Tag: #virtualteaparty

Joining the Blogosphere’s Virtual Tea Party

On By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Food, COVID-19, Move to Vancouver Island53 Comments
Apricot Oatmeal muffins with Earl Grey tea. Last cup with my good china, as it has since been packed up for my move to Vancouver Island.

I’m joining Su and Del, in participating in this month’s virtual tea party. My first attempt at this party is an oldie but goodie – Apricot Oatmeal muffins, from my much beloved recipe book: Muffin Mania, by Cathy Prange and Joan Pauli (who I believe are sisters, and were – are still? – local to my area. Don’t quote me.) I haven’t made this recipe in years. The last time I made it I could easily source apricot baby food (required ingredient) but I can’t seem to find it any more in my local grocery stores. Only mixtures of fruits these days, it seems…

So what’s a gal to do? I had to get creative and figure out how to make a puree from dried apricots. Behold:

Cooking the dried apricots to make the puree. In water, with a little added honey and sugar, and orange zest.
Fresh out of my beloved Nutribullet blender: finished apricot puree! Worked like a charm in the recipe, and the leftovers were delicious stirred into plain yogurt or oatmeal.

My homemade apricot “baby food” worked wonderfully, and now my freezer is stocked with these delicious beauties. These muffins taste more like dessert than anything else. Perfect for Tea Time!

Much beloved muffin cookbook with (most of) the finished product.

The Muffin Mania cookbook came out in the 1980s and was an immediate success, selling out and going into reprint after reprint. My copy is the 7th printing, from 1982. I just did a cursory search on the Interwebs and it doesn’t appear to be in print any longer.

Yes, this cookbook and the recipes within have seen a lot of use and better days! I made sure to rate this recipe as “the best!” so I’d remember which one was my favourite. Handy, now that I am in my dotage. 😉

What is your favourite tea time treat recipe? Is it an oldie yet a goodie, as well? Feel free to join in the tea time festivities, as we enjoy a cuppa and a treat, alone yet together!

Rock on,

The WB