Shaved-Radish Tea Sandwiches with Herb Butter

A cup of perfectly brewed tea (yes brewed, no tea bags), a slice of moist banana bread, a delicious tea sandwich, yummy scones, and you have yourself a great afternoon tea menu. The tea sandwiches I usually make are cucumber, smoked salmon, egg or chicken salad sandwiches. When BonAppetit.com shared this recipe with radishes, I had to try it! 

The recipe called for baguette bread but I used the wheat sandwich bread I had at home instead. I do think it would be better with the baguette bread instead. 

Since I was serving vegetarians, I avoided the anchovy fillets in the ingredient list below.

Makes 16 servings
Adapted from BonAppetit.com May 2012

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) room-temperature salted butter
5 mashed drained anchovy fillets
1 grated small garlic clove
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

32 slices of baguette, diagonally cut 1/8-inch thick

12 very thinly sliced radishes
16 green radish leaves

1. In a small bowl, mix the butter with the next six ingredients. Season with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
2. Spread herb butter on one side of each of the 32 slices of the baguette.
3. Top half the slices with 16 green radish leaves and radish slices.
4. Top with remain bread slices, butter side down.

Cooks' Tip: Drape plastic wrap over the prepared sandwiches until serving. It will keep the bread from drying out. And you get to make the sandwiches ahead and enjoy your tea and party.

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Ginger

Christmas baking season has come to an end, and this banana bread was the finale to baking for the holidays, for when we celebrated our sons second birthday. And who does not love banana bread? Have it with your tea in the evening, or a slice with a smear of butter for breakfast. 

This bread was delicious and moist. I read this recipe on PurpleFoodie.com (absolutely love her blog!) and the idea of crystallized ginger in the bread sounded fabulous to me. However, when I mentioned it to the people I was serving this bread to, they all were very skeptic. So below, find my variation of adding the ginger into the bread anyway! 

You can store the banana bread for a up to a week at room temperature or freeze it for 6 months. That is, if you even have any left to freeze! 

1 large loaf that serves 8

Dry ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg powder
2 teaspoons ginger powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt 

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips 

Wet ingredients
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (approximately 3 large ripe bananas)
1/4 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons / 3 oz. / 90 grams unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350F / 170C
2. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with butter and flour or with baking spray. 
3. In a small bowl melt the butter in the microwave for 20–30 seconds. Set aside to cool. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the chocolate chips. Set aside.
5. In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork and add the remaining wet ingredients. Mix well. 
6. Pour the wet banana mixture into the dry ingredients and gently fold in the batter with a silicon spatula, incorporating all the dry ingredients until it looks like it has come together. Do not over mix the batter, it's okay if it looks lumpy. Over mixing the batter kills the air bubbles in the batter and makes it heavier.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 50–60 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Let the banana bread cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to the cooling rack. 

In baking, to "fold" is the term used for gently a light ingredient or mixture with a much heavier mixture, while retaining as much as air as possible, by not bursting the air bubbles.

Method: Carefully cut through the mixture with the edge of the spatula, working in a gentle figure of eight and mixing the bowl as you go.

Scrape around the sides and base of the bowl at intervals to incorporate all of the lighter ingredients into the mixture.

Chai & Honey Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

My little 17-month old made his second trip to the hospital this past week. Unfortunately this has been his second stint there and the doctors and nurses at NYU Medical Center have been beyond excellent, warm, understanding and supportive. So as a gesture to thank them, I baked these cupcakes.
The sweet tooth in me didn't survive too long and I ate the slightly broken cupcake (hmm… or maybe I broke it subconsciously to be able to eat it!). 


When I read this recipe in my cupcake book (Cupcakes, by Shelley Kaldunski) I made note that this would definitely be the next cupcake recipe that I baked. It was definitely worth the wait! 


The buttermilk makes these cupcakes moist and delicious! But let's face it, half way through recipes you realize that you're out of, or don't have enough buttermilk in the refrigerator or you don't want to buy a carton of it for just 1/4 cup as this recipe calls for. You can substitute it with the 5 minute recipe below.


Add one tablespoon of lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup. Then, add whole milk until the amount reaches the one cup mark. Let the mixture stand at room temperature for 5–10 minutes. The milk should look curdled. Stir and you have homemade buttermilk!


This recipe also calls for chai-spiced tea bags. The Indian girl in me will never use one of those! So I brewed my own chai, and sipped on a cup while baking and used the rest in the recipe. 


This is my very classic chai recipe:
Bring 2 cups water to boil. 
Add 3 of your favorite black tea teabags with 1/2-inch ginger grated, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, whole black pepper and 4 cardamon pods (crushed).
Let it brew for 3–5 minutes.
Set aside 2/3 cup for this recipe and then add 1 cup milk and sugar (to your liking) for your remaining 2 cups of tea. 


Makes 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
3 chai-spice tea bags (or 2/3 cup chai from the above recipe)
2/3 cup boiling water
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, at room temperature


4 sticks (2 cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 pounds confectioners' sugar
4 tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder


Method

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. In a small bowl, steep the chai-spiced tea bags in 2/3 cup boiling water or alternatively make your own cup of spiced chai. Discards the bags (and spices), let the tea cool.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. In a large bowl, combine the honey, melt butter, buttermilk and egg. 
5. Add the flour mixture and using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat until just combined, about 2 minutes. 
6. Add the cooled tea and beat until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
7. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full. 
8. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18–20 minutes.
9. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour. (The unfrosted cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature before frosting and garnishing).
10. While the cupcakes bake and cool make the buttercream (or defrost leftover buttercream like I did, and flavor it with cinnamon powder).
11. With a mixer on medium speed, cream the butter in a large mixing bowl. Reduce the speed to low and add the cinnamon confectioners' sugar a little bit at a time, alternating with splashes of the milk and and the vanilla. Mix until frosting is smooth.