Club Sandwich Tea Dessert – Sweet Adventures Blog Hop

Welcome regular followers and hoppers. Today, I’m participating in a different type of event in the food blogging community – a Blog Hop.  Bloggers come together to cook up a storm and link their blogs so those who are interested can jump from blog to blog, checking out the themed recipes.

I’ve been watching the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop on and off for months now but I never seem to have the time or be around during the week submissions are open. Finally everything has aligned and I’ve been able to join in. This month the Hop is being hosted by JJ over at 84th&3rd and the theme for this month is Sweet Adventures Blog Hop – ‘Whats Your Cup of Tea?’.

I’m not a big tea drinker but I am a big tea bag snatcher. I spend ridiculous amounts of time at airports and in airline clubs and lounges. They are stocked with really average coffee and fairly good quality tea bags. Maybe a few of them have fallen into my bag on occasion, so I have a well stocked tea caddy for guests. This is the inspiration for my dessert – ‘Club Sandwich’, lots of tea flavours made from tea lifted from airport clubs around Australia, sandwiched together.

Rose & Vanilla Jelly
Ingredients
1 x Dilmah Rose with French Vanilla Tea Bag
2 x gold strength gelatine leaves
tap water for gelatine
1 x tbsp white sugar
250ml boiling water

Method

• Place gelatine leaves in a cup of tap water to soften
• Place tea bag and sugar in a shallow bowl
• Add 250ml boiling water to the bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved
• Remove softened gelatine from tap water, squeeze out excess water and add to bowl of hot water
• Stir until gelatine is dissolved
• Remove tea bag and discard
• Allow liquid to cool then place in fridge to set

Improvised smoker…

Smoked Chai Chocolate Mousse
Ingredients
3 x Twinings Chai Tea Bags
1/4 cup thickened cream
1 x egg, separated
50g white chocolate

Method

• Place cream and one tea bag in small saucepan and gently heat. (Do not boil)
• Stir the cream to allow the tea bag to infuse its flavour. The cream will thin as it heats.
• Take cream from heat, allow to cool and remove tea bag. Squeeze out excess cream and chai flavouring.
• Discard tea bag and chill cream in fridge
• When cream is completely chilled, whip cream until soft peaks form.
• In a separate bowl, whip egg white until soft peaks form.
• Make a double square of foil in the base of a wok or saucepan.
• Cut open remaining two tea bags and empty into a small pile on foil. Place trivet on top of foil
• Turn stove onto a medium heat and place wok onto stove. Allow to heat for a few minutes, until you start to smell the tea roasting.
• Place chocolate into a small bowl and set on top of trivet
• Place lid over top to enclose the bowl and contain smoke
• Allow smoke to permeate chocolate, whilst it is melting (around 5 minutes). You can check the chocolate but remember, every time you lift the lid, you will let the smoke escape.
• Once chocolate is melted, remove from heat and switch off stove.
• Beat egg yolk into chocolate.
• Add chocolate mix to whipped cream and mix.
• Gently fold egg white into mixture and chill

Earl Grey Shortbread 
Ingredients
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup caster sugar
3 x Dilmah Earl Grey tea bags
1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn vanilla
2 tspn water
3/4 cup unsalted butter

Method

• Preheat oven to 190c (no fan)
• Pulse flours, sugar, salt and the contents of two of the tea bags until tea leaves are finely chopped and mixed through
• Place butter and contents of third tea bag in heat proof dish or jug and melt butter, allowing tea to infuse flavour
• Add vanilla and water to dry ingredients.
• Strain butter into dry ingredients. Try to prevent most of the tea leaves from getting into the mix but it doesn’t matter if a few go in as you already have tea in the mix.
• Pulse together until a dough is formed. You may need to add a small amount of water – do this one teaspoon at a time
• Turn the dough out onto a piece of baking paper. If it has not fully formed, give it a light knead to bring it together.
• Form dough into a log and wrap the paper around the log. Twist the ends of the paper and roll the log on the bench to make it smooth.
• You can now freeze the dough for later use or, chill for at least 30 minutes
• When chilled slice the dough into 5cm rounds. Place on baking sheets lined with baking paper.  They will not spread much whilst cooking.
• Cook until the edges are just brown. This will be around 12 – 14 minutes but watch them towards the end as they will brown very quickly.
• Transfer to wire racks to cool. Eat any that are too brown.

ASSEMBLE & EAT

• Place a biscuit at the bottom of a decorative glass. Spoon a small amount of jelly over the biscuit and then cover with a small amount of chocolate mousse. Repeat with a second layer.
• Crush a biscuit and sprinkle half of it over one of the finished sandwiches. Retain the other half of the crumbs for a second sandwich
• You will have sufficient ingredients for 4 generous desserts with a few shortbread left over
• Leave the desserts for at least 4 hours to allow the shortbread within the dessert to soften and yield to a spoon.

Notes

• It may not look like it but this is surprisingly quick to make, with the exception of the time needed to chill items. This would be a good recipe to make with kids.
• As I said, I’m not a huge fan of tea but these sandwiches are subtle. The Rose with French Vanilla Tea Bag gave a beautiful perfumed quality to the dish so I would encourage you to seek them out from your local airport (although I do know you can get them at Woolworths too).
• I learned from Cupcake Project that the best way to deliver the tea flavour is via fat, which is why the chai is steeped with the cream and the Earl Grey with the butter.  I have included extra butter in the recipe as you lose some on the tea leaves and in the strainer. If you think there is a bit too much butter as you are pouring it in, hold some back, give the food processor a pulse and see if you need the rest.
• The recipes for the jelly and the mousse are my own. The Earl Grey Shortbread recipe is adapted from a recipe by Faith Durand