You can win an exciting book on Afternoon Tea with a lot of delicious recipes! Enter the contest and tell me which book you’d like to win!

Give-Away – Afternoon Tea Book

Win one of two books about Afternoon Tea. One is written in English and the other in German. Both contain a lot of recipes for the perfect afternoon tea party as well as interesting background information on afternoon tea.

What do you have to do to win?

Please tell me in a comment whether you would prefer to get the English or the German book. You can write your comment

• below this blog post “Afternoon Tea – #3” on this website and/or
• on the Facebook fan page in the posting called “Afternoon Tea #3 and Give-Away” and/or
• on Instagram in the posting titled “Afternoon Tea #3 and Give-Away”

Only one comment per site is allowed.

Details regarding the Give-Away (Terms and Conditions of Participation and Privacy Policy):

• The give-away starts on 29 September 2015 and ends on 11 October 2015, 24:00 h Central European Time.
• The give-away is open to permanent residents of the European Union, the United States of America and Australia who are over the age of 18 years only and who provide the above mentioned comment.
• Complete release of Facebook and Instagram: This give-away is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook and Instagram. Participants understand that they are providing their information to Simone Weinwurm (My Blueberry Basket – Food Blog) and not to Facebook and Instagram. The information a participant provides will only be used for the purposes outlined in these Terms and Conditions. Any questions, comments or complaints about this give-away must be directed to the Promoter (Simone Weinwurm) and not to Facebook and Instagram. Facebook and Instagram will not be liable for any loss or damage or personal injury which is suffered or sustained by a participant, as a result of participating in the give-away (including taking/use of a prize).
• Any collected personal information (name, email-address and address) are only used for the conduct of the give-away. The participant is fully responsible for the correctness and completeness of these data and possible changes.
• By writing the above mentioned comment the participant declares his agreement to the terms and conditions of participation, his legal age and his agreement to the publication of his name on the website myblueberrybasket.com/en, on Facebook and on Instagram if he should win.
• My Blueberry Basket is entitled to exclude individual participants from the competition if justified reasons exist, such as the violation of the terms and conditions of participation, influencing the competition, manipulation etc. In addition, any remarks made in the entrants’ comments which insult or discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race or other factors shall be grounds for disqualification.
• No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win.
• The winner will be randomly selected.
• The winner will be announced in a blog post on myblueberrybasket.com/en, on Facebook and on Instagram on 13 October 2015. The winner will then be asked to provide his address for dispatch in a personal email to Simone Weinwurm, the maintainer of the site www.myblueberrybasket.com/en, until 19 October 2015, 24:00h CET. The winner’s address will only be used for the dispatch of the won book. If the winner does not get in touch until 19 October 2015, 24:00h CET, the second person drawn will be announced as the winner.
• All decisions are final. All prizes are non-transferable, with no cash redemptions and/or substitutions. Further, some countries do not have reliable mail services. In the event that a prize has been stolen or mishandled during shipment to an international destination, My Blueberry Basket may not be able to replace the specific item(s).
• Promoter of the give-away:

My Blueberry Basket – Food Blog
Simone Weinwurm (private person)
www.myblueberrybasket.com/en
simone@myblueberrybasket.com

“But indeed I would rather have nothing but tea.”

Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

Tea and Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, … Who has never heard of the many novels that Jane Austen wrote? Even if you have never read one of them you might have seen one of the film versions. And if so you might remember one of the “tea scenes”. Jane Austen and her contemporaries already loved drinking tea at social gatherings. The special Afternoon Tea with all the cakes and snacks has not been invented, though – this happened a little bit later when the Seventh Duchess of Bedford invited her friends – but nevertheless, tea was drunk at almost any time of the day. At around 1800  tea was very popular after dinner, which would have been some time in the late afternoon or early evening.

“The gentlemen came … the ladies crowded round the table where Miss Bennett was making tea.…”

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Tea was also served in public places where dance events were held and at home, when the neighbours would pop in for a visit. However, one thing can be said for sure, tea was very expensive in those days. And so it was the lady of the house who would brew the tea. The little dried leaves were always safely locked away in wooden boxes called tea caddies. The key to the lock was on a chain around the lady’s neck, just to make sure that the servants would not help themselves to the precious leaves. After all, they only got the second brew.

Nowadays tea has become a commodity good which can be afforded by almost everyone. The style and exclusive ambience have survived, though. Especially posh hotels in London and other big cities around the world love to keep up the tradition. Fine bone china, elegant silverware and linen, all these are part of a luxurious afternoon tea. After all, we all love to wallow in luxury from time to time, don’t we!

Before I introduce you to the recipes and the give-away I want to thank Nora from Seelensachen-Fotografie for taking all the wonderful photos at my afternoon tea invitation.

Earl Grey Fruit Cake

½ lb (260 g) dried fruits (e.g. blueberries, cranberries, plums, etc.)
1 ¼ cups (300 ml) strong Earl Grey Tea (hot)
3 tablespoons (100 g) butter
½ cup (100 g) sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (220 g) flour, all purpose
2 heaped teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup (50 g) chopped of ground almonds

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180 °C, 160° fan, gas mark 4).

Soak the dried fruits in the hot tea for at least 4 hours, but best overnight. Cover the bowl.

Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs until light and fluffy. Combine the flour and the baking powder and add it to the butter-egg-mixture. Beat until well combined. Squeeze the tea out of the fruits using your hands and add them to the dough. Fold them into the dough. Add some of the Earl Grey Tea in which the fruits soaked until you get a soft dough.

Line a 10 inch (26 cm) loaf pan with butter and dust it with flour. Transfer the dough into the loaf pan and bake it in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes.

Allow to cool for about 10 minutes, then turn onto a serving plate and allow to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Shrimp Sandwiches

Makes 4 large (16 small) sandwiches:
8 slices of white or brown bread
100 g cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ cup (100 g) cream cheese
½ lemon (juice)
¼ rock melon
1 handful of lamb’s lettuce

Combine the cream cheese with the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Spread equally on the slices of bread. Put the shrimp, melon and lamb’s lettuce on 4 slices of bread and put the other four slices on top. Press down lightly and cut each sandwich in 4 triangles (cut diagonally).

Egg and Cress Sandwiches

Makes 4 large (16 small) sandwiches:
8 slices of white or brown bread
4 hard boiled eggs
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon cream cheese
a dash of Worcestershire-Sauce
1 handful of garden cress
salt, pepper

Boil the eggs, rinse them with cold water and peel them. Slice them and transfer them to a bowl. Use a fork to crush them. Add the mayonnaise, cream cheese, Worcestershire Sauce, salt and pepper. Divide the egg mayonnaise evenly on the bread slices. Top four of them with the garden cress. Put the other four slices of bread on top. Press down lightly and cut each sandwich in 4 triangles (cut diagonally).

And finally, here are the recipes for printing: