Tea and Crumpets review and a printable recipe sheet

Tea and Crumpets is a new book by Margaret M. Johnson . It's a collection of recipes from famous tea salons, hotels and restaurants all over Europe
It's a gorgeous book for adults who want to impress at tea parties with friends.I love the ritual of tea and snacks in the mid-afternoon with friends and family. The introduction is a little about the history of tea, both as a tradition and the origin of tea and how it spread world wide. There is more tea trivia interspersed through the book.
Then you get into the recipes. It's a mouth watering collection of sweet and savory things to serve with tea. From the very traditional cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches which are livened and colored with a bit of arugula to a savory and rich wild mushroom that's flavored with truffle oil, the sandwiches and savories offer a nice selection. Made less petite, many of the recipes would be good packed for a lunch as well.
The next chapter is more of what you expect with tea. Crumpets, scones and fruit quick bread recipes as well as instructions for traditional toppings like clotted cream and strawberry preserves. The Irish recipe for fruitcake looks especially wonderful. I think my daughter will enjoy making the chocolate scones because she thinks chocolate improves everything.
The next recipe chapter is the largest. Tea time sweets. Shortbread, cakes, mousses and other sorts of sweet treats that are certain to impress guests.
The last recipe chapter is the French Art of Tea for when you want something very special and very beautiful. The Creme Caramel Saint-Petersburg is a custard with caramel that anyone who loves flan or creme brulee will appreciate, and I absolutely recommend the chocolate-hazelnut pots de creme.
Most of the ingredients are simple to get at a