skillet over medium-high heat and brush lightly with butter. Pan must be hot when you add crepe batter. Lift pan off heat and pour or ladle in a scant 1/4 cup batter, enough to thinly coat bottom of pan. Tilt and swirl pan to distribute batter in an even layer. Return pan to heat and cook crepe for about 1 minute, until edges color and bottom of crepe is lightly browned. Crepe should not stick to pan. Flip crepe over and cook for 30 seconds on the other side, until speckled. Turn out onto a plate. Continue with remaining batter, brushing pan occasionally with butter if desired.

Step 5- If you want to serve crepes at their hottest, assemble them as they come out of the pan. Spread a rounded tablespoon of the yogurt mixture over each crepe, drizzle on 1/2 teaspoon raspberry sauce, fold crepe in half and then in half again. Place on plate or platter. When all crepes are made and filled, spoon or pour sauce over, garnish with raspberries, and, if desired, dust with powdered sugar. Serve.

* Crepes can be made ahead and filled and reheated in a 250-degree oven for 20 minutes before being topped with sauce.

It’s interesting to me that street food in Europe includes crepes, gelato, toasted nuts… but here in the USA it is elephant ears and corn dogs!

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Fashion Finds

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Sharing a just few fashion finds…

These boots with pearl detail on the bottom!

This flapper dress – if you are looking for a Halloween costume, this is great costume! AND you could totally wear it to other events too. It comes in tons of colors and is under $40.

These fancy heeled shoes – they totally remind me of something straight out of the 18th century!

I actually own these Paul Green shoes and they are super comfy and on sale for HALF PRICE! Also comes in black.

This jumpsuit is totally adorable and giving my vibes from the awesome show, Fleabag (on Amazon – go watch it right now)

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The Best Blueberry Muffins You’ll Ever Make

blueberry muffins recipeWe use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

I made the most incredible blueberry muffins recently and had to share the recipe!

Homemade Blueberry Muffins

The muffins were scrumptious!  You can’t just eat one!
Blueberry Muffins Recipe

Now, these muffins aren’t ones you can just whip up in the morning and put in the oven – you have to plan the night before.  The batter has to rest overnight.

the best blueberry muffins you'll make(affiliate links used below)

Then the next morning you can put them in the oven!  Yum, what’s not to love about warm muffins in the morning?  The recipe comes from the Bouchon Bakery book. The Bouchon Bakery book is a collection of recipes from chef Thomas Keller – of French Laundry fame. (He is the only American chef to have been awarded simultaneous three star Michelin ratings for two different restaurants!).
blueberry muffins recipe

This recipe actually calls for frozen wild blueberries.  We could not find frozen wild blueberries – just “plain” frozen blueberries.  The wild blueberries apparently have a lower moisture content and are smaller.  The standard frozen blueberries did just fine!

blueberry muffins

Blueberry Muffin Batter (makes 12 standard muffins or 6 jumbo muffins)

Ingredients

Frozen wild blueberries 180g (3/4cup + 3 tbsp)

All-purpose flour 10g (1 tbsp)

cake flour 109g (3/4cup +1 1/2tbsp)

Baking Powder 2.8g (1/2 + 1/8 tsp)

Baking Soda 2.8g (1/2 + 1/8 tsp)

Salt 2.4g (3/4 tsp)

Unsalted butter, room temperature 96g (3.4 ounces)

Granulated Sugar 96g (1/2 cup)

Unsulfured molasses 40g (2 tbsp)

Clover honey 54g (2 1/2 tbsp)

Eggs 72g (1/4 cup +  1 1/2tsp)

Vanilla paste 1.2g (1/4 tsp)

Buttermilk 57g (1/4 cup)

Almond Streusel 150g (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) (recipe below)

blueberry muffins

Directions

  1. Toss the frozen blueberries with the 10grams of all purpose flour in a small bowl, cover with lid and place in freezer.
  2. Mix the 86g all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
  3. Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream the butter until it is the consistency of mayonnaise.
  4. Mix the sugar into the butter for about 1 minute until it is fluffy.
  5. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix for 30 seconds until it is just combined.
  6. Add half the flour mixture and mix until just combined.  Then add half the buttermilk and mix until just combined. Repeat with dry ingredients again, followed by the buttermilk.
  7. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate any remaining dry ingredients.  Then transfer batter to a covered container and place in refrigerator overnight, for up to 36 hours.
  8. The next morning, preheat over to 425 Standard.  Line your muffin pan with papers.  Remove the batter from the fridge and let it sit for 15 minutes until it is softened enough so you can mix in blueberries.
  9. Remove the blueberries from the freezer and gently stir into the batter.  Spoon the batter into the muffin papers.  Sprinkle a generous amount of streusel on top of each muffin.
  10. Place pan in oven and immediately lower temperature to 325F.  Bake for 25-35 minutes, until topping is golden brown and skewer comes out clean.
  11. Remove from over and place on cooling rack and cool completely.  Muffins are best the day they are made but can be stored at room temp in sealed container for 3 days or frozen for 1 week.

