Clove Tea and Coconut Date Cake

I love tea, and have managed to transfer my affection for this unassuming brew over to my  husband. I am fussy about the temperature and variety and in winter I love to add spices in my tea. Clove is one such variation. The tea I used for this particular recipe was whole leaf Assam tea.
For texture purposes this a full bodies black tea, usually the kind found in the English breakfast blends. This also holds it own with a bold flavor like cloves. To make clove tea my way is pretty simple.

Clove Tea for Two

Prep/Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

2.5 cup water
1 tablespoon whole cloves
2 teaspoons loose leaf black tea
Milk (optional)
Honey (Optional)

Method of Preparation

1. Place the water and the cloves in a tea kettle and bring to a boil and boil for about 5 minutes to let the flavor of the cloves steep in.
2. Place the tea in a teapot with an infuser basket and add in the clove water and let the water and tea brew for about 3-4 minutes.
3. Pour the tea in a cup and serve with milk and honey if desired. If like me you likeyour tea straight up, just drink the dark fragrant liquid.

Now, on a holiday I really want something sweet to compliment my tea, only problem being I am not a great baker, but I saw a cake recipe that looked so simple that it was calling my name. I modified it ever so slightly and we were rewarded with a rich tasting date cake that the kids declares was a nice but different tasting chocolate cake.

The cake is made with very few ingredients and you can taste the rich natural sweetness of dates in every bite.

Coconut Date Cake

Prep Time: Overnight (mostly for soaking the dates)

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Make 1 10-inch round cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup low fat milk

1 cup of pitted large dates (I used about 15 large mejdool dates)

1/2 cup dark molasses

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)

1/2 cup chopped blanched almonds

Ingredients

1. Mix the coconut milk, milk and date and leave the dates soaked overnight in the milk mixture in the refrigerator.

2. Place the milk, date and molasses in a blender and blend into a smooth paste.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.

4. Grease a round 10-inch cake pan.

5. Sift the flour and baking soda into a mixing bowl.

6. Mix in the oil and add in the date mixture and mix until very smooth, I did this with a wooden spoon and a firm hand.

7. Stir in the almonds, pour the mixture into the baking dish and bake until the cake is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This takes about 40 minutes.

8. Turn off the heat and let the cake cool for at least a half hour and serve the cake warm.

So hope you are enjoying this holiday weekend.

Kathleen's Tea Room

LT on Whole Wheat Toast

Earlier this year, when the whether was cooler, I ventured one lunchtime to try out Kathleen's Tea Room. I think my love for tea competes very strongly with my love of wine. This visit turned out to be a fairly costly one, since I actually ended up with a ticket for parking incorrectly. Fortunately, the tea room was a lovely place to visit. A small place somewhat bring forth the appearance of an old english cluttered service room.

There tea selections were not very extensive but adequate, their service came in mismatched (as in different cups and plates for different tables) completing the atmosphere of a down home feeling.

In general, had this place been closer it would have been a good place to take a book and read on a quiter day. The tea was brewed in piping hot water (one of the most essential elements of brewing black tea). Actually a simple fact that most people overlook.

`A somewhat lopsided view of what the place looks like.

The sandwich that I ordered was nice and substantial, in fact my only complaint with it was it was too much like a good lunch sandwich rather than a  teatime sandwich. It came with a side of potato salad, healthy but a better option than potato chips.

So if like me you want something warm when there is a nip in the air, a quaint place where you can while an hour or two with friends or even your favorite book, try to take a ride up county and check this place out. If you like to collect tea and try some later, they also sell loose tea like most tearooms.

Kathleens Tea Room

979 Main Street

Peekskill, NY

914 734 5420

Green Tea, Little cafe, odds and ends

I have recently started exploring the world of green tea. Until very recently, I used to find this green companion rather insipid. I am otherwise really a tea drinker. I drink coffee at work simply because it happens to be there, need the kick!

What really clinched it for me was actually a Twinings green gunpowder tea.

This really is a lovely light green drink, perfect to sip on a cold day, not too overpowering...

Now, getting back to the kick, this afternoon, I wanted to take a walk to get something a little better that the awful brew that sits around and thickens at work.

I stumbled into this little cafe , located right in Hastings on Hudson train station. The place has a lot of character, just the kind of place you would want to take a book or newspaper to and sit and read and sip your tea or coffee. The owner is a charming and hospitable man. Outside of the fairly decent cofee and tea selections (better on the coffee), the restaurant offers a few sandwiches a good variety of muffins, scones and some really good rugelagh..

The little place cheered my spirits enough today to write a little...

Date-Pine Nut Cake with Fennel

As always, I find Mahanandi
a beautiful blog to visit. I was recently struck by this recipe, for a Date-Walnut cake. Firstly, when I went to make it I realized that I did not have any walnuts, then I played around with the flavorings but overall the results were really good and frankly this was quite wholesome for a cake.

Date-PineNut Cake with Fennel

Makes one loaf

Ingredients

1 cup wholewheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 cup pinenuts

1 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup soft butter

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

Method of Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

2. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, fennel seeds, pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl.

3. Stir in the pinenuts.

4. Mix the dates in the honey.

5. Beat the sugar, butter and egg till smooth.

6. Add in the dates with the honey.

7. Add to the dry ingredients in batches with the buttermilk. Blend till smooth.

8. Pour into a pan and cook for 45 minutes till well browned. Serve hot with tea.

Interestingly enough, I made this rather late at night and was not sure about having tea at that time. Someone had sent me a gift of something called white tea that I had never had before. This happens to be a rather mild tea that needs to be steeped in hot but not boiling water. It is also much lower in caffiene than regular black tea so it makes a good late evening drink when you are craving tea at night.

Ginger Tea and Milk

Ginger - the wonderful rhizome.

Ginger is clearly beneficial for you in many ways, but I guess what I like best about it is that it works well with both sweet and savory foods. Anyhow with a nice nip in the air, today I made some great spice cookies and spice tea.

One of the common misconceptions about spicing tea is that people assume all the spice teas have to be boiled, we can also brew spices in the tea, yes, the flavors are more subtle. My preffered tea of choice is the wonderful Darjeeling Tea, which really does not work well if boiled. This queen of teas is meant to be brewed.
BTW, if you are looking for a great place to try good tea and other teatime treats in Westchester I highly recommend the Silver Tips Tea Room in Tarrytown, NY. They also sell a great selection of tea from around the world over the internet at very reasonable prices.

Ginger Anise Tea

Makes 4 cups

Ingredients

1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled and sliced
2 star anise
4 tbsp darjeeling leaf tea
Milk and sugar to taste
4.5 cups of water

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the water to a boil. Immer the ginger and anise and let this infuse in the water for 10 minutes.
2. Reheat to boiling if needed.
3. Add the tea and let this brew for 4-5 minutes.
4. Strain and serve with the desired amount of milk and sugar.

The next drink is my concoction for my husband who does not like tea at night, this is really good to soothe a cold as well.

Rinku's milky brew for Anshul

Makes 2 cups

2 cups of milk
4 thinly sliced pieces of ginger
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 cloves
1" inch piece of cinnamon
1/3 piece of nutmeg
3 tsp honey

Method of preparation

1. Boil the milk for 5 min with the ginger, pepper, cloves and cinnamon.
2. Let this sit for 5 minutes.
3. Strain the milk and grate the nutmeg onto the milk and stir in the honey.
4. Pour into mugs and drink.

As a lighter substitute to eggnog, mix in 1 tsp butter and a 2 tbsp of brandy per cup and serve.