Spain’s Quesada Recipe
This is what I would call Spanish "cheesecake", but it is so very different that I hesitate to even mention that to you. It is more dense, browned top, not as sugary-sweet, with an amazing texture and I think about two thousand times better than what you probably know as cheesecake. For me it is one of those comfort foods that if you know is in the fridge you will want to go back to it and take little slivers off here and there hoping no one will notice so that you won't have to share! I usually double the recipe and jut put it in a larger skillet to back and add about 10 minutes. If I don't double it I end up being way too protective of it. Not good.
I baked mine in a cast iron skillet, but you don't have to, I've made it in a baking dish and it turned out just as good. If you do have cast iron though, I think you'll enjoy the convenience of using it for this recipe.
Quesada Recipe
(from The Taste of Spain by Camillia Jessel)
500 ml or 18 fl. oz Cups Milk (2+1/4 cups)
1 Cinnamon Stick
Peel of 1 Lemon
Butter
300 g (11 oz) Sugar (1+1/3 cups approx.)
150 g (5 oz) Flour, sieved with a pinch of salt (1+1/4 cups approx)
150 g (5 oz) Natural Plain Yogurt (1+1/4 cups)
2 Eggs
Powdered Cinnamon
Heat the milk with the cinnamon stick and lemon peel. When it boils remove from heat and keep.
Heat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Grease an appropriately sized tin, ceramic or cast iron mould generously with butter and put it in the oven. The sides should be about 2 inches (5 cm.) height as the quesada rises slightly.
Beat the sugar and flour with the yogurt and eggs in a bowl. Beat in the strained milk little by little. Pour the mixture into the hot mould, sprinkle with powdered cinnamon and bake for 45 minutes.
Chocolate Peanut Tart
A delicious dark and sweet chocolate, made perfect by its marriage with peanuts and topped with ice cream it is just heaven. The chocolate is that chewy-fudgey taste bud tempter, a lot like tender brownies on a crust, but better.
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup of peanuts
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons of Honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 pie crust (enough for bottom and lattice)
1. Heat chocolate chips and butter in a bowl in microwave, stirring every 20 seconds until melted. In a mixing bowl combine the peanuts, brown sugar, egg, honey, and vanilla and add in the microwaved chocolate mixture. Mix together.
2.Roll out half of your dough for the crust on a lightly flowered surface. Roll out the second dough, fold it in half, then with pizza cutter or knife cut strips about 3/4 inch wide.
3.Pour chocolate mixture in the center of crust on baking stone. Spread out to edges, to about 3/4 of an inch from edge. Place your lattice strips pressing each firmly into the crust (I ran out of dough in the pictures, you can get quite creative with your lattice, twerling and jazzing up the whole dessert!) when you have laid your lattice fold the edge of the crust over, pinching to seal.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until crust is golden. Allow time to cool as this is best when just lightly warm. Cut into wedges with pizza cutter. Tastes excellent with some good quality vanilla ice cream! Enjoy!
Dreamy Cream Scones
Scones, these are so amazing, and such a staple in our baking diet that I have to share this recipe. I initially printed this off from joy of baking in 2004 and have used it very frequently (probably at least 3 times a month) since then. I chuckled when I read the "these scones freeze very well" at the bottom, as I have doubled and sometimes quadrupled this recipe and never, EVER felt the need to save any for later- we consume these like crazy! We eat them for breakfast, for tea, and for dessert- stinkin' good!
Cream Scones:
2 C. flour
1/3 C. white sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/8 t. salt
1/3 C. unsalted butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 t. pure vanilla extract
1/2 C. heavy whipping cream
Egg mixture for brushing tops of scones:
1 large egg
1 T. heavy cream
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
1.)Mix all scone ingredients together, do not over mix, until just incorporated.
2.)Knead dough gently on floured surface.
3.)Roll out on surface until about 1 +1/2 inches thick and cut (pizza cutter works really well).
4.)Place on a baking sheet and brush scones with the egg mixture above.
5.)Bake for 15-25 min. or until lightly browned on the tops.
6.)Transfer to wire rack to cool.
7.) *Optional: Serve with Devonshire cream, whipping cream o jam for an extra enjoyable experience.