homemade blueberry muffins

Almond Streusel 

Ingredients

All-purpose flour 120g (3/4 cup + 2tbsp)

Almond Flour 120g (1 cup + 1tbsp)

Granulated sugar 120g (1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp)

Kosher salt 0.6 g ( 1/4 tsp)

Cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces 120g (4.2 ounces)

Directions for the streusel

  1. Combine the dry ingredients together.
  2. Add the butter and toss to coat the pieces.  Using your fingers, break the butter into tiny pieces about 1/8 inch in size.  Do not overwork the mixture – if butter becomes soft, put back in fridge to keep cool.
  3. Transfer streusel to covered container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using.  Use streusel while it is cold.

 Blueberry Muffins Recipe from Bouchon and a book review

My overall impression of the Bouchon Bakery book – many great recipes are in here!  However, like most French recipes, they require time and patience!


This book is not for novice bakers, but it is for those who are ready to move past your simple chocolate chip recipe.  Some of the recipes are challenging as well – perfect for more advanced bakers!

Also, I strongly recommend using weights for measuring your ingredients.  If you don’t have a food scale, I would not attempt to make these recipes because there is simply too much variation in the recipe if you use cups and tsp!

Blueberry Muffins recipe

Next, I am excited to start baking bread from these recipes.  If you ever go to Bouchon Bistro or Bakery, I strongly recommend trying a baguette or pain d’epi as they are the best ones I’ve had outside of France!

blueberry muffins recipe

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Strawberry Peach Crepes

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This past Christmas I received a crepe pan and I was SOOOOO EXCITED to make crepes.  It took many tries to find a recipe that we liked the best, but then we finally found it!! 

What I did now know when I received my crepe pan, is that my husband would turn out to be the master crepe maker as someone (*cough*me*cough*) likes to sleep in and misses the early morning preparation for crepes.

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I’m including the basic crepe recipe that we use to make all of our crepes – the fillings we choose are usually just fruit simply cut up and served either with whipped cream, Nutella, yogurt sauce, or raspberry-cassis sauce.

Basic Crepe Recipe – makes 6 crepes

adapted from NYT cooking


Ingredients

1 1/4 cup low-fat milk

2 large eggs

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp (15g) granulated sugar 

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp (55g) all-purpose flour, sifted

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp (55g) whole wheat flour, sifted

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus a little bit of butter for the pan

1 tsp final grated lime zest (or lemon)

Directions

1. In a blender, place the milk, eggs, salt, and sugar.  Turn on, and with the motor running, add the flours then the melted butter.  Then blend on high speed for 1 minute, until well-mixed and smooth.  Transfer this to a bowl, stir in the lime zest, cover, and let rest for 30 minutes.

2. To make the crepes, heat up the crepe pan over medium-high heat and brush lightly with butter.  Pan must be hot when you add the crepe batter. 

3. Give your batter a quick whisk before you use it now. Then, lift the pan off the heat and add approx. 1/4 cup batter, just thin enough to evenly coat the bottom of the pan. Tilt and swirl pan to distribute evenly.

4. Return pan to heat and cook crepe for about 1 minute until the edges color and the crepe bottom is lightly browned. It should not stick to the pan. Flip crepe over and cook for another 30 seconds or so on the other side, until speckled.

5. Place crepe onto a plate and continue with the remaining batter, adding butter occasionally to the pan if desired.

6. Crepes are best served at their hottest, so assemble one by one.

7. Here, we cut up fresh strawberries and peaches. The proper way to serve the crepe is to fold it in half, then fold it in half again, so you end up with a quarter triangle like below.  We filled this one with strawberries, peaches, and whipped cream!

8. Crepes can be made ahead and reheated in 250 degree oven for 20 minutes. (I have not personally tried this)

What we found when making our crepes was that for some reason the first crepe that comes off the pan is always wonky and stupid and we always throw it away. I don’t know why, but it just seems to be the case.

