2nd Tier: Quiches, Scones, and Devonshire Cream

DIY Mother's Day High Tea at Coconut Crumpet's home

Not having enough room on this middle tier, there are a mix of sweet and savoury goods here. My massive Lemon Cranberry Scones hogged a lot of room and there was already an overload of finger sandwiches on the lower tier. To solve this space problem, I used a few dinner plates to hold the rest of the servings of food, including the French Onion Crab Rounds and desserts. 

Continue reading for some delicious scone recipes!



I experimented with preparation techniques for this quiche. My goal was to bake a fluffy quiche, so I decided to incorporate plenty of volume by whipping the egg whites to peaks. This also increases the yield of the batter as you'll need less of it to fill the shells. I actually purposely flattened the batter before adding it to the shells as it was difficult for me to fish out enough filling for each tart. My hopes weren't too high at that point. However, the results were great and my best friend commented on how much she liked them!

 

Bell Pepper, Mushroom, and Cheese Quiche

By Coconut Crumpet

Yield: 20+ mini tarts

Ingredients

• Mini frozen tart shells, rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before baking
• 3 eggs, seperated
• ⅓ cup cream or milk
• Salt & pepper
• ½ cup grated marble cheese + more for topping
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• ⅓ onion, diced
• ¼ red bell pepper, diced
• A few button mushrooms, diced
• Half a green onion, sliced
• oil for panfrying

Directions

1. In a frying pan, saute vegetables in oil.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F. Pre-bake tart shells in oven for 5 minutes.
3. Whisk egg yolks, milk, salt and pepper in a bowl.
4. Whip egg whites to firm peaks. Add egg yolk mixture, cheese, and vegetables and fold to combine.
5. Evenly distribute among tart shells and top with more cheese.
6. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until puffed and golden.

-♡-

These scones were delish! Especially when eaten with a generous smothering of Devonshire cream. I used a muffin scoop and dropped the dough onto the baking sheet as my batter was so runny kneading it wasn't even close to being possible. So at the point, I was rather worried. For some strange reason, I don't have much luck with scones at home. At school, they become a dough dry enough I can cut them into shapes. Every time I attempt it at home, it's always wet and runny. Thankfully these scones came out beautifully! It also filled the house with this amazing smell of fresh lemon. My grandparents and father especially fond of these. 

Lemon Cranberry Scones

Adapted from Hidden Ponies

Yield: 16 huge scones

Ingredients

• 2¼ cups all purpose flour
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour 
• ¼ cup + 2 tbsp brown sugar 
• 1 tbsp baking powder 
• ¾ tsp baking soda 
• A pinch of salt 
• ¼ cup + 2 tbsp cold butter, cubed 
• 1 ½ cup fresh cranberries, halved and drained on a paper towel
• Zest of 1 lemon 
• 1½ cup buttermilk 
• 1½ egg, beaten

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
2. In large mixing bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Toss cranberries and lemon zest into flour mixture.
3. Whisk together egg yolk and buttermilk and stir into the flour mixture with a fork until it comes together into a ragged dough. Lightly flour your hands and gather the dough into a ball, kneading it gently 8-10 times in the bowl to bring it all together.
4. If your dough was knead-able, cut dough into your desired shape and place on the baking sheet. If your dough is very wet, use a muffin scoop to drop mounds on the pan. Space them out as they will enlarge during baking.
5. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Transfer to rack to cool. Serve warm with a generous dollop of Devonshire Cream~

Faux Devonshire Cream

Recipe from What's Cooking America

Yield: ~1 cup

Ingredients

• 1 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp sugar
• A pinch of salt
• ⅓ cup whipping cream

Directions

1. Combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and stir until well blended.
2. Stir in whipping cream
3. Beat with an electric mixer until stiff. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve with your sweet scones! 

-♡-

The lovely Peanut Crumpet served as my baking elf on Mother's Day weekend. I had so many things to make it would've been impossible to finish without a few helping hands. Peanut Crumpet kindly gave up some of her Friday night to bake some savoury scones. Special delivery included with her donation of 'lightly broiled scones' too! We like our scones just as tan as we are ;) My mom loved these baby sized scones so much she would comment on how delicious they were every single time she went to eat one. And that was pretty often.

Mini Bacon and Cheese Scones

Yield: ~35 really mini scones

Ingredients

• 4 slices crunchy, crsipy bacon, chopped into pieces
• 2 cups whole wheat flour, plus more for the work surface (note below)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup grated cheese (I used cheddar and I ran out of cheese, so add more if you wish!)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup and 3 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

    Directions

• 1. Preheat the oven to 400°F  and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
• 2. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper.  Add the COLD butter and incorporate it into flour mixture until the mixture looks like little peas.
• 4. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk. Pour the egg mixture into the processor and work the dough until it comes together loosely into a ball.The dough may be a little sticky.
• 5. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.  Then add the cheese and bacon, and knead it some more, making sure you do NOT over knead it. As I'm not a fan of washing dishes, I used my hand to "roll out" (more like flatten) the dough to 1⁄2 inch thickness. Using a 1 1⁄2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out as many scones as you can because the more you knead, the tougher the scones will get :( ). Gather the scraps of dough, roll out, and cut out more scones. Place the scones onto prepared baking sheet. These don't expand or topple over so it's alright to squish ALL of them onto one regular sized cookie sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the scones with additional cheese if you want an even more epic lookin' scone! ;)
• 6. Bake until the scones are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Broil the tops if desired, but make sure you don't over-broil like I did (hehe sorry Coconut Crumpet!) Transfer to a wire rack, drool, and let cool.