Whittard of Chelsea - Tea versus Coffee - Recipes and Giveaway!

A little while ago I was contact by the lovely people at Whittard of Chelsea who asked if I might create a couple of recipes using their tea and coffee. I was able to choose both the tea and the coffee from their extensive range and settled on their organic Peruvian 100% Arabica coffee and the Royal black leaf tea. I was also asked if these recipes might form the basis of a giveaway. ‘Brilliant!’ I said. So here it is. Two recipes, one giveaway. You have the opportunity to win a tin of the tea, a pack of the coffee and the beautiful china featured in the photographs (the teacup, saucer and teapot for one). All you have to do is scroll down and use the widget to enter. I'd also really appreciate a comment with your opinion on which recipe you most likely use. So, here they are. Coffee versus tea.

Coffee chocolate cups with pistachio biscotti

I decided to tackle the coffee recipe first. I knew it had to be coupled with chocolate. I had thought about a flourless cake but then decided to recreate a recipe I love and use a lot for guests at dinner parties. The original recipe is from the brilliant Nigella Lawson but obviously I've changed it to incorporate the coffee and added the biscotti to accompany this dish. Happily (apart from the biscotti) it’s still a gluten free dish, as are the macaroons below. The coffee in this works REALLY well, particularly because it's rich, strong and such high quality. Whilst I like tea and serve it as part of my business I absolutely love coffee and this stuff is fantastic. The biscotti came as a pleasant surprise too, an obvious choice for a coffee dessert I suppose but not something is made before and surprisingly easy. My friends and family will be getting bucket loads of these for Christmas!

Makes 6-8 cups

Ingredients:

For the cups

8oz good quality dark chocolate

4fl oz Whittard’s organic Peruvian 100% Arabica coffee

6fl oz double cream

1 egg

For the biscotti:

1 egg

3 oz caster sugar

5oz plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

Nutmeg

3oz pistachios, shelled

Method:

Preheat the oven for the biscotti (108C / Gas Mark 4) and make the coffee, nice and strong.

Break the chocolate into as small bits as you can with your hands, straight into a food processor and whizz round until as fine as you can get. Then pour over the hot coffee and leave to stand for a minute. Add the cream and whizz again.

Crack in the egg and whiz one more time before pouring the mixture into teacups / coffee cups / whatever you have available, cover and refrigerate for at least six hours.

Make the biscotti. Whisk the egg and sugar until pale. Lift the beaters and if there’s a ribbon like trail, you’ve got it right.

Next fold in flour, baking powder and a good grating of the nutmeg. Once combined add pistachios.

Flour you hands and turn out the mixture onto a floured surface. Shape into a ciabatta type loaf.

Place onto a parchment lined baking tray and bake for 25-39 minutes.

Take out of the oven a leave to cool on a rack for 5 minutes before slicing. Please these face down back onto the baking tray and bake again for another 10 minutes, then turn over and bake for another 5. Cool on a rack.

When serving your cups, take out of the fridge around 10 minutes before and place the biscotti on the accompanying saucer.

Black tea macaroons with honey buttercream filling

Next came tea. I was nervous about this one. When choosing the type of tea I decided to go with black because I'm not a fan of green and Earl Grey has been done to death. Whittard do a rose tea that looked amazing but I've kind of done rose flavoured things to death recently. So black it was. I was struggling for ideas at first but then I thought of macaroons. If the tea made them bitter, then fill with something sweet to counter balance, and what better then honey to match the flavours? My only problem now was that I have never successfully made macaroons. I don't give up easily though, so after several you tube tutorials and trawling through all the different recipes and methods, I came up with the following recipe and was successful in two attempts. The reason the first one didn't work is because I piped them too big and too close together, resulting in a slightly soggy splodge. The second lot were lovely and tasted delicious. And look, they are so beautiful!

Ingredients:

For the macaroons

4 teaspoons Whittard's Royal black leaf tea

4oz ground almonds

7oz icing sugar

3 egg whites

2 tablespoons caster sugar

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

For the buttercream filling

4oz butter

8oz icing sugar

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon sour cream

Method:

Put the icing sugar, almonds and tea into the food processor and whizz round till well blended.

Whisk you egg whites until you have stiff peaks and add the caster sugar. Whisk again till shiny.

Tip in the almond mixture and cream of tartar. Fold until well blended. Fill a piping bag. You don’t need a nozzle. Pipe onto baking sheet covered with baking parchment. Your macaroons should be about the size of a ten pence piece. Make sure you space them out well enough!

Turn the oven on to 160C or Gas Mark 2 ½. Leave the macaroons for about an hour before putting in the oven and bake for 10-15mins. Leave on the baking parchment when you take them out of the oven until cooled and then peel gently off the paper.

While the macaroons are in the oven make the buttercream. Just shove all the ingredients into the food processor and whizz till smooth.

When constructing the macaroons use a teaspoon of the buttercream to sandwich them together.

Invite your mother in law over for a cup of tea and show off your baking skills!

I hope you like both the recipes and would appreciate your opinions on both. Thank you to Whittard of Chelsea for sending such luxurious ingredients to work with. To see all of Whittard's great products please visit their website: www.whittard.co.uk

Also, use the widget below to enter our giveaway! You’re in with a real chance of winning some high quality goods!

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