Tea Time.

Recently I tried to take up tea drinking. Ever since the great teatastophe of '97 I made the informed decision to henceforth swear off tea in all its guises. Iced tea. Green tea ice cream. Long Island iced tea. Matcha cake. It was just awful. I sipped a bit of my mom's green tea and made a funny face. I was traumatized.

Despite my tainted past with tea, over the years I have acquired a handsome collection of tea related things. Tea towels, tea cups, saucers, tea spoons, cream and sugar sets, cute napkins. It got me thinking, maybe I like tea after all.

I was going to give tea another chance. Maybe we could get reacquainted and become fast friends. I'm sure we just got off on the wrong foot. Perhaps it was high time for some high tea.

I had it in my head I was going to throw tea parties with all my civilized tiny hat wearing buddies. We were going to sit in my dining room all prim and proper with our ankles delicately crossed. We were going to sip fancy earl grey and chamomile out of dainty pink cups with our pinkies out. We were going to gossip and giggle and nibble on petit fours.

I mean what better place to show off my Royal Wedding worthy feather fascinator right?

Alas it was not meant to be. Tea and I just don't get along. I made the face again. It wasn't pretty.

There is one part of tea time I think we can all agree is the very best part. The treats. The tiny individual cakes, the gooey squares, the cute cookies, the powdery truffles, the glazed tarts. Because if you take away the tea isn't a tea party just a swanky buffet?

And none of that roast beef and shrimp crap. The good stuff. The end of the buffet we all save ourselves for. Let's all just admit it. You might have stuffed yourself with more than your money's worth, but you just can't refuse that spread of sugary bliss on top of everything. Even if it means that you don't feel physically capable of eating another bite for at least another week.

Here's my contribution to tea time. The best part. The star. The crowd pleaser. The treat. Cardamom Clementine Cookies. They're light and airy with the floral scent of cardamom and the subtle brightness of citrus. I'm guessing they'd go well with a steaming cup of chai tea, but I'm certainly no expert. You'll have to let me know!

Cardamom Clementine Cookies Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Source: My imagination.

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 tbsp clementine zest 1 tbsp clementine juice 2 eggs 2 1/2 cup flour 1 tsp cardamom 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt

1/4 cup granulated sugar Printer-Friendly Version

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the center. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the clementine zest, juice and eggs then mix until they're just blended.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, cardamom, baking powder and salt. Add it to the butter mixture and combine it well.

Separate the dough into 2 even balls and wrap one in plastic wrap to save it from drying out before you need it. On a floured surface, roll out the unwrapped dough ball. Using a medium round cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and place them on the prepared baking sheets. Dip the flat bottom of a glass in the reserved sugar then very lightly press the sugar into each cookie. A little tip to get the sugar to stick to the glass, first press the glass into the unused cookie dough. Bake them for about 7 - 10 minutes until the edges start to turn a light golden brown. Transfer them to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Best products
Inflamaya Inflamaya
Gel against Pains in Joints
€78
€39
Prostodin Prostodin
Drops Will Heal Your Prostate
€78
€39
Normalife Normalife
Drops for Arterial Hypertension
$78
$39
Only original products
Discounts up to 90%
The order in 2 clicks
Cash on delivery