Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Irish Lingers Still, Irish Cream Shortbread

Well, it's Tuesday Cuppa Tea with a last Irish fling... Because most of the time around St. Patrick's Day was taken up with recovering from being with our son and dil...like laundry catch up etc, I didn't get to make something that I will share today for Tuesday Cuppa Tea!

I got out a recipe I found last year but hadn't made, planning to make it for our son and dil, but...didn't happen. So...a bit of lingering Irish...

I still had a table topper I had made out with shamrocks and copper flecking, so I folded it for the tea tray in the sunroom when we had a bit of sunshine yesterday...

We ahve a cup of a new Irish Breakfast tea in a china pattern called Georgian in the green colorway from Allerton's England dating to the 1930-1940s. The date spread is because there are different date marks on the pieces of the teaset.

One of the indicators of the age of a teaset is the size of the sugar bowl or sugar basin. The older sets have large open sugar basins, because sugar came in lumps or cubes. The newer sets have smaller bowls, and almost all from the 1950s on have lids to the sugar bowls....

I love the hand painted gold detailing on the creamer handle...

This is the new Irish tea I got a few weeks ago at a local grocery that often has imports. The tea is Thompson's Irish Breakfast. I had never tried it, but it is s nice full bodied black tea with a lovely blend of teas. A perfect breakfast black tea.

I had forgotten to take another photo of the teacup trio and mark for the china, so put it on my little table after I'd put the tea tray away...My cottage cross stitch is England, but it could be Ireland as well!

And for tea... here is Irish Cream Shortbread from King Arthur's Flour. The flavoring is Irish Cream whiskey, and I usually have Bailey's Irish Cream lurking in the fridge, so had decided to make it....It turned out to be rich, very nice, but not especially redolent of Baieys, so I would change that and imcrease the amount. The recipe from the King Arthur website:

Irish Cream Shortbread

AT A GLANCE

PREP

25 mins. to 30 mins.

BAKE

32 mins. to 38 mins.

TOTAL

2 hrs 12 mins. to 2 hrs 23 mins.

YIELD

16 shortbread wedges

• 8 ounces soft butter
• 3 3/4 ounces firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional; use 1 teaspoon vanilla if desired)
• 8 1/2 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 ounces white rice flour

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Prepare your shortbread mold according to the manufacturer's directions by very lightly greasing and flouring the mold. Or lightly grease two 8" round cake pans.
2. Beat the butter until smooth.
3. Beat in the sugar, salt, and whiskey or vanilla until fluffy.
4. Mix in the flour and rice flour.
5. Divide the dough in half; each half will weigh about 11 ounces. Wrap and chill for 1 hour.
6. Press half the dough into the shortbread mold (or half into each of the 8" cake pans).
7. Prick the dough all over with a fork to prevent it from puffing.
8. Bake until the shortbread is golden, 32 to 38 minutes. Check at 18 minutes; if shortbread's puffing up; use a flat spatula to press the dough down into the mold. Continue to bake until golden.
9. Remove from the oven, cool for 15 minutes, then loosen the edges of the shortbread with a table knife before turning the mold over onto a flat surface.
10. Tap the bottom of the mold several times until the shortbread comes out.
11. Cut each round into 8 wedges using a serrated knife.
12. Store shortbread, well wrapped, for up to a week; freeze for longer storage.

But homemade is just better than anything you can purchase...and better for me too...not some many perservatives that I am allergic to.

This is our son and daughter in law at a special dinner we had during our time with them celebrating our 43rd anniversary. Sure miss them...

So thanks for joining me for Tuesday Cuppa Tea! I amjoining the following blog parties...

 Tea Cup Tuesday 
 Bernideen’s Teatime, Cottage and Garden
Home Sweet Home

Thanks so much for joining me for tea!  Here is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there! Depending on my health…I am so looking forward to visiting you!

An InLinkz Link-up