Mushroom Tarts Part one: Pastry From Vicki Delany

These tarts are very rich, and absolutely delicious, so perfect for party appetizers or finger foods. The pastry itself is made with cream cheese, making them rich but not sweet, thus perfect for a savory filling but wouldn’t work so well for a dessert tart.

Next time I’ll give you the recipe I use for the perfect filling to create the mushroom treats

Cream Cheese Pastry for Savory Tarts:

Ingredients:

2 Cups all purpose flour

½ tx[p salt

1 cup cold butter, diced

1 cup cold cream cheese, diced

Directions:

Prepare 18 small tarts or muffin tins.  I used cupcake papers tucked into muffin tins.

Place flour and salt in food processor. Add butter and cream cheese and combine until blended. 

Remove from processor and form into ball. Cover ball with waxed paper and chill in fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes prior to slicing and filling.

This pastry doesn’t need to be rolled out as you should do with most pie pastries. it works fine by breaking off a ball of about 1 inch and patting directly into the prepared containers. However, I like to give some sharpness to the edges so I cut the circle using a floured glass.  

Now available: MURDER IN A TEACUP, the Second Tea by the Sea mystery from Kensington 

 

Not Another Scone Recipe! Traditional Afternoon Tea Scones from Vicki Delany

A couple of weeks ago,  Lucy gave us a lovely recipe for scones from her new book, which is a total coincidence, because I had already planned this post.  It seems that over the years we’ve had a heck of a lot of scone recipes here at MLK (I count 55).   I hope that means we and our readers love them in all their varieties.

Here's mine.

These scones are meant to be served with afternoon tea, and they’re the ones prepared in Tea by the Sea, the tearoom in my Tea by the Sea series. The recipe is included in the first book of the series, Tea and Treachery, and with the second book, Murder in a Teacup, released last Tuesday this seemed like a good time to share it.

I got the original recipe out of BBC’s Good Food magazine, and adapted it for North American ingredients and measurements.  The recipe got a full-page feature last year in Teatime Magazine! 

Traditional British Afternoon Tea Scones as served at Tea by the Sea

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for work surface

4  tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

85g butter (6 tbsp), cut into cubes

3 tbsp. sugar

¾ cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Squeeze of lemon juice (approx. ½ tsp)

Directions:

1)   Heat oven to 425 F

2)  Combine flour with baking powder and salt

3)   Add butter cubes to flour mixture, and rub in with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine crumbs. Add sugar

4)   Heat milk in the microwave for about 30 seconds until warm, but not hot

5)   Add vanilla extract to the milk with a squeeze of lemon juice

6)   Put a baking sheet into the oven

7)   Make a well in the dry mixture, add liquid and combine quickly. It will seem very wet at first.

8)  Sprinkle flour onto the work surface and place dough onto it.  Sprinkle dough with flour then fold the dough over 2 – 3 times until smooth. Pat into a round about 1 ½ inch thick

9)   With a 2 inch smooth-edged cutter dipped in flour cut the scones

1     Rework the remaining dough and continue to cut into circles

1     Place prepared scone dough onto the pre-heated baking tray and bake for 10 minutes until risen and golden on top

Scones should be eaten the day of baking, accompanied with jam and clotted cream

These freeze well.  If freezing, cool before freezing.  Defrost at 350 degrees for 12 minutes before serving.

Now available: Murder in a Teacup, the second Tea by the Sea mystery.

 

 

 

Puff Pastry Pizza from Vicki Delany

Another great recipe I found in my daughter’s copy of Veg by Jamie Oliver. Tomatoes are the star of this pizza but you can add just about any combination of vegetables you’d like.  I’m gong to try it with mushrooms next.

Puff Pastry Pizza

Ingredients

1 red onion

1 red pepper

8 – 10 oz ripe mixed-color cherry tomatoes

4 sprigs of fresh oregano leaves, chopped

Olive oil

14 oz package of puff pastry

2,5 oz mozzarella cheese

2 sprigs of fresh basil

balsamic vinegar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Peel and quarter the onion and separate into petals, then scatter into a roasting pan. Seed and roughly chop the pepper, halve the tomatoes, then add to the pan. Add oregano leaves, drizzle with two tablespoons of oil, season with sea salt and black pepper,

Roast for 50 minutes, tossing halfway.

Roll puff pastry into an approximate size to cover your tomato mixture, with room to tuck in the sides

Remove the pan from the oven and push the tomato mixture towards the center slightly. Brush the sides and corners of the pan with oil, then cover the tomato with the pastry sheet and tuck in the edges.

Place back in the oven for 30 minutes, or until golden and puffed up. Gently run a palette knife around the edge of the pastry to loosen, then carefully turn out onto a board.

Sprinkle with mozzarella and basil, and drizzle with balsamic vinegar, to taste.

 

Coming July 27 from Kensington, the second TEA BY THE SEA mystery, MURDER IN A TEACUP

” Delany expertly blends a cunning mystery plot with diverting characters and sparkling dialogue.” Publishers Weekly

“Quirky characters, a lovely setting, and a surprising denouement make this second installment a charmer.” Kirkus