Would You Like that in a Teacup?

Tea ranks pretty high on my "Comforts" list - right up there with chocolate, cupcakes, books, and a good CD - so what better challenge ingredient for April's cupcakery? A few weeks ago, Lauren made some delectably unique Peach Green Tea Cupcakes (which I was able to sample and yeah. Yum.), and I decided to try my hand with one of my favorite teas: Lavender Earl Grey.

Cupcake Conversations:

This is probably a common thought, but I just realized recently that "cupcakes" probably got their name by, you know, being cakes baked in cups. And then I wondered in what kind of cups they were baked, and decided probably teacups, because I love teacups. And then I looked up the history of the cupcake, and found that it actually was thusly dubbed because all the measurements were by cups, as you can read here. Pretty sure we're still talking about teacups, though. So while cupcakes may not have originally been conveniently cup-sized when they emerged in the 1800s, there still is a very strong link to tea when baking these little beauties. 

Lavender Earl Grey Cupcakes (makes about 12)

1 c. coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

5 tsp loose leaf lavender earl grey tea

8 eggs

1 c. honey

6 TBL almond milk

4 tsp vanilla

To begin, warm almond milk and 1/3 c honey until honey is liquid.

Then, add 5 tsp tea, and leave to steep.

Do you like my "1 Cup of Perfect Tea" scoop?

Meanwhile, mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add the eggs.

Add honey-tea mixture, the rest of the honey, and vanilla, and pour into prepared cupcake papers!

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack!

I found the cupcakes to be deliciously moist, and while there was a distinct tea flavor, the lavender was reduced to only a teensy-tiny hint. Had I known this ahead of time, I would have bought some lavender flavoring from a specialty store and used that in the frosting. As I had not, however, I flavored my dairy-free frosting with almond (a yums addition to lavender earl grey). No recipe for the topping, because it was rather hap-hazard. I used coconut oil, coconut cream, and powdered sugar. With a dash of lavender food coloring. ;)

Review:

These cupcakes were ab-so-lute-ly perfect in texture, so the coconut-egg combo is a keeper! My siblings all raved about them, with Zachary saying he loved them more than the chocolate ones I'd made and they were the "best cupcakes I've ever tasted!" For improvements, I would be interested to see if I could bring out the tea's flavor any stronger, in addition to, as I mentioned, flavoring the frosting with lavender. Besides that, I would just be sure to ground the tea leaves a bit more, as some of the longer leaves were annoying me in the finished product. 

Have you ever made tea-flavored cupcakes?

Previous Cupcakery:

Lauren's Double Peanut Butter Chocolate

Sarah's Death-by-Chocolate

Mikaela's Hazelnut Mocha

Lauren's Spinach Feta

Mikaela's Croutons :)
Sarah's Carrot Ginger Coconut..."Savories"

Lauren's Peach Green Tea

Life Lately...

Hello lovelies!

(Hello...hello...hello)

Wait, was than an echo I just heard?

Yes, it's been a while. Poor little blog has been abandoned for far too long, but I'm turning over a new leaf as they begin to fall, and things should look a little more lively around here, now that all beautiful things outside are beginning to die {albeit, beautifully}.
But take that with a grain of salt, 'cause life is crazy.

Anyway, as I madly edit pictures and put together posts from Europe {which will appear here by the end of the month - hooray!}, life has continued to fly by, in that predictable, frantic style of summer happenings. What has been keeping me busy since my feet returned to Battle Ground soil nearly two months ago? Yes. I know. This question has stalked your days and haunted your nights, so in the name of community service, I have set out this morning to bring peace to your tormented minds. {In other words, by many words, I seek to eliminate the echo of words, since this blog-journal of my words has been lacking in any words.}

1. Deiter 100!
Styled after "The Amazing Race" {of which I know nothing...}, in celebration of their collective ages being 100, the Deiters hosted an all-day event of clues and scavenger hunts which immediately set the bar high for "fun things to do" in the month of August! Each team was encouraged to dress...like a team, and the team of yours truly tied for the prize!