These scones freeze very well. (but, like I said about I have never, NEVER had these go stale!)
My Personal Notes:
You can add whatever you want to them. I have made the following variations:
Chocolate chip scones (adding about 1 Cup of chocolate chips)
Lavender scones: add 1 t. dried lavender
Blueberry scones: these are harder to work with since the blueberries quickly mush and then mixture becomes way too moist- but if you are quick these are our all time fave!!! Add 1 cup of frozen blueberries. Fresh would work too, but would be softer and much harder to keep intact.
Strawberry Shortcake: when baked plain, these would be perfect for use in making Strawberry Shortcake
Let me know if you come up with other really good variations and I'll add them and for sure will want to savor them as well!!
Enjoy!
Rosemary Sea Salt Recipe
I checked for recipes for Rosemary Sea Salt all over since I wanted to make some of my own. I really couldn't find much, I did find one by Martha Stewart, and another one that had ground up the rosemary in the sea salt, but that wasn't what I was looking for. So, I did like I usually do, I just read the stuff and do it on my own. I hope you'll do the same!
Rosemary Sea Salt Recipe:
*48 oz. of Sea Salt
*6 decent branches of fresh Rosemary (depending on your love or Rosemary)
That's it for ingredients. Yeah, you did read that right...nada mas, nothing more.
Squeeze the Rosemary and pull your fingers down the branch, in order to pull off all the rosemary leaves. Repeat on all but 2 branches (those are for the rosemary garnish at the end). Dump all the sea salt into a pan or pot and then add the rosemary. Turn heat on to medium heat and keep watch, stirring for 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat, dump contents into a large bowl. Let sit to cool, without a cover for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, then pour into an air tight container (I used a large Ball Jar) and let sit with the lid sealed for 24 hours. Then the Rosemary Sea Salt is ready for its pretty little containers. Use a colander with a large bowl underneath, dump the contents into the colander and shake so as to sift the salt out the bottom and keep the rosemary to discard (it is completely used up and dried at this point, however you can keep it in if you would like). Put sifted Rosemary Sea Salt into containers and slide sprigs of fresh rosemary down the sides, 2 or 4 would be great. Screw on an air tight lid and you are done.
Rosemary Sea Salt is great anywhere you'd use regular salt, meats, soups, stews, whatever. My personal favourite is to sprinkle it on top of a sunny side up egg. Oh, my tummy grumbles.
Give yourself a good pat on the back, your peeps will love getting these gifts from you for Christmas! They look completely wintery anyway, it looks like snow and pine. Doesn't it? A great gift for anyone who likes to cook or likes to eat....I don't think that leaves anyone out, at least not in my family.
Enjoy a Homemade Christmas with your family too! Get started now.
This is the third gift idea that I have shared for my Christmas a la Homemade (a handmade Christmas). I will be posting these up until Christmas to give you ideas for gifts you can make for your friends and family.
Previous Ideas from my Christmas a la Homemade (A Handmade Christmas):
Rosemary Sea Salt Recipe
Bath Salts Soak Recipe
Knit Granny Washcloth (or Dishcloth) Pattern
Make a Reading Pillow for the Bookaholic(s) in Your Life
The Teashop Girls
The Teashop Girls
by Laura Schaeffer
256 pages
Young Adult Fiction
Simon & Schuster
Annie, Genna, and Zoe have been the closest of friends and at the age of six they all fell in love with the Steeping Leaf. It was there that they were coined Teashop Girls, by Annie's Grandmother Louisa when they were almost too young to remember. The teashop was their childhood, they made treats and served them to each other for tea, and spent hours pouring over their Tea Handbook learning all there is to know, making up special advice and interesting uses for different types of tea. They even had a Teashop Girl rules one of them being that it was required to meet weekly for tea together.
Eight years later they are all still close friends, but there is much more to do now that they are in middle school. Annie discovers troubling news about the shop, it is likely to not be around much longer. After earning herself a position as a barista at the teashop, there is no stopping her, she wants to keep Steeping Leaf open! She wishes she could run to her best friends for help and support but will the years have allowed them to stop valuing their teashop the way she still does?
