Afternoon Tea Cook-Along

Afternoon Tea Week (8-16 August) celebrates the great British tradition of Afternoon Tea and is the perfect excuse to catch up with loved ones over a cup of tea and some expertly created treats.

If you can’t get out and about as easily as you would like, then you can still take part by doing your own afternoon tea Cook-Along!  Here at Richmond Fellowship East Surrey Community Connections we held our own online Cook-Along,  to bake our own scones and make fresh homemade lemon codrdial.

Angie, our Peer Support Coordinator and workshop facilitator expertly guided people we support to bake delicious scones and refreshing homemade lemonade to enjoy in the sunshine.

A lot of fun and laughter was enjoyed by everyone, and while the scones were baking, we all did our washing up!

If you’d like to try making your own – here are the recipes:

Scones

Mary Berry’s scone recipe makes the perfect easy tea-time treat, whether jam-and-cream-topped (in whichever order you like), plain or packed with sultanas.

Things you’ll need to make scones:

Equipment: You will need a fluted 5cm/2in cutter.

Scone Ingredients

• 450g [1 lb] self-raising flour
• 2 level tsp baking powder
• 50g [1¾ oz] caster sugar
• 100g [3½ oz] butter, slightly softened, cut into pieces
• 2 free-range eggs
• a little milk
• handful sultanas (optional)

To serve

• strawberry jam
• clotted cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Lightly grease two baking trays.

2. Put the flour, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

3. Crack the eggs into a measuring jug, then add enough milk to make the total liquid 300ml/10fl oz. Using a fork or round-tipped knife, stir the egg and milk into the flour – you may not need it all – and mix to a soft, sticky dough.

4. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, knead lightly and work in the sultanas, if using. Roll out to a rectangle about 2cm [¾ inch] thick.

5. Cut into as many rounds as possible with a fluted 5cm/2in cutter and place them on the prepared baking trays. Brush the tops of the scones with a little extra milk, or any egg and milk left in the jug.

6. Bake for 12–15 minutes, or until the scones are well risen and a pale, golden-brown colour.  Place onto a wire cooling rack and leave to cool.
   Eat as fresh as possible.

7. To serve, split the scones and serve with strawberry jam on the plain scones along with a good dollop of clotted cream.

Click if you’d like to download the recipe 

Easy Lemon Cordial Recipe

Things you’ll need to make Lemon Cordial

• Lemon Juicer
• Zester
• Saucepan
• Wooden Spoon
• Clean bottle for storage

Ingredients for Lemon Cordial

• 500ml lemon juice
• 500ml water
• 500g granulated sugar

This makes 1 litre of cordial, which you can mix with water (or sparkling water, soda water, etc) to make 4 litres of drink.

Method

1. Zest the lemons until you have approximately half a cup of zest.
2. Juice the lemons until you have 500ml juice.
3. Put the sugar and water into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
4. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir through the zest and juice.
5. Return to the heat and heat until it starts to thicken.
6. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
7. Pass through a sieve.
8. Store in a clean bottle in the fridge.
9. Mix one part lemon cordial with three parts water to make up a drink.

How do you serve Lemon Cordial?

Lemon Cordial is a fantastically refreshing drink just combined with water alone. We suggest you mix it with one part cordial and three parts chilled water over ice. But this is very much up to you and down to your own personal tastes!

As well as water, mixing it with tonic or soda water (sparkling, carbonated water) adds a light fizz which emphasises the taste perfectly.

If you’d like more guidance on how to zest or juice lemons or download the recipe, visit Scottish Scran.