The other winning team: Snow White, Prince, & 7 dwarves!

2. Clark County Fair!
Free pancake breakfast on opening morning, sheep shows, judging, auctioning, and fun...and one late night of bright lights, high rides, and elephant ears. We love our county fair!

3. Cleared-Out Room!
As soon as I got back to my room, after two months of living out of a backpack, I knew it was time to get rid of some things. Armloads of clothes, knick-knacks, etc, exited en mass. The only thing I couldn't let go of? My books, of course! In true all-or-nothing style, I pulled out & re-organized all 235 of them. And, as I had another one on the way in the mail, sternly instructed myself to go easy on the book-buying. I mean, some are in boxes in my closet, some arranged neatly under my bed, and all my bookshelves sagging. Fate was against me, though, because two days later...

Some of the mess... :)

4. Girls' Day in Ptown!!
Ahh, it was lovely. Tea lattes, Anthro, Salt & Straw ice cream {like...yums}, and...the infamous Powell's Bookstore. I'm afraid to say my resolve evaporated the minute I walked through the doors. I came away with *ahem* 3 books ~ but oh, such books!! :)

5. Music on the Lawn!
Being gone for 2 months during the summer sounds like a prime opportunity for "while the cat's away, the mice play" in studio~land. Of course, I wanted my wonderful violinists & pianists to have a bit of a break, but I also needed some sort of incentive for them to touch & play their instruments over the summer. The answer was: give them a piece to learn, on their own, for a performance. But it's summer. We didn't want a formal deal with dressing up, solemn concert hall, etc. So we hooked up a sound system, pulled out the keyboard, threw down some picnic blankets, and had a whole gang of people bring & eat their picnic dinners, while being serenaded by some great music! :) After supper & music, we cleared up, set up the volleyball net, and played until dark {and a little beyond}.

They gave me a super "sweet" card, that they all had signed!! :)

6. Family Camp!

Don't get me started. Family Camp is The. Best. Weekend. of the year. Hands-down. Volleyball, soccer, Frisbee, talent night, game tournaments, campfire singing, baptisms ~ this fun is nothing to the fellowship with wonderful brothers & sisters. I was even more grateful for my wonderful church family this year, after being away from them for 2 months. {Now we just need Jesse and Nathan to come home!}

 

7. Sunriver!
Our annual family vacation spot: Sunriver, OR! The last two years were the first years we hadn't gone since Ems was born (19 years ago), so we were ecstatic to return to the high desert, pine trees, and endless bike trails! G'ma and G'pa came this year, and it was a lovely, too-short, 5 days.

2013 Christmas Picture??

Megs & I during a biking break!

Beautiful Benham Falls

Deschutes River!

It's been a busy summer! So fun-filled and beautiful, it makes me ready to jump into schedules with extra gusto!

How was your summer??

Right Now...


...It's dark outside...

...And cold....

...I'm sipping a delicious mug of "Constant Comment" tea...

...And munching a homemade, delightful fluffy, oatmeal-molasses roll, appropriately slathered in butter...

...Ben is playing Keith Green ("Josiah's Song" - one of my favorites) on his laptop...

...Mama's cutting paper for the Littles' Thanksgiving Party on Wednesday...

...Rachel is keeping us cheery with her chatter on a variety of subjects...

...I'm musing on designs for the pillow I'm making for the craft exchange...

...The world, and most of this household, is already asleep, and my eyelids have that lazy feeling which tells me I'm soon to follow...

...Fall is really here - and we might even get snow this week (not that it will stick, but at least we'll catch a glimpse of it!)...

I feel perfectly content, and thankful to my oh-so-kind Father who has so mind-bogglingly blessed me!

What is making you happy today?

Teacup

Tiny, fairy-formed pink china,
Encased in front by glass,
Allowed this sheltered glimpse of life
Continu'lly whirring past.
Until the o-so-special day,
Pulled from her shelf, and used in play.

photo credit

Girls and Teacups

Once upon a time, there lived a group of girls who loved Christ, their families, and each other. They were friends, and they liked nothing better than to go a-visiting one another.

