If I went to a friend's house where they poured a cup of tea from a pot, with fresh tea leaves inside I assumed they were rich or from England.
For a couple years, I worked with a stylish Tea Salon in Los Angeles where I had the chance to learn about tea and developed many recipes that used tea as an ingredient or infused with the flavors. Our specialty was World Teas. We broke the mold of just the proper English Tea by creating recipes inspired by different countries and their flavors.
If you read my blog often, you know there are several recipes using tea to enhance the flavor base (ie. Cowboy Smokey Tea Tomato Jam, Tea Poached Shrimp Summer Rolls, Stove Top Smoked Fish, Green Tea Croquembouche, Matcha Green Tea Doughnuts. )
If I could pass on just 3 important ideas about tea it would be these:
1) Using real tea, not old flakes in a stringed bag, makes all the difference in the world.
2) Water temperature can make or break the flavor and the true taste of the tea.
3) Don't over brew - it's the same thing as burning food and that's why it taste bad.
When I have visitors to California, or visit a friend's city I almost always suggest going to a tea in the area. There is something very replenishing about sharing a plate of scones,
Charissa‘s Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches with Honey Mustard, Tomatoes & Basil at Zest Bakery
Emma‘s Brown Sugar Shortbreads With Hawaiian Jam at Dreaming of Pots and Pans
Grace‘s Taiwanese Sandwiches at HapaMama
Karen‘s Saskatoon Berry Tartlets at GeoFooding
Linda‘s Mesquite Hemp Cocoa at Free Range Cookies
Linda‘s Singapore-Style Ginger Tea & Kaya (Coconut Jam) Toast at Spicebox Travels
Lisa‘s Little Lemon Meringue Tarts at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Mai‘s Cougar Gold & Shallot Shortbread at Cooking in The Fruit Bowl
Patrick‘s Welsh Rarebit at Patrick G. Lee
Rashda‘s Spiced Chickpea & Sweet Potato Tidbits at Hot Curries & Cold Beer
Rebecca‘s Millionaire’s Shortbread at Grongar Blog
Steff‘s Lemon-Lime Shortbread Cookies at The Kitchen Trials
Join us next time, have lunch with us online. Go to twitter and put in the hashtag (#letslunch) and leave us word you'd like to join. We're growing with every lunch. :D
Recipe: Sweet Potato Tea Bars
Crust-
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 sticks butter (6oz.)
2/3 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1) Mix the crust ingredients in a large bowl. Press the crumbly crust into a parchment lined 9" pan.
2) Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 15 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then pour in the filling.
FILLING:
1 Large Sweet Potato (baked)
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 lemon juice and zest
1/4 cup milk
1) Beat all ingredients until creamy.
2) Pour into the pre-baked crust. Return to a preheated 350F oven. Bake for about 20 Minutes (until set.)
3) Cool and chill for 20 minutes before cutting into bars.
4) Garnish with chopped nuts or powdered sugar.
10 comments:
Love this post and can not wait to try some of these recipes, especially your sweet potato bars!
Your tips for cooking with tea are spot on, but may I point out that traditionally, high tea was a working class meal served on a high table at the end of the workday, shortly after five PM. American's have adapted the term, probably bcz they think is sounds more "grand", but in reality, the lovely, leisurely tea taken around 2pm at a grand hotel should be called "Afternoon Tea"!
LA Tea girl - what an honor to have you here, since so much of what I learned about tea was from YOU, Miss Lovely. I adore the addition and the story of High Tea. Thanks for adding that :D
OMG. This sounds perfect for this time of year... Anytime of year really. I am already thinking up ways to convert this to gluten-free. Yummmmm!
What a great recipe for the season. I would love to try making these. And thanks also for the tea-making tips. I quite agree!
Cathy this is crazy! I just posted about how regular tea sandwiches make me cry! http://thesentimentalsuitcase.blogspot.com/
Thanks so much for this! I am a sweet potato fanatic so this is perfect!
XO
Sam
I love these bars! They remind me of sweet potato pie, something else you don't see often in California. That tea room looks beautiful, too.
What a gorgeous tea! The sweet potato bars look wonderful. Very nice to meet you through LetsLunch!
Every December, about 7 girlfriends and I go to high tea at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. It is a wonderful opportunity to sit around and chat while eating beautiful little sandwiches and THE BEST scones. Your sweet potato tea bars would be perfect with my afternoon cup of tea.
Love love love sweet potato. thank you for this.
View how potato tea here, http://vegetarianviet.blogspot.com/2013/05/sweet-potato-tea.html.
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