#89: Getting Everything Ready for Tea

A friend comes for tea and I enjoy the baking and getting everything ready as much as I do our visit. Plus a recipe for cookies.

To me there is something calming and centering about baking treats and setting the table for tea with a friend. I feel I am creating a still life. China tea cups and saucers, fancy napkins found at estate sales put back into service, freshly baked shortbread…

The cup I was given by Sadie, one of my baking mentors, when I was five years old.

scones on a fancy plate…

A plate from my first marriage…I still have all of them!

tea bread…

cookies and fruit…

A tea cozy found at the Irish linen store in Victoria BC ten years ago…or more.

pie set upon a pretty plate…

and flowers. Surely there must be flowers.

Sweet-peas are my favorites.

And the washing up after…the sound the cups and saucers make as I gather and carry them to the sink; the steam rising from hot soapy water as I wash off crumbs; wiping dry each dish, cup, saucer, and spoon with a clean white tea towel; finally placing everything back on the cupboard shelves…until the next time. I love it all.

Cookies of Joy

Today, I make Cookies of Joy to serve at tea time. Don’t you just love the name? The 12th-century recipe is attributed to Hildegard of Bingen¹ and I play music written by her as I bake. What an amazing woman.

The original recipe calls for spelt flour and since it is a gluten-full flour I substitute gluten-free ingredients. It’s a good thing I downsize the recipe to just half because if I had made the full recipe I would joyfully have eaten my way through too many of them as they are very good.

May the making, eating, and sharing of all your bakes bring you joy.

Recipe: Gluten-Free Cookies of Joy

Full recipe below makes about 32 cookies. Cut amounts in half to make about 16 cookies.

What I Use

• 12 tablespoons butter, melted

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 1/3 cup local raw honey

• 4 egg yolks from large eggs

• 1 and 1/2 cup gluten free flour mix (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour Mix)

• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour

• 1/2 cup almond flour

• 1 teaspoon sea salt

• 1 tablespoon nutmeg, freshly ground

• 1 tablespoon Vietnamese cinnamon, ground

• 1 teaspoon cloves, ground

How I Make It

1. While slowly melting the butter over a low flame, place all the ingredients in a large bowl. Add the butter and stir until everything is well and thoroughly mixed.

2. Cover the bowl with a beeswax wrap and set in fridge for an hour to chill and firm up a bit…although I cheated and pulled it out after 50 minutes.

3. Place dough on a floured surface and cut in half. Form each half into a log approximately 2” in diameter. Slice in 1/4-1/3” rounds and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. You can also roll the dough out on the floured surface and cut into small circles with a glass or cookie cutter, re-rolling the trimmings and cutting out more circles.

4. Bake at 375F for 10 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before moving cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

5. Eat joyfully!

These “Cookies of Joy” are sliced from a dough log (see Step 3) and then baked.

1. For more information about Hildegard of Bingen. https://www.worldhistory.org/Hildegard_of_Bingen/