Jubilee Tea Party Celebration Recipes

Most of you, whether from the UK or further afield will know that it is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee this weekend. In most villages, towns and cities across the UK huge celebratory parties are happening. A few of our readers have asked us which recipes we recommend for the perfect Jubilee tea party or celebration so we have put together this article in honour of our great monarch. 

There is another cause to celebrate this weekend! For any of our English readers you can now buy the fantastic NEILLS flour from Ocado and have it delivered. Ocado now sell all the ready mixes which we have personally tested and recommend for those occasions when you need to whip something up quick. The mixes are Buttermilk Scones, Apple & Cinnamon Bread, Irish Wheaten and Irish Soda.

Of course no jubilee tea party is complete without the traditional British scones with jam and clotted cream. We have put together a full proof recipe which is quick, simple and so tasty your friends will be asking for the recipe.

 

The Ingredients: 360g NEILL'S®Self Raising Flour 90g Butter 40g Caster Sugar 180ml Milk 2tsp Vanilla Extract/Essence 1tsp Baking Powder 1 Beaten Egg for brushing scones

The How-To: Preheat oven to 200c. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and butter to a large bowl (no need to sieve flour) Using your hands rub these ingredients together until you get a bread crumbs consistency. Heat the milk in a saucepan until luke warm (Do not boil). Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract/essence. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the milk while stirring. Mix this together until a dough forms. Flour a work surface and pour out the dough Sprinkle with flour, fold and turn, sprinkle with more flour. Do this 3 or 4 times until it becomes less sticky. No need to roll out this dough, simple press down until about 1.5 inches high. Using a cookie cutter cut out the scones and place on a baking tray. This recipe makes about 9 or 10 Scones. **Top Tip - Dip your cookie cutter in flour before making each cut. This stops it sticking as much** Leave some space between each scone as they do expand slightly. Brush the top of each scone with a little beaten egg. This makes them a nice golden brown. Try not to get any egg on the sides of the scones as this will stop them rising. Bake in the centre of the oven for 10 mins. Remove and allow to cool. You’re Done!

No tea party is complete without some Earl Grey tea, but how about putting a twist on the traditional and make Earl Grey cupcakes instead?! They always prove to be a hit!

The Ingredients: Cupcake: 130ml Milk 5 Earl Grey Teabags or 5tbsp of Loose Earl Grey Tea 110g Butter 230g Caster Sugar 2 Eggs 1tsp Vanilla Extract/Essence 230g NEILL'S® Plain Flour 2tsp Baking Powder Frosting: 60g Butter 2tbsp Milk 1tsp Vanilla Extract/Essence 250g Icing Sugar Blue Food Colouring

The How-To: Preheat oven to 180c Bring milk to boil in a saucepan and remove from heat immediately. Add the tea to the milk and stir well. Set to the side. Cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs one at a time until well combined. Beat in vanilla extract/essence. In a separate bowl sieve the flour and baking powder together. Using a fine sieve, sieve the tea/milk mixture into a small bowl. This will remove any loose tea. Fold the flour into the butter mixture alternating with the tea/milk mixture. Fold together until all ingredients are combined. Spoon the batter into 12 muffin cases. Bake in the centre of the oven for 12-15 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove and allow to cool. While waiting for these to cool we can make the frosting. Beat the butter in a bowl until smooth. Stir in the icing sugar until combined enough to use a mixer. Beat well until all lumps disappear. Beat in the milk and vanilla extract. Place blue food colouring into the mixture one drop at a time to obtain a pale blue colour. Beat well to ensure even distribution of the blue colouring. Pipe onto the cooled cupcakes. You're Done!

If you’re going to someone else’s Jubilee celebration and want to take a little something along as your contribution our Cherry and Coconut cake recipe is very simple, delicious and easy to transport and store.

The Ingredients: 210g Caster Sugar 75g Butter 2 Eggs 220g NEILL'S® Plain Flour 120ml Milk 1.5tsp Vanilla Extract/Essence 35g Desiccated Coconut 1tsp Baking Powder 4tbsp of Runny Icing 12 Glacé Cherries

The How-To: Preheat oven to 170c Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth, add the eggs and beat until fluffy Stir in the vanilla extract/essence In a separate bowl sieve the flour and baking powder together Halve the 12 Glacé Cherries and mix them into the flour. This helps stop the cherries from sinking to the bottom of the cake when baking Add half of the flour into the butter mixture Now add half the milk Stir until combined Add the second half of the flour and milk and stir until combined. Stir in the coconut until well combined. Pour the batter into a loaf tin. place a rectangle of baking paper in the bottom. This makes it a lot easier to turn out later! Bake in the centre of the oven for 45 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow to rest for 10 mins, turn out. In a separate bowl make about 4tbsp of thin icing (mixing about 10tbsp of icing sugar with a little water) Drizzle this over the still warm cake. Allow to cool and soak up the icing. You're Done!

Enjoy the Jubilee Weekend!!!