A note on crepe pans…

You don’t HAVE to use a crepe pan to make crepes, but I figured that it must be better made on a crepe pan otherwise they would have never invented such a thing. The key to a crepe pan is having the heat evenly distributed.

Now, this is the crepe pan that we use (by Staub) and we LOVE it. It is cast iron which evenly distributes heat.

This copper crepe pan of course is a winner but it is nearly twice the price as the one we have.

This one from De Buyer is only $25 and can be used on induction cooktops. 

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An English Tea with a Lemon Scone Recipe

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Doesn’t it look like Spring in the picture below?? We went to the flower market and bought some fresh flowers. January is so blah outside.  After arranging the flowers in the tulipiere, my Mom and I sat down and have a lovely Afternoon Tea like the Brits! Tea time certainly raises the mood on a blustery, wet ,and dreary day.

 I like the ombre look this arrangement. Dark pink tulips on the bottom, light pink tulips in the middle, and white tuberose on top. The tuberose smells heavenly.

Now, onto the simple scone recipe. It was really easy to make. Took me less than an hour from start to finish. 

Now, I initially wanted to make these scones from Simply Suzanne’s, but I didn’t have vanilla beans. But you know what I have? LEMONS. Lemons are coming out of my ears over here. We have so many Meyer lemon trees it borders on ridiculous. (I like the look of a lemon tree surrounded by lavender in the garden). So I added some lemon zest and made a lemon glaze to the simple cream scone recipe.

Lemon Scone Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into little chunks and chilled
  • 1 cup heavy cream (slightly less than 1 cup)
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • juice of 1 lemon ** note: measure it out in a measuring cup so you know how much liquid you added!

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 450F. (I actually did it on 425 on convection bake)
  2. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together.
  3. Add the zest of one lemon and the lemon juice and pulse, about 3 times total.
  4. Scatter the butter on top of the flour mixture, then pulse together until it looks like coarse meal, about 12 pulses. (Or you can always cut the butter in with a pastry cutter, fork, small knife or even your hand!
  5. Now for measuring the cream… remember you measured the juice of 1 lemon? Now subtract the amount of juice of lemon from 1 cup and then add that amount of cream to the scone. For example, my lemon made 1/8 cup of juice, so I added 7/8 cup cream. I don’t have an exact number of how much cream to add because every lemon is a different size.Or if that’s too hard just add 1 cup of cream. Ok, stir the cream into the flour mixture.
  6. Now, put the mixture of the dough onto a floured counter surface and knead together until a slightly sticky ball forms, only about10 seconds. You do not want to over work the dough. Some large chunks of butter are okay.
  7. Pat the dough into a circle that’s about 9 inches, then slice into 8 wedges.
  8. Transfer the wedges to a baking sheet lined with Silpat or parchment paper.
  9. Bake until the the tops of the scones are lightly golden brown, approximately 12-15 minutes.
  10. Transfer to the wire rack and let cool at least 10 minutes before enjoying!

Lemon Glaze Recipe

  • 1 cup confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • zest of 1 lemon 
  • 3-4 tsp of water, lemon juice, or milk

Mix together all of the ingredients in the glaze, adding more sugar or less liquid depending on how thick it is. Spread it on the scones.

The tea we enjoyed was purchased on our trip to Paris. It is Laduree’s House tea and it is really nice.  I wrote about my trip to the Laduree Tea Room here.

One last look at our nice little afternoon tea. We certainly felt British with the rain pouring outside today!

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Pumpkin Spice Bread Recipe

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I’m back with another pumpkin recipe this week! Pumpkin bread. I realized I rather like to eat pumpkins.
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I’ll admit, this is kind of a “cheater” recipe. BUT it’s seriously the best pumpkin bread I’ve ever had.

pumpkin spice bread recipe

Why is this a “cheater” recipe? Well… *looks around*… I used a mix. Shh! Don’t tell my family and friends! They all love this bread! But yes, I’ve been using this mix for years! It’s from Williams-Sonoma. Every year I buy two mixes total as a splurge… I don’t drink alcohol, so it’s like the price of a fancy cocktail! (See how you can justify buying nice things by cutting other things out?)

What I like about this pumpkin bread mix is that it has more spice in it than other pumpkin breads. I guess if you read the mix though, it is called a pumpkin SPICE bread. I think it has a really nice flavor.  You could bake it in this cute bread pan.  You could also buy it was the pumpkin butter as it is super good with the pumpkin butter… bread mix and pecan pumpkin butter.  Here is the gluten-free version of the bread mix!

