Morning Tea Shout

Today is my actual birthday (I know I have been blogging about this all week, but I LOVE my birthday!!). So, time for the morning tea shout. My staff members get their birthdays off and I would like to have mine off as well, but as my business partner is away on holiday, I have to come in! Still, I think that a long lunch break may be in order!!!!

Anyway, back to the point of this blog which is the food!! This year I did an even mix of sweet and savoury things for my shout. Pretty much everyone in my firm likes sausage rolls and even though I don’t like them, I decided to make some. I did make them a few years ago for another morning tea shout. This time I used a Bill Granger recipe for spiced pistachio sausage rolls. I used up the rest of the pistachios I had bought to make my wee raspberry and pistachio cakes.



The sausage rolls were a hit with my work colleagues – a bit different to the usual with the pistachios as well as Coriander and cumin flavours. A plate of sausage rolls doesn’t actually look all that appetising!!



Second savoury item was these walnut mini muffins which I stuffed with ham and pesto. Mini muffins are also a hit at morning teas. This recipe was a Laurie Black one from Taste magazine. The muffins were really easy to mix up and would be a quick thing to make if people were just popping round for drinks. They have got more of a scone texture than a muffin texture which I guess is from not having an eggs in them.



The first sweet part of the birthday shout was this white chocolate and pecan blondie slice. This recipe was in the second Donna Hay magazine about 6 years ago I think. It is something that I have always wanted to make but have never found the occasion or never had the ingredients in the cupboard! It is delicious!! A bit like eating a very moist cake with cheesecake on top. The recipe is below.

And the last item was actually for a blog challenge and I cant reveal it until next week when I will post about it! It was definitely a success and all will be revealed next week!



PECAN BLONDIE (from Donna Hay magazine)

185g butter, softened
1 ½ c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 c plain flour
185g white chocolate, melted
½ tsp baking powder
250g cream cheese, softened
¼ c maple syrup
1 egg
1 tbsp flour
60g white chocolate, melted
1 c pecans

· Beat together butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy; add eggs one at a time
· Stir in flour and baking powder and then melted chocolate
· Pour mixture into lined 22cm square tin
· Beat together cream cheese, maple syrup, egg, extra flour and extra chocolate
· Pour over base and then top with pecans
Bake at 180 deg c for about 50 –60 minutes