Afternoon Tea in the Garden

Since we've been having this spate of glorious weather (who would want to leave the UK right now?!) I decided it was time to hit the garden again, just this time with baked goods. So my friend Harriet and I pulled on our aprons and got to work conjuring up an afternoon tea to be proud of, complete with decretive cake stand!

We prepared breads piled high with caramelised onion, brie and rocket, cream cheese pesto and pepper cups, fruit cups and lavender shortbreads, all topped off with some of my home made lemonade and a glass of bubbly. The best bit was all the food was relatively quick to make! My favourite little dish however had to be the breads, but that's mainly because I feel you can't go wrong with caramelised onion and brie!

Anyway, just before I rush back to the garden, here are two little recipes for you guys to enjoy. Tell me what you think!


Breads

You will need:
4 red onions
a wedge of brie
rocket
bread (I used a ciabatta style loaf)
olive oil
a teaspoon of sugar
a sprinkle of salt

The only time consuming part of this recipe is caramelising the onions. To do this, coat a large pan with a thin layer of olive oil and heat this on a medium heat. When the oil is just simmering, throw in your onions, finely chopped, and spread them evenly over the base of your pan. Now gently heat your onions. If they look a little dry, add a small dash of water- this will also help prevent them burning. Add your teaspoon of sugar and your sprinkle of salt. These will help the caramelisation process. They should be caramelised after around 40 minutes.
Simply pile your caramelised onions onto lightly toasted bread, pop on a slice of brie, cover with a handful of rocket and serve. Delicious!


Lavender Shortbreads

You will need:
125g of warmed butter (I pop mine in the microwave for 20 seconds)
55g of sugar
175g of plain flour
a couple of heads of lavender (mine come straight from the garden- I just wash them and break them up into individual flowers)

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees and then simply combine all the ingredients in a mixer until they're thoroughly incorporated. Next, roll the mixture out until it's around 5mm thick. Using a cookie cutter (or a knife- it doesn't really matter), cut out your biscuits and lay them on a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Bung them in the oven and leave them to cook for around 15 minutes or until golden brown. Pull them out and sprinkle over a dusting of sugar and leave to cool. That's all there is to it!