But in the dark months of winter, when the rain pounded on the roofs and the wind whistled through the streets and trees, the girls dared not venture out too often - even to see each other - for fear of catching cold. So they stayed at home, studying, practicing, and dreaming of the days when gentle Spring would take the edge off of Winter's bite. 

And then, on a particularly dull afternoon, one of the girls looked at her calendar (the view outside her window wouldn't change 'til July), and said, "Dear me, it's Spring! We must celebrate with tea!"

And so, a happy little note went out to all the other friends, and when they all looked at all their calendars, and saw that what she said was true, they could hardly contain their excitement! A real Spring Tea! It was finally time.

Yet, even with the calendar's assertions that Spring had truly come, the girls found it hard to really believe; for grey clouds persisted, and sunshine was scarce, and the chill of the outdoors still bid them bundle up warmly. Was Spring really here? They did not think so. 

Until, that is, they saw the tea room. It was lovely! Filled with cheery orange flowers, white floating pom-poms, and lace and cloth blossoms, and every dainty, Spring-y thing a girl's heart could desire.

Yes, on that day, it finally felt like Spring. They sipped their tea, and laughed and laughed, and then went outside to enjoy the gentle Spring weather. They didn't turn blue, freeze, or shiver, because, of course, Spring was finally here!

  

 And so, the tea was a success! The girls had a lovely time, and were so happy to once again have a party with their friends!

"Friends we are
Friends we were
Friends we will forever be."

Blessings - What's On the List Today

A few weeks ago, a friend and I started keeping a “blessings” list for two primary reasons: we wanted to cultivate grateful hearts, and we wanted to ‘force’ ourselves to see the blessings in daily challenges. I am still working on the habit of writing down every-day blessings, and as a result my list is still shamefully short – but today I have been blessed multiple times, and remembered to write them down!

1.       Sunrises, music, and siblings (specifically those who make up the string quartet with me)!

This morning three of us got up early – well, it felt like ‘early’ since we’d stayed up so late – in order to practice quartet for an hour before Ben had to leave for work. We set up the chairs, stands, and music.

And waited for our sleepy other member.

We tuned our instruments.

And waited for the now-showering sleepy member.

We practiced some pieces as a trio.

And finally welcomed our now-awake, freshly-showered member.

After making *ahem* him pay penance by running through Pachelbel’s Canon (evil laugh), Rachel and I were struck with a brilliant idea: Who cares about the frost? The sun is rising – we should go play “You Raise Me Up” on the sport court! Emily was not enchanted by this idea, but Ben obligingly lugged his stand outside with us and we played the sun up (I do hope our neighbors didn’t mind!) It was freezing – I couldn’t feel my fingers when we finished – but so fun and beautiful! Music and the outdoors… ahhh

2.       Pretty things 

   I’m so grateful I can afford pretty things, not merely the practical! My hope chest is filled with lovely items, and I got to go through it this morning while getting out my teapot and a couple cups for tea with my friend. Is that incredibly weird to use things in my hope chest before the hoped-for happens? I…hope…not. If, in fifty years, I die a shriveled-up old maid, I’ll be glad I used at least some of the things, rather than letting them sit as dust-bunny dens that whole time.

3.       Tea, Sharpening Friends, and Scripture

As mentioned above, a friend came over today (this is the same blessings-list friend) for Bible study and tea. We’ve been memorizing and studying our way through the book of James (MAJOR conviction!!) and are almost done!  I am so blessed to have friends who challenge, learn, and pray with me!

4.       These Little Twinkles

…who popped into my room while I was writing this, saw the teapot and cup on the table, and rushed to get their teacups and join me for the “tea party”. J

 5. Fun Siblings!

Today we-the-kids are going to see “Tangled” together. Only the littles and I have seen it, and we had long-established that we would all go together during Spring Break (now that it’s finally in the Three-Dollar Theater)!J

Have a blessed day!