Pumpkin Spice Bread Recipe

makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

  • 1 bag Pumpkin Spice Bread Mix from Williams Sonoma (get it here)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 2 eggs

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. 
  2. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl
  3. Pour into a greased bread pan
  4. Bake for 55-65 minutes, or until sticking a fork on the top comes out dry
  5. Let cool on rack for 15 minutes, then enjoy!

I like eating mine with my homemade pumpkin spice latte or with a homemade cinnamon dolce latte! So, go ahead, make your own pumpkin spice latte (recipe here) this week and use the money saved on your $12 bread mix. See how we saved money for this splurge??

pumpkin spice bread recipe

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Pumpkin Scone Recipe – Starbucks Copycat

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It’s pumpkin season time.  I LOVE pumpkin scones. I tried the pumpkin scones from Starbucks this year (last year I couldn’t, you can read about their snafu here) and it was a bit too sweet for me… there was just SO MUCH frosting.  I finally found a recipe that I love… it’s a copycat Starbucks pumpkin scone recipe! What I like about this recipe is that it calls for a bit less butter and oil compared to other scone recipes.

A delicious and healthier Starbucks copycat Pumpkin Scone recipe!
Pumpkin Scones printable recipe here

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 7 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 6 tbsp cold butter
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 3 tbsp milk (or half-half, or whole milk, non-fat, 2%, whatever)
  • 1 large egg

Glaze

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tbsp milk

Spiced Drizzle

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3tbsp powdered sugar
  • 2 tbsp milk 
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice
pumpkin scones

Scone Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425F and line a cookie sheet with silpat or parchment paper
  2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices into a large bowl.  Then cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixed and crumbly. Set aside
  3. In another bowl, whisk pumpkin, milk, and egg together. Then fold these ingredients into the dry ingredients above.
  4. Form dough into a ball, then pat it out on a lightly flower surface to form into a 1 inch thick rectangle (or circle). Slice into 6 triangles.
  5. Place triangles onto baking sheet an bake at 425F for 14-16 minutes.  Scones will be lightly browned when done. Cool on wire rack.

Glaze Directions

  1. Mix powdered sugar and 2tbsp milk until smooth. Once scones are cool, brush glaze on to cover tops. (If you put it on when hot, the glaze will melt off)

Spiced Drizzle Directions

  1. Mix all ingredients together. Then lightly drizzle on top. You can skip this step, but it adds some nice flavor and it looks neat!

If you want to save some calories, you don’t have to put the glaze or drizzle on top.  I think they still taste good plain! What’s your favorite pumpkin treat? Do you love pumpkin season like I do??

Recipe was adapted from here

Pumpkin Scone recipe - a copycat of Starbucks
healthy pumpkin scones

See you tomorrow with another pumpkin themed post!!

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Downton Abbey Tea Party & Coconut Scone Recipe

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Are you a fan of Downton Abbey?  It is my favorite TV show.  Did you know if you buy the season on iTunes you don’t have to wait until Monday night to watch it… You can watch it Monday afternoon?!

I set up a little Downton tea party so I could watch some episodes of my favorite show!

I made some coconut scones (recipe below).  I have been craving coconut scones since I had when were on the island of Maui in Hawaii last year.  They are just SO GOOD.  I also had some digestives with my scones.  Digestives are basically little cookies.  I don’t know why they call them digestives, they aren’t a health product and don’t help you digest!

coconut scone recipe

Now I didn’t make any clotted cream (honestly I was trying to save a little bit of calories!).  But I did eat them with blackberry and strawberry-guava preserves.  Yummy!

See, this is a Downton Abbey tea party.  I sipped Earl Grey tea in my Diamond Jubilee Tea Cup I picked up when I was in London during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  When I was setting up for my party of one… I realized I only had 1 proper tea cup and it didn’t even have a saucer!  I need to go raid my parents’ house for some teacups…

Make up of a tea party: tea, scones, digestives

Coconut Scone Recipe – adapted from here
Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup shredded coconut, toasted (toast in the microwave in 30 second increments until lightly browned) then cut into tinier pieces
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp  salt
  • 4 tbsp COLD unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
  • 3/4 cups heavy cream, cold
  • 1/2 cup greek yogurt
  • ¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 egg for egg wash
  • turbinado sugar for topping

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.
  2. In large bowl, combine flour, coconut, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  3. Add the butter pieces in the bowl and then blend in with your fingers.  You are done when the butter is evenly distributed and no large pieces of butter are seen.
  4. Combine the whipping cream, greek yogurt, and vanilla extract. Mix together.  Then add to the dry ingredients.  Mix together with your hands until the dough just comes together.
  5. Knead the dough lightly, then pat out into a disk approx. 1/2 inch thick.  
  6. Cut out circles (I used a glass to get my shape, but a proper biscuit cutter is better!).  
  7. Bake for 14-16 minutes, until scones are golden brown.  Remove and cool on a baking rack.

I love Lady Edith’s tweed outfit this season…

And Lady Mary’s red hat!

This may be one of my favorite quotes from the series:

Have you seen my post about when I visited one of the castles on Downton Abbey?? If not, check it out HERE:

Downton Abbey Castle!
My Visit To A Downton Abbey Castle

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Buttermilk Scones with Currants Recipe

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It’s starting to feel like Fall… okay. Alright, it’s actually still really hot where I’m at. But I’m ready for Fall.

One of my favorite things for breakfast is a good scone.  I’ve had a hard time finding recipes I’ve liked.  I’ve tried many on pinterest but have been disappointed.  I remember I used to have a good recipe but I have misplaced it!

This is a recipe for currant scones.  But it could easily be replaced with dried cranberries or raisins.

The recipe is from the bakery, Tartine.  Tartine is supposed to have the best croissant on the West Coast. (I was sorely disappointed). But, I will say they do have the best scone I’ve ever had on the West Coast!

For those that do not know what a currant is… it is a type of small seedless grape.  So basically a little raisin.

red currants
California raisins on the left, Zante currants on the right

Currant Buttermilk Scones (adapted from Tartine’s recipe)
Get the PRINTABLE recipe here

Ingredients

  • 3/4c Zante Currants (I found these at Von’s, but you could replace with dried cranberries, raisins.  You could also use fresh fruit but it will make the batter more moist).
  • 4 3/4c All-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp Baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup Unsalted butter, very cold
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • large crystal sugar for topping
  • melted better for topping

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400F. 
  2. First, combine currants in some warm water and set aside for 10 minutes until currants are plumped. Drain well.
  3. While currants are plumping, add flour, baking powder, and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and salt. Stir to mix. 
  4. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes and scatter cubes over dry ingredients. Mix together. Your dough should look like a coarse mixture with pea-sized lumps of visible butter when it’s done.
  5. Then add the buttermilk, lemon zest, and plumped currants. Mix in gently, just enough until the dough holds together.
  6. Now law the dough on a floured surface, and pat until it’s about 1.5 inches thick. You can either make an 18 inch x 5 inch square, or little round circles like I did. 
  7. Brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. 
  8. Bake the scones until the tops are lightly browned, 25-35 minutes depending on your oven.
  9. Remove and serve while hot! Don’t burn your mouth!
Here I made cranberry buttermilk scones

Now this scone recipe is DELICIOUS.  But, it’s not exactly low-calorie.  I’m still hunting for a lower calorie scone recipe.
Anyone have a lower calorie cranberry orange scone recipe they would like to share?  If so, leave it in the comments!
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Written at http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com

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Banana-nana Walnut Bread!

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Banana-nana Walnut Bread!

I’m sharing with you a recipe for banana walnut bread. It is GOOD.  I brought the bread into work… it was gone in about 2 seconds.  

Finished product! Cooling down… I’m drooling waiting for it to cool.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 3-4 very ripe bananas, smashed. (I had used old bananas that I had frozen; let them thaw and then smash them up).
  • 1/3 cup melted salted butter
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten (I actually used egg whites instead. Still turned out great)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • pinch of ground cloves
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chopped walnuts
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Mix the melted butter into your smashed bananas.  
  3. Mix in the sugar, egg, and spices.
  4. Mix in the baking soda and salt.
  5. Add the flour.  Mix everything well.
  6. Stir in your walnuts last. (You may omit if you don’t like walnuts)
  7. Pour mixture into oiled 8×4 inch bread loaf pan.
  8. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until the tester comes out clean.

Cool and serve! YUM!

Mixing the bread in the Kitchen aid mixer!

Cooking in the oven! Doesn’t look like much yet. 

All done! Too hot to eat!

Ready to eat! Imagine the smell of freshly baked banana bread… yummmmm

Now go make some banana bread!

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