Elegant Sugar Cubes For Tea Time Recipes

ELEGANT SUGAR CUBES FOR TEA-TIME

Steps:

• Mix the confectioners sugar and water.
• Add 1 or 2 drops of food coloring to tint the frosting the color you desire. You can use red for roses, blue for forget-me-nots, green for leaves - or whatever colors or designs you want!).
• Scoop some of the icing into a decorating bag, fitted with the tip of your choice.
• Make tiny flowers and leaves on your sugar cubes, or create your own designs.

TEA TIME

Steps:

• For the Ice Ring:.
• In a small pan/tea pot heat 1 quart water to a boil. Add 4 black tea bags. Let steep 5 minutes. Remove tea bags. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Refrigerate until very cold.
• Fill mini cake molds with a small amount of chilled water. Layer in cracked cinnamon sticks, and feathered lemon peels spaced equally around the bottom of each mold. Let freeze for 1 hour or until frozen to hold inclusions in place. Fill with chilled tea to top of molds. Freeze overnight.
• For the Simple Syrup:.
• In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil and reduce to simmer until the sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Will keep refrigerated for one month.
• For the Punch:.
• Stir together punch ingredients in a punch bowl. Unmold ice ring by quickly dipping into warm water and inverting Float ice ring in punch.
• Ladle into tea cup. Garnish with channel peeler manicured orange wedges and serve.

DAINTY EGG AND CHIVE TEA SANDWICHES FOR TEA-TIME

Steps:

• Place the eggs in a small pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and cook for 6 minutes. Drain and run the eggs under cold water until cool.
• Peel and then coarsely grate or crumble the eggs into a bowl. Mix with the salad cream, mayonnaise and chives and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Cut off the bread crusts with a serrated knife - put them to one side for home-made breadcrumbs.
• Butter the bread and divide the egg mixture between 4 bread slices. Top with the remaining bread. Stack 2 sandwiches together and cut into 3 fingers, then serve.
• Cook's tips: Pierce the rounded end of each egg with a pin before cooking to help stop the shell from cracking.
• Cooling the eggs under cold water stops them from cooking further and prevents a dark ring forming around the yolk.
• For easy peeling, peel the eggs under cold running water over a colander to collect all the bits of shell. The water stops the shell from sticking to your fingers and the egg.

OLD FASHIONED HOME-MADE ENGLISH CRUMPETS FOR TEA-TIME

Steps:

• Note - you will need 4 crumpet rings, or egg rings or 7.5cm (3in) plain pastry cutters, greased.
• Place the flour and salt into a large bowl and stir in the sugar and yeast making a well in the centre. Pour in the warm milk and water and mix to give quite a thick batter. Beat well until completely combined and cover with a tea towel or cling film.
• Leave in a warm place to rise for about an hour until it's a light, spongy texture. Stir well to knock out any air, add the bicarbonate of soda and pour into a large jug - mix well and allow to stand for a further 30 minutes.
• Heat a non-stick frying pan, or a greased griddle, over a very low heat with a drop of oil or butter. Wipe the pan with kitchen paper to remove excess oil/butter. Sit the greased crumpet rings in the pan and leave to heat up for a couple of minutes.
• Pour in enough mixture to fill the rings just over halfway up the sides. Leave to cook until lots of small holes appear on the surface and the batter has just dried out. This will take about 8-10 minutes.
• Remove the rings and turn over the crumpets to cook for a further minute or two on the other side. Sit the first batch of crumpets on a wire rack whilst continuing to cook the remaining crumpets.
• Serve the crumpets warm, generously buttered. If you are making crumpets in advance, then reheat them by toasting lightly on both sides before serving. (Prep time includes rising time for the yeast dough.).

SUGAR CUBES

Steps:

• It's really easy, just mix the sugar, water, and coloring!
• Make sure the sugar is not sopping wet so that it's dissolving, just wet enough to hold its shape.
• Use any mold you like (I use the teaspoon). Press the sugar into the mold, turn it over, and tap it out.
• Let the cubes (or in my case, domes) dry on pretty much any surface until hard (about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on humidity).
• Voila! Your own unique sugar cubes that cost you practically nothing!

HEART SHAPED SUGAR CUBES FOR PARTIES

Steps:

• In a glass measuring cup, place the sugar and a half teaspoon of water (don't use more water or you will dissolve the sugar). You can add drop or two of any shade food coloring you wish. Stir together until thoroughly combined. The sugar should feel and look like wet sand.
• Press your sugar into little silicon ice cube molds. Be sure to press really firmly so your sugar will hold tight together. Once you've pressed the sugar firmly down into the mold, turn the mold over and the hearts will fall right out onto a plate. They turn out of the molds very easily. If one breaks when you turn it out, just press it back into the mold and then turn it back out again.
• I placed the plate directly into the freezer, uncovered. I left it there for 2-3 hours and the cubes hardened up nicely. Once they hardened up and were no longer so fragile, I tucked them into a baggies and returned them to the refrigerator. You can store them in either the refrigerator or the freezer. They hold together well once they harden up in the freezer.
• Right after you take them out of the freezer, that's a good time to clean up the edges of the heart. The little sugar crumbs around the edges break off and will leave a nicer looking edge.
• Notes: I always buy these molds at Dollar Tree or Michael's. They usually have them in fun shapes depending on the season and time of year. 1/4 cup of sugar makes about 8 sugar hearts. If you wish to make more, just double or triple the recipe.