A Celebration of Tea: Easy Recipes for Clotted Cream & Scones

“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea,” -C.S. Lewis

Tea at Home

“Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea! How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea.” -Sir Phillip Sidney

This is my favorite thing to eat right now: home-made clotted cream and scones with sugar-free strawberry jam (it’s tart and awesome). Eaten with Harney & Sons Earl Grey Imperial Tea it is amazing.

Clotted Cream

Making your own clotted cream is super easy, but it takes a lot of patience. Clotted cream was a new thing for me and I had never tasted it before making it. It was a bit of an acquired taste- I had never tasted anything like it!  By itself clotted cream is a bit like butter, mixed with ice cream, mixed with cream cheese. It is good, but odd! Put with strawberry jam on a scone it really shines!

Pour 1 quart of heavy whipping cream in your crock pot. Cover with a dishtowel, put the lid on and fold the ends of the towel up on the lid. Turn on the lowest setting (I use “Keep Warm”) and warm it for 6 hours. (I usually start it right after school, and turn it off right before bed.) When done, it will have a lovely yellow crust on the top.

Put your crock pot crock (with the cream in it and lid on it) straight into your refrigerator overnight (at least 10 hours). When you take it out, the clotted cream is on the top. Skim it off and store it in a refrigerator container.

Underneath will be the leftover cream. Keep the leftover cream to make scones with!

 

Scones

4 Cups Flour
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Stick (8 Tablespoons) Butter
2 Cups Milk
(or the leftover cream from your clotted cream!)

Pre-heat your oven to 375 F. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or fork. Add the milk (or cream) and stir until a dough forms. Fold and knead the dough several times to form layers. For wedge-shaped scones divide the dough in half, make two circles, then cut like a pizza. For round scones cut dough with a biscuit cutter. Arrange scones so they do not touch on a lightly greased cookie sheet to bake. Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes. Makes about 16 wedges or rounds.

Split the scones in half. I like to use Smucker’s sugar-free strawberry jelly. It’s good and tart! Put a dollop of clotted cream on the top. Enjoy!

For the tea I like to use my favorite- Harney & Sons Earl Grey Imperial, along with honey (and cream!).

“Recipes are like poems, they keep what kept us.” -Henri Coulette

 

“His mother put him to bed, and made some camomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter!” -Beatrix Potter

There is something enchanting about Beatrix Potter’s illustrations for her 23 little books. Wedgwood started making Peter Rabbit china a long time ago. The china is such a lovely pleasure to have tea with and my children have always loved using it. Here is a special place setting made in 1993 for Peter Rabbit’s Centenerary. This china is surprisingly cheap on E-Bay and very easy to find.

My tea set with a teapot, sugar, and creamer, plus a cup and saucer, all adult-sized!

This little lady has been with us since 2011. She likes the dregs in the bottom of the saucer, and drinking my paint water.

This is my favorite cute little spoon to stir my tea with- part of a Mon Bento cutlery set (and Abbey’s nose- which is never far away!).

“Stands the church clock at ten to three? And is there honey still for tea? -Rupert Brooke

Teddies and tea in the studio.

Tea on the studio table while I work.

Unfortunately, I have a “Dish-ease” so I have more than one favorite tea set. The next one is the first one I ever bought and started drinking tea in regularly. It’s Royal Doulton Brambly Hedge in the Summer pattern. I really liked the mice, the books, and the aqua color on this set.

One year, for my birthday, my sweet mother-in-law got me the teapot! More minty aqua!

Here is my set together.

What goes well with tea? Gingerbread cookies! These are made using a large copper cutter from Martha By Mail.

Mixing up some fun in our kitchen by making it look like a cafe!

“A cup of tea is a cup of peace.” -Anon.

And when I’m sick in bed, what do I want? Tea on a tray.

If you haunt E-Bay you can find things in “lots.” That’s how I’ve bought a lot of things cheaply!

Tea With Books

“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough for me.” -C.S. Lewis

Tea and books go together so well and they give me such good ideas!
Once we had a party to celebrate Beatrix Potter’s birthday…

Then we made eclairs for a tea to celebrate Agatha Christie…

I have found lots of ideas for tea and kitchens in “Bungalow Kitchens” by Jane Powell…

My kids love the nutcracker so we did a nutcracker tea for Christmas…

“My hour for tea is half-past five and my buttered toast waits for no one.” -Wilke Collins

And it has all culminated into dreams, creativity, joy, inspiration, and art!!!

Tea On the Road

“In an age when everyone is constantly busy and short of time, what could e more enjoyable than taking time to indulge in what was once part of everyday life, but has now become a luxury- afternoon tea.” -Lesley Mackley

Can you take tea with you? Absolutely! Just be careful not to spill it in your lap! Other than drinking it from a cup and saucer it does just fine in a travel cup. It just seems so much more special like this:

If you are staying at hotels bring a small electric kettle. The hotel coffeemakers make your tea taste terrible!

Tea While Camping

“Tea beckons us to enjoy quality time with friends and loved ones, and especially to rediscover the art of relaxed conversation.” -Dorothea Johnson

I love taking tea camping! My girl scout mommas and I make a pot, sit around the campfire and have a good ol’ chat. Then we get back to work!

Here I am packing. I use this neoprene lunch box to protect my china cup. I also take my precious Simplex kettle with me- it never lets me down! (I got mine soooo cheap on E-Bay!)

When it rains you really need tea! Break out the camp stove- but only use it outside!

Cozy journaling in my cabin.

A Starbucks recipe my darling daughter hacked- it is delightful and portable!

“Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea.” -Anon.

Bread made over a wood fire is just magical, adding tea to that mix was divine.

Camping and cooking over a fire is really hard work. Time for a well-earned break!

“It’s been well said that tea is suggestive of a thousand wants, from which spring the decencies and luxuries of civilization.” -Agnes Repplier

Lashings of hot tea and mounds of scones to you from Kansas Street,

-Jaime