LEMON THYME TEA BREAD
Lemon Thyme Tea Bread
I am having so much fun with my herb garden this year. I grew so much already, I had to cut a bunch and prune the entire garden back already. One small herb garden produces so much harvest!! I wanted to start baking and cooking using these precious herbs! I think there is an herb called lemon thyme, but I am just growing regular thyme this year. I’ve used thyme when I cook a roast or turkey but I have never baked anything with thyme in it…. So this is my first time using fresh thyme in my baking.
This tea bread is so yummy and is the perfect little bite of sweet to go with your favorite tea! You will taste just a hint of the thyme with that subtle sweet flavor of lemon. The butter give the bread so much flavor and moisture… I can’t wait for you to try this recipe and impress all of your tea table friends!
2 cups unsalted butter, softened 2 cups sugar
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme 4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole buttermilk, at room temperature 1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Lemon Glaze (recipe follows) Garnish: Fresh thyme, lemon slices
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 (8x5x3 inch) loaf pans with nonstick baking spray with flour. I used mini loaf pans making 8 mini loaves and I adjusted the baking time. I will note this baking time below.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at high speed until creamy, approximately 6 minutes. Add thyme and beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a large bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, and salt. Sift twice and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Set aside.
Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture to butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Divide batter evenly between prepared loaf pans.
Bake for 30 minutes (I baked for about 15 - 20 minutes for the mini loaves). Cover loaves with tented aluminum foil, and continue baking for another 30-40 minutes (I baked for an additional 20 minutes for the mini loaves). Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool completely. Place parchment paper under the cooling racks, and pour lemon glaze over loaves. Garnish with thyme and lemon slices, if desired.
Lemon Glaze (makes approximately 1 1/4 cups)
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
In a small nonreactive bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Use immediately. Drizzle over the tops of the loaves.
I wrapped each individual loaf in Saran Wrap and froze them. Take out a loaf for tea, slice and enjoy my friends!
Tea and Time Lemon Bars
The best lemon bar recipe from Tea and Time
Tea is always so great to enjoy all by itself but isn’t it wonderful to have a little bit of a sweet treat during your tea time? I know for me it is! Make a batch of these yummy lemon bars and always have them on hand by wrapping the squares in saran wrap and freezing them. Anytime a teatime friend visits your home, (or even if you want to treat a special teatime all by yourself), you can take out a few of these lemon squares and defrost them on a plate as you prepare the tea. By the time your tea has brewed, poured and you are settled into a cozy place to begin wonderful conversations, your lemon bars will be ready to enjoy! Defrosted yet still very chilled makes these tasty treats even better!! Enjoy!
Ingredients
2 Sticks Butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6 Tbls lemon juice
Melt butter and mix with powdered sugar and 2 cups of flour. Press in a 9x13 inch pan. Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.
While the crust is baking, prepare the lemon filling. Beat eggs until fluffy, add sugar and mix well. Add remaining 1/2 cup flour, baking powder, and lemon juice. I have used fresh lemons but I found that using bottled lemon juice somehow tastes better and not so tart with this recipe. Mix well. Pour over cookie layer. I do this pretty much when it comes out of the oven. No need to let this cool first. Return pan to oven for 25 minutes or until set. Now you can let this cool completely before cutting them into small squares. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with your favorite cup of tea.
5 ways to enjoy Tea with your quarantine Time
How is everyone doing today? We are in our 6th day of quarantine from COVID-19 and some of us (like California) are in a mandatory “safe at home” quarantine with no business opened anywhere except really to get food. I know so much good will come out of this because God is just putting this backdrop into place so He can really show off some miracles. I can not wait for this to happen but until then, we will be safe and stay with our closest family members and try to keep busy. So now that we have all of this “time” on our hands, what are we to do? I have cleaned my house, cleaned out some closets and watching the Hallmark Chanel Christmas movie marathon right now as I write this but I have to admit, I am getting really antsy. How can I contribute to all of you and my community? Well, last night a put together some tea gifts for my wedding industry peeps to send out on Monday. We have all had a very busy week rescheduling our Spring weddings and I know the wedding planners all over the country are having a tough time reworking entire vendor teams not to mention soothing emotional brides. My heart breaks for our brides and then I started thinking… I am a wedding planner known for bringing a sense of “calm” to a wedding day and I attribute this all to my tea! So I am giving out my “calm” to my brides and my planner and vendor friends! I hope it does just a little bit of good and brings some smiles.
So what can WE all do at home to enjoy some tea with all of this time we have acquired? Here are 5 suggestions to do with or without the kiddos……. things that you have always been saying to yourself “when I get some free time, I will do………”. So here we go!
Tea, Bible Study and Prayer - I do like to start my day every morning with my bible study and most days I do. Sometimes though my phone will begin to ring before my feet even hit the ground. Now I am in full blown work mode not realizing the time slipping by until at least lunch. Last week was a bit crazy with rescheduling weddings but the phone has been eerily quiet this weekend. Bible study is always something I wish I had more time for. Our country is in need of prayer right now more than ever. So let’s take some time with our tea to pray for those who are sick, for those who are healthy to remain healthy, for our president, our country, all the health care providers working endless hours, grocery store and take out restaurants who are serving us daily, for our communities and our families. The unity I see in our country right now is so heart warming and prayer is a good way to spend some of this time we have.
Picnic Outside With The Kiddos - When my boys were younger, they would love when we read Winnie the Pooh books together. A lot of the stories from Winnie the Pooh involved tea time and they would always be outside playing. This gave me the idea of having a Winnie the Pooh picnic outside in our backyard. We would bring all of our stuffed animal friends and sit on a blanket on the grass with crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Oreo cookies and tea. I would be drinking the tea and the boys would be sipping their apple juice. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate picnic and sometimes you can do the exact same things you would be doing inside the house. It’s a different scenery though and getting some fresh air at the same time. So bring some puzzles out, read some Winnie the Pooh books (or whatever books the kids like), coloring books and crayons, trucks and cars, dolls and stuffed animals and a nice fluffy blanket. Somehow PB&J and Oreo’s just tasted good outside!
Do some Baking with or without the kiddos - After I work a heavy week of wedding planning and then execute the wedding day, Sunday’s are for rest. I don’t any wedding related things but for some reason I love to do normal household things like laundry and cooking. Baking is something that I love as well and love to try out new recipes. This has been something on the back burner lately with Spring wedding season starting but then coming to a halt quickly. Now we all have the time to bake up some goodies. The kiddos may like to get in on this as well so make some cookies, bake a pound cake or try out some other yummy dessert you have been wanting to try. I usually have lemon bars individually wrapped in my freezer at all times along with some other treats that I can easily take out one at a time to enjoy with my tea especially when my neighbor drops by. I would see her coming to my back door and before she has time to say “hello” I am getting out two of whatever I have in my freezer and filling the tea kettle with water for our tea time. Those were some of my very favorite memories when we were all raising the littles. Here is the lemon bar recipe from Paula Deen I use for a tea time treat!
Paula Deen’s Lemon Bars - anytime I try a Paula Deen recipe it turns out delicious.. This is not a low cal dessert and the ingredients are good and full of fat but you don’t have to eat the whole pan either. Just a square (or two) with your tea is enough to give you a joyous tea experience!!
4 large eggs 1 cup confectioners sugar
6 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 2 3/8 cup flour
2 sticks of butter, unsalted 2 cups granulated sugar
A pinch of salt
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees - Lightly grease a 9x13x2 inch pan
Make the crust by combining 2 cups flour, confectioners sugar and pinch of salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter to make it a crumbly mixture. Press the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
While the crust bakes, mix the filling by mixing the eggs, granulated sugar, 6 tablespoons flour and lemon juice. When the crust is finished, pour the filling over the crust and put back in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Dust with confection sugar before serving.
Vision Board - So this is something I have been really wanting to do and has been on my “New Year’s Resolution” list since December 31st but I have yet to get to this…. A vision board is a visual board we can look at all the time and have it in full view to remind us what our goals and dreams are. This is the chance to dream big, dream way outside the box as if these dreams have already happened to us and it is all right there in real time and real life. Get creative and get detailed. The more details the better. I have had dreams of my future tea room for years but have it all on Pinterest and have not yet put this into a visual that I can see everyday when I get dressed and ready for the day ahead, when I get ready to put my head on the pillow and anytime in between. This is the vision you have for your future. We now have some time to really dig into our dreams and put it into action by making the vision come to life!
Polish Your Silver Tea Set - I know, I know…. polishing silver is not my favorite thing to do either. But doesn’t your silver tea set just sparkle when it’s all cleaned up looking shiny new? I should polish my silver so much more than I do but never really have the time to dedicate to this. So here we go! This doesn’t have to be just for your silver either. If you have some fine china tea sets or the pretty things that sit in your curio cabinet that you love to look at but never use so it is probably pretty dusty by now, here is your chance to make all of it shine. Maybe it will even motivate you to use these pieces and enjoy them more than just looking at them!
Photo by Kelli and Daniel Taylor Photography
I pray all of you stay safe, healthy and keep looking towards a very bright future ahead when we can all be together again and enjoy tea in the same room with each other…. until then my tea friends, prayers and blessings to all of you! Cheers!
Special thanks to the additional sweet vendors for your contributions in these images: