Every so often, I love to pull out the tea set that I got at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina back in 2004 during a road trip with my best friend, Dori. The Biltmore Estate was the Vanderbilts' summer home, and after touring the huge estate, we went into the gift shop. It was during September, my birth month, and I ended up getting myself this tea set, which is a replica of a set that was owned by the Vanderbilts.
Afternoon tea has three courses. the first course is sandwiches, so I made cucumber sandwiches: white bread, spreadable cream cheese on both sides of the bread, very thinly-sliced cucumbers (I used a mandoline), salt, and crushed celery seed. I cut the crusts off carefully, and then I cut the sandwiches, some into rectangles and some into triangles.
The second course is scones with jam and often clotted cream. The scones I got were store-bought from Publix, and I had some lingonberry jam -- which, if you've never tried it, tastes like cranberry sauce. I also made some homemade clotted cream, which is so good and could not be easier (recipe below).
The third course is little cookies and or mini cakes. I had some strawberry mini-cakes from Publix, and Dori brought some French Tuiles.
For libations, we had Earl Grey tea and prosecco with strawberries in the flutes.
I covered my patio table with a white tablecloth from Amazon, and I put some tulips that I got at Publix in a vase. The weather couldn't have been nicer for having tea outside.
Now it's time, unfortunately, to start thinking about spring...
Clotted cream recipe (if it can even be called a recipe):
1. Pour heavy whipping cream (preferably unpasteurized if you can get it) into a casserole dish and place into a preheated 190 F oven for 12 hours. So put it in at a time where you will be home and available to remove the dish 12 hours later. Either 6 am or 6 pm works for me -- I can either put it in in the evening and take it out when I get up the next morning, or put it in in the morning and take it out when I get home from work.
2. The cream will have browned on top, and will have a wonderful nutty aroma. Let it cool on the counter to room temperature, and then cover and put in the fridge for at least a few hours or overnight.
3. Take the chilled dish out of the oven, and scrape off the top, which should be fairly solid. The bottom will be more liquid. Jar the solid part and keep in the fridge -- it will be good for up to a week. The liquid part on the bottom can be used to make biscuits.
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