Cranberry Tea Loaf

I ran out of sour cream today, so no muffins for tonight's Garden Party - instead I just had time to make a 'cup-of-tea-cake' as my mother used to call it. 
I found some organic fennel, chicory and cardamom Teabags in the cupboard, so I soaked some dried Cranberries (Craisins) and hopefully the end result will be delicious. the hot tea smells wonderful - like liquorice - mmm 
 

Make a pot of strong tea
In a small bowl pour in:
one mug of craisins
one mug of caster sugar
one mug of tea

Leave to infuse for at least half an hour

Then stir in:
2 mugs self-raising flour
1 large egg

Pour into a loaf tin
Bake on Gas 4 for 1 hour

Fat free and delicious!

Mao Feng Tea Loaf

It's that annual time of year when I head off to camp with my Church family and naturally I had better get the baking done first. So today I am making a fat free tea loaf, and I'll work out how many points it will cost me on my diet once it's baked.

First make a cup of very hot tea - today I used Mao Feng Green 'Tea-Pigs' tea, but any tea will do. 

In a large bowl measure out:
1 cup of mixed fruit (today i used mostly sultanas with some dried chopped apricots to make it up to a cup full)
1 cup of caster sugar

Mix them together and pour over:
1 cup of hot tea
Leave to 'brew' for at least half an hour, longer if you like. The fruit needs to soak in the tea.(I usually leave the tea bags in the liquid while it soaks, so that it gets some extra flavour)

Then stir in:
2 cups of self-raising flour
1 large beaten egg

Pour the mixture into a greased and floured loaf tin 
Bake on Gas 4 for about 1 hour

Chilli Chai Cranberry Loaf

Tonight's little gem is my favourite tea loaf made with chilli chai tea and, instead of the usual mixed fruit, I used cranberries (only because I ran out of mixed fruit). But it looks just fine, and hopefully the guys at work will love it when it reaches the staff room on my birthday. 

First make a pot of hot strong chilli chai tea

In a bowl stir in together:

1 cup of caster sugar 

1 cup of dried cranberries

Add 1 cup of hot tea, 

Stir and leave to brew for at least half an hour, longer if possible.

(I left mine all day today)

Then add:

1 large egg

2 cups self-raising flour

and mix together

Pour the mixture into a loaf tin

Bake on Gas 4 for 1 hour

And voila!! Fabulous Fat Free Food  

Tomorrow I need to squeeze in baking a couple of batches of muffins before I go out to celebrate the impending birthday with a wonderful Indian meal at the Mango.

Chilli Chai Tea Loaf

This is a real treat that is totally fat free - unless you slice it up and spread butter on it (which is really nice). The sugar overload won't be helpful to your teeth though. I usually do this loaf with regular 'Tetley' tea, but when I spotted the Chilli Chai lurking in the pantry, I figured it would make a nice change.

First make a pot of strong hot tea.

In a large bowl put:

one cup of sugar 

one cup of mixed fruit 

Pour in one cup of the hot tea to soak into the sugar and fruit.

Leave it for at least half an hour, but the longer the better. My mum used to soak it overnight. Anyway, while you're waiting you could drink the rest of the pot of tea.

Then mix in:

one large egg

And stir in:

2 cups self-raising flour

Pour it into a greased loaf tin
Bake for 1 hour
Gas 4

Leave in the tin for a few minutes before removing onto a wire rack to cool

Cup-of-tea Muffins.

I had a Spring clean today - I realise it's Autumn, but I've never been one to do things when I was expected too! Anyway, I discovered as I sorted out my pantry that I had 10 different boxes of teas. So I finished off my 'Breakfast Teapigs' which left 9, then I decided I had better bake a cup-of-tea loaf. But that would mean waiting a very long time for it to bake and cool enough to sample, so instead I turned to muffins.
I used Sultanas soaked in Honey Blush Teapigs, which are honey and Red Bush tea. Any tea will do, I just use my regular Tetley decaf when I make a tea loaf!

Firstly make a cup of strong tea using 3 tea bags.
Then put one cup of sultanas in a bowl and pour the tea over, so that the fruit soaks up the flavour of the tea. Leave this for half an hour if possible.

In a small bowl melt 90g butter.
Add half a cup of sour cream, quarter cup of milk, 2 large eggs

In a large bowl mix together
375g self raising flour, 90g demerera sugar, 130g castor sugar

Add the wet to the dry ingredients
mix together

Drain off the tea from the sultanas and add the sultanas to the batter.
mix together.
Divide between 12 muffin cases
Bake on Gas 5/6
for 20-25 minutes

I hope they'll taste lovely with another cup of tea later on.