Tea-time again.

As I said yesterday, postings may be briefer than usual for a short while for various reasons beyond my control – including internet access. [Postscript: just restored – so almost normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!]

Today I give you some hints from The Times, of June 10, 1940 – a nice article on old and new favourites for wartime tea parties.

“Tea-time entertaining offers no great difficulties. Good cakes can be made without eggs. A tablespoon of golden syrup to half a teacup of milk may be used in place of two eggs. The addition of a spoonful of good strong coffee makes the mixture darker and richer looking.”

An Eggless Cake.
Melt half a pound of dripping with two ounces of golden syrup in a pan on the stove. Pour in half a pint of milk, and stir in very thoroughly a previously made mixture of a pound of self-raising flour, half a pound each of stoned raisins and brown sugar, and a teaspoon each of ground mixed spice and cinnamon. To conclude add a teaspoon of carbonate of soda. Bake in a moderate oven half an hour.

Spanish Chocolate Toasts.
Cream together equal parts of margarine and unsweetened chocolate (powdered). Flavour to taste with cinnamon or coffee. Spread this mixture on rounds of toast and heat in the oven until the chocolate has melted. Serve at once.


Australian Oat Fingers.
Melt three ounces of margarine in a pan with three tablespoons of honey. Then add eight ounces of rolled oats, a quarter of a teaspoon of ground ginger, and the juice of half a lemon. Stir thoroughly, press into a shallow tin quarter of an inch thick, and bake for 20 minutes in a very slow oven until golden brown. Leave to cool and then cut into fingers.


Quotation for the Day.

The pleasures of afternoon tea run like a trickle of honey through English literature from Rupert Brooke's wistful lines on the Old Vicarage at Grantchester to Miss Marple, calmly dissecting a case over tea cakes at a seaside hotel.
Stan Hey.