Our Princess Tea Party

Today my youngest daughter (a.k.a. “Georgie” after Curious George), came requesting  ” ‘Nack, mommy.”

She had just eaten a piece of cheese, and didn’t want any microwave popcorn.  My husband tends to work late into the evening, and dinner time doesn’t often come before 7:30 pm.  So we’ve tried to have a good snack every afternoon to tide us over until dinner.  Sometimes it’s popsicles and fruit; sometimes it’s popcorn and apples; sometimes, well, it’s pop and cookies.  sigh…

So, I decided to mix up a batch of scones from a recipe I wanted to try, and told her after her big sister woke up from her nap, we’d have a “Princess Tea Party” with scones.

” ‘Cone? ‘Cone?”

“Yes, honey.  Mommy’s making scones.”

So, with my Little Assistant (L.A.) at my side, I proceeded to put all the dry ingredients into the bowl, and began to crumble in the margarine with my pastry cutter.

(In the meantime, my L.A. grabbed a spoon and took a taste of the flour mixture.  She wasn’t impressed.)

I modified the recipe a bit to our tastes, adding dried cranberries.  Any dried fruit or additional ingredient could be added to this all purpose recipe.

Rather than rolling out the dough as the recipe called for, I settled on “drop” style scones – much like our favorite biscuits.  At this point, my L.A. decided to take a taste (note the little hand in the lower right hand corner of the picture), and her opinion was much improved.

After baking, I got my (non-whistling) teakettle almost to a boil, and brewed enough Children’s Tea for all 3 of us to enjoy!

The best part was when my oldest daughter, “Curly” said, “Thank you for the tea, Mommy.”

Basic British Scones

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch salt
1/4 cup margarine
1/8 cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (I never have parchment paper on hand, so I just lightly spray my pan with cooking spray).

Sift the Flour (I substituted 3 Tbsp flax seed meal for equal flour), Cream of Tartar, Baking Soda, and Salt into a bowl. (Cream of tartar can be found in the spice section.  It is a leavening ingredient.)

Cut in the Margarine until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Stir in the Sugar and enough Milk to mix into a soft dough. (I increased sugar slightly and added cranberries here).

Turn onto floured surface, knead lightly, and roll out to 3/4 inch thickness.  Cut into 2 inch rounds and place on baking sheet.  (Instead of proceeding through this step, I added a little extra milk and dropped them onto the pan by tablespoonful – kinda like big cookies.) Brush with Milk to glaze.

Bake for 10 minutes then cool on wire rack.  Serve with butter or clotted cream and jam.