The perfect tea time treat with a pot of Awakening: Little nutty tea cakes

In the words of our founder, Kate, ❝bake these little nutty tea cakes off in yorkshire pudding/muffin trays and make a pot of tea for a simple yet perfect afternoon tea treat!❞

Ingredients

Makes one large round cake or lots of little ones

600ml perfectly brewed Lahloo Awakening or Tajiri

400g dried fruits

Zest of 1 large orange

1 large free-range egg

300g caster sugar

385g plain flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

1. soak the dried fruits and orange zest in the tea and infuse overnight or for at least 6 hours
2. drain and save the liquid for later
3. preheat the oven to 180C
4. whisk egg and add to dried fruit with 2/3 of the caster sugar. Sieve the dry ingredients and add to the fruit, along with the juice of the orange. The mixture should be moist so add some of the reserved tea liquor if necessary.
5. pour into a greased and lined large round cake tin or 2 muffin trays and bake for 25mins. Cover with foil and bake for a further 45mins. If necessary, bake until your skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool before topping.

Nutty topping

100g candied peel

100g flaked/chopped almonds

50g golden syrup

1. melt golden syrup and add fruit and candied fruit. Simmer for 5 mins. 
2. allow to cool and pile sticky mixture on top of cakes
3. put the kettle on, make a pot of tea and enjoy!

Green Jasmine truffles

The highlight of this month’s Tea and Chocolate Workshop at Lahloo Pantry will be the preparation of these chocolate truffles, infused with the delicate flavour of Green Jasmine. A fabulous homemade gift or a luxurious treat to enjoy when you fancy something sweet, satisfying and uplifting. Here’s our recipe!

Green Jasmine truffles

Ingredients (for about 40 truffles)

• 250g dark chocolate
• 280ml heavy cream
• 50g butter
• 2-3 tbsp Lahloo Green Jasmine
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder (for the coating)

Heat the cream in a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat, add the tea and let it infuse for 15 minutes. Strain.

Melt the chocolate and the butter in a bain-Marie and strain the cream into the mixture. Whisk well until combined. Pour into a stainless still bowl and refrigerate for two hours.

Place 1 teaspoon of the truffle mixture into the palm of your hand, rolling it into a ball. Place each truffle on a lined baking tray and repeat the process. Chill the truffles until firm.

Once the truffles are firm, coat them with the cocoa powder (if you like them sweeter, add some brown sugar to the cocoa powder and mix well) and leave them to harden.

Our tip: Bring truffles to room temperature just before serving.

Earl Grey chocolate cake

Our star recipe this month is this satisfying and indulgent Earl Grey chocolate cake, one of the regulars at the Lahloo Pantry counter – it never lasts long, as you can imagine! With a decadent chocolate glaze and fresh raspberries to decorate, this cake screams romance, so it’s perfect for your Valentine!

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/3 cups boiling water
• 2 1/2 teaspoons Lahloo Earl Grey
• 1 3/4 cup plain flour
• 2 cups caster sugar
• 3/4 unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk and stir in 1 tbl sp lemon juice)
• 115g butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 For the chocolate glaze:  

• 1/4 cup steeped Lahloo Earl Grey (reserved from the previous)
• 115g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons salted butter
• raspberries to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/ gas mark 4. Spray a circular tray with vegetable cooking spray, rubbing it with a paper towel, then lightly flour it, tipping out any excess.

Pour the boiling water over the tea leaves in a small bowl. Steep, cover for 5 minutes, and strain.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk thoroughly. Add one cup of the steeped tea, reserving the remaining for the glaze. Add the buttermilk, melted butter and eggs.

Using an electric mixer on medium high, beat the mixture for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for another 2 minutes, until smooth. The batter will be thin. Pour into the prepared tray.

Bake for 30-45 minutes. Take out and leave to cool for for 15 minutes, then put the cake onto a cooling rack for a further 10 minutes.

To make the glaze:

In a bain-Marie, heat the chocolate and the butter until just melted. Heat the reserved cup of tea in the microwave for 30 seconds until hot, then stir into the chocolate. The mixture will thicken; stir until smooth and pourable. Spoon the glaze over the cake using the back of the spoon and spread lightly. Decorate with raspberries.

Let to set for an hour, then serve at room temperature. The cake may also be frozen.

Buckwheat hummus with cumin flatbread

Once you try it, it’s hard not to become slightly obsessed with Sobacha, our caffeine-free roasted buckwheat tea. Nutty and moreish, it contains a healthy dose of vitamin B which makes it an uplifting cuppa, especially good during the winter months. Unlike what one might expect, buckwheat is not related to wheat. It’s a gluten-free grain that is generally used to make noodles (soba noodles!) and a delicious porridge. But it’s also very versatile! For this recipe, we’ve added Sobacha to a traditional hummus recipe for a surprisingly nutty twist. Serve with strips of delicious homemade cumin flatbread.

For the hummus:

Ingredients

• 400g drained chickpeas
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 2 medium cloves of garlic
• 120ml tahini
• 4 tbsps olive oil
• pinch of cumin seeds
• 3 heaped tbsp Lahloo Sobacha + extra for sprinkling
• chopped parsley to garnish

Soak the chickpeas overnight then boil until soft. Drain. Save a few to garnish. (You can use tinned chickpeas if you’re in a hurry!)
Place the chickpeas in a blender with lemon juice, garlic, tahini, olive oil, Sobacha and cumin seeds. Blend until smooth, adding up to 200ml of water to create a smooth consistency. Garnish the hummus with more Sobacha and leftover chickpeas, sprinkling chopped parsley and a dash of olive oil over the top.

For the flatbread:

Ingredients: 

• 110g strong bread flour
• 3g dried yeast
• 1/5 tsp sugar
• 10ml olive oil
• 60ml water
• 2/3 tsp salt
• cumin seeds to sprinkle

Use a dough hook and bring together the ingredients. Cover and allow to rise for 1h. 15 minutes before you start shaping the bread, preheat the oven at 180C.
Shape the dough into 3 small balls, sprinkle with cumin seeds and bake for 15-20 mins.

Peppermint detox water

If, like us, you’ve started the year with the resolution of  going (nearly or completely!) caffeine-free, this detox water may be your saviour! Peppermint, cucumber, lemon and lime create a refreshing, invigorating and purifying drink – handy when you have to work in front of the screen for hours! Best of all, it’s very easy to prepare.

Ingredients

• 2tsp Lahloo Peppermint
• 500ml fresh water
• cucumber
• lemon
• lime

Cold infuse 2tsp of Lahloo Peppermint and five slices of cucumber in half a litre of fresh filtered water for about an hour or more, depending on how strong you like it. Strain the infusion and serve with sliced lemon and cucumber, squeezing some lemon and lime on top.

Cranberry and lemon loaf

This cranberry and lemon loaf is a seasonal favourite at Lahloo Pantry. Zesty, moist and fruity, with a bit of crunch from the sliced almonds, it’s perfect with a cup of Darjeeling and a good book.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 6oz unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 1.5 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1.5 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 1/4 cups of fresh cranberries
• slice almonds to decorate

In a medium size bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, lemon zest and lemon juice.

In the mixer beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until blended, it will take 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until fully mixed in.

Reduce the mixer speed and alternately beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by 1/2 of the sour cream mixture and repeat, ending with the last of the 1/3 of the flour mixture.

Beat until blended smooth, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stir in one cup of cranberries (make sure you save some for decoration!)

Spoon into a loaf tin and bake at 190c for 25 minutes. Cover with foil and bake for another 25-30 minutes.

For the glaze combine 1/4 cup lemon juice with 1 cup of icing sugar and drizzle on top. Garnish with fresh cranberries and sliced almonds.

Homemade Earl Grey mincemeat

Our mince pies at Lahloo Pantry are always a huge success. The secret? Really good pastry, but, above all, our incredible mincemeat, infused with zesty Lahloo Earl Grey. Here you can find out how to prepare it, ready for all your Christmas baking. Also perfect if you want to give some homemade presents to friends and family.

Ingredients

• 500g golden sultanas
• 500g dried cranberries
• 500g raisins
• 200g mixed peel
• 250g unsalted butter
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• zest of 2 oranges
• zest of 2 lemons
• 500g dark brown sugar
• 500ml amaretto liqueur
• 250ml Lahloo Earl grey tea

Put all the dried fruit and spices in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Place the zest, sugar, tea and amaretto in a pan and heat gently until sugar dissolves. Pour over mixed fruit and stir gently. Cover and allow to sit for two days. After two days pack it into sterilized jars -better when they mature in a cool dark place for a few weeks!

 

Spice Chai Hot Chocolate

Hot chocolate and Chai Latte are arguably the ultimate comfort drinks, each in their own way. For these winter days in which choosing just one seems almost impossible, this drink should be the perfect solution. Combining the richness of hot chocolate and the sumptuous flavour of Ayurvedic spices, this creamy hug-in-a-cup couldn’t be more satisfying.

Ingredients:

• 4 hot chocolate buttons
• Hot water
• 225ml milk
• 1 tsp Lahloo Spice Chai

 

Prepare some cold infused Chai milk, using 2 teaspoons of Spice Chai per half a litre. After at least four hours (depending how strong you like it), strain the tea out.

To prepare the hot chocolate, place four chocolate buttons in a mug and pour hot water to cover them until they start to melt. Remove the water and stir. Add hot Chai infused milk  to cover and keep stirring until the chocolate melts. Top up with more Chai milk and grate some chocolate on top. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Garibaldi, the winning biscuit

Despite this horrendous weather we’ve spent a jubilant month of November engrossed in the fascinating subject of dunking. If there’s something we’ve learnt after our Great Dunking Debate and all our social media interaction it’s that there are no rules to dunking. With or without milk, with sweet or savoury biscuits, for breakfast or at five o’clock… every person has their own ritual.

One of the aims of the Great Dunking Debate, held at Lahloo Pantry on the 22nd of November, was to pick a winning tea and biscuit pairing. The most popular one was that of Grandpa’s Anytime Tea, our comforting black tea from Kenya, taken with a dash of milk, and the classic Garibaldi biscuit.

Emily’s Garibaldi recipe has the right texture and consistency to go softer once dunked while still keeping its firmness, key to avoiding any floating biscuit bits in your cuppa. As dunking is a comfort ritual, it’s not surprising that the chosen tea was Grandpa’s Anytime, with its robust flavour that doesn’t dissipate with added milk.

Ingredients

• 225g plain flour
• 110g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 110g butter, softened at room temperature
• 55g currants
• 1 free-range egg, separated
• 3 tbsp milk
• good pinch mixed spice

1. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk.

2. Fold the flour into the mixture, then stir in the mixed spice and currants. Stir in enough milk to form a stiff dough.

3. Roll the dough out onto a floured surface and cut out the biscuits with a fluted cutter. Place onto the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 160ºC.

4. Remove the biscuits from the oven, brush with the reserved egg white, sprinkle with sugar and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes until they’re golden brown.

P.S. Also try Garibaldi biscuits with Bristol Brew, our full-bodied Assam.

Remember you can enjoy 20% off all our black teas this November.

Make your own sourdough bread with the Fabulous Baker Brothers

Does sourdough bread make the best toast? We certainly love it, so we’ve asked the Fabulous Baker Brothers for their sourdough recipe to share it with you. Don’t forget to enter this month’s competition to win a Bread Making Kit, a signed copy of their book and a tin of Smoky (their favourite Lahloo tea!)

Ingredients

• 300ml sourdough culture
• 500g good-quality white flour
• 200ml warm water
• pinch of salt

Method
1. To make your own sourdough culture, mix equal parts flour and water in a sealable jar -75g of each works well. The mixing action traps natural airborne yeast particles in the flour and water mix, and they begin to feed on the flour in the jar creating a living yeast colony. Leave the jar somewhere warm and remember to feed your sourdough equal parts flour and water every day. By 5 days in it should be bubbling and ready to use to bake our dough bread.

2. Put the flour into a bowl and add 300ml of your sourdough culture. Then add the warm water and the salt. Mix it altogether and then turn it out onto a table for kneading. It is a wet dough so you have to work it for a long time before it will start to come way from the table.

3. Once it’s stretchy, put it into a bowl and leave it somewhere warm to rise for 2 hours.
4. Shape the dough on a lightly floured surface to fit a proving basket or loaf tin. To do this, stretch the dough out into a long rectangle then fold each outer third inwards. Knuckle down a seam at the bottom of the dough nearest to you, then roll the dough from the top creating a tight loaf shape.
5. Dust the proving basket or loaf tin with flour and roll the dough in flour to stop it sticking. Put it into the basket, cover it and leave it to rinse in a warm place for a second time, for about 8-12 hours.
6. To bake it you will need a baking stone or a heavy metal baking tray. Get your oven very hot at 240C/ gas mark 9 and heat the stone or tray. Carefully turn the loaf out onto the hot stone or tray – be careful not to knock any air out. Give it your signature cut on the top, the put the dough in the oven and through a cup of water into the bottom of the oven to create steam. Bake for 30 minutes until golden.

You can browse some of the Fabulous Baker Brothers videos here.