I adored the Teashop Girls. The writing was great, the characters developed to where I felt I knew them, and I couldn't put it down. The clocked ticked and I stayed up reading it hour after hour. I needed to know what was going to happen to the Steeping leaf, and the Teashop Girls!
What I respected the most about this young adult read is that it is one that I would actually let my kid read. I have read other books in this genre which are just to mopey, dark or depressing for me to want to pass on. The Teashop Girls however is spectacular. It isn't that the girls are perfect, or that they always do everything right, but they try and they know what is right and that is what makes the difference. Sure, they are in the midst of their awkward years (do those years ever end!?!?) but they have security in knowing who they are and this book is helping them develop a sense of what is important to them. Most of all I love Annie, she sees what she wants and grabs it, she is motivated, brilliant and extremely sweet...just my kind of gal! I strongly recommend this book, it is sure to satisfy, as long as it is read with a cup of tea in hand at all times.
Q&A with Laura Schaeffer
Author of The Teashop Girls:Tea:
What is your favourite tea? Do you drink different teas at different times of the day? Do you worry about caffeine intake, or do you just sip away?
When did you first fall in love with tea, and who was it that shared that first cup with you?
My two little boys love tea parties, we use my fransiscan china apple tea cups and they love the little saucers. We drink licorice root (mostly because they love the natural sweetness of it and I love that it doesn't have any stimulants). What are the best teas that you know of which are naturally sweet for little kids like mine?
The Teashop Girls:
Lets move on to your book, The Teashop Girls. Personally I can't wait to share it with my daughter when I have one who is old enough to read it. You are an amazing writer and even though it is a YA book, I was engrossed like crazy!
What books did you read when you were that age (between the ages of 8-14) that really inspired The Teashop Girls?
I personally loved the purity in this book, the girls acted like girls and yet they were honest, kind, and it was clean and wholesome. Was that a goal of yours while writing it or is that naturally your style for that age group? Did you consciously remove things that you found questionable for young girls to read?
I cannot describe how excited I was to read a novel for girls in which the girls have their faults but are still very secure in themselves. They didn't question everything and were loving to their parents. Did you intend Annie, Genna and Zoe to be three role models for young girls (not that we all can't learn from them!!)?
Annie is a very mature girl, thinking about things way beyond her age, worrying about the teashop that she has grown up in and really is home to her. Did you write her character from experience? Do you find you have a lot in common with Annie when you were that age or even now?
The Making of The Teashop Girls:
I'd like to ask you about the writing of this book. When did you start writing The Teashop Girls?
I know first second and third drafts are common, did the story change drastically from when you first wrote it?
Besides tea and cupcakes where did you find your inspiration?
I already have gushed over how much I loved this book, how great I think it is...so tell me, is there a sequel!?! Do you have a title for it and release date or am I getting ahead of myself!??!?
Laura, thank you so much for this interview. I wish every book I read had this stature, this quality and the appeal that this one did. I can't say enough just how much I liked it. Thank you for writing a book that I think should be on every young girl's shelf and I will hold onto my copy in hopes of a daughter to share it with. Thank you.
What tea is Laura Schaefer drinking right now?
Gingerbread Cupcakes(p.35) & Organic French breakfast from Cha Cha Tea
Spiced Blueberry Scones(p.78) & Jasmine bloom from Adagio Tea
Cucumber Sandwiches(p.189) & Citrus mountain oolong Cha Cha Tea
You are in luck, Laura Schaefer is going to share the Gingerbread Cupcake recipe with my readers, but if you want to try the other scrumptious delicacies, well that is just one more reason to buy the book!
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
(Published on B&b ex libris with permission from the author. original recipe is from The Teashop Girls p. 35)
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg
1 cup all -purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon crystallized ginger, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup milk
8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup half-and-half
1 and 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest, finely grated
2 cups powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. In a large bowl combine the butter with white sugar. Add the molasses and the egg to the creamed mixture.
In another bowl stir the flour, two kinds of ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt together. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add in the milk mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the lined tin.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool.
To make frosting: combine cream cheese, half-and-half, lemon zest, and powdered sugar. Frost cupcakes once they are cool.
Makes 10-12 cupcakes.
(aka. who says tea parties are only for girls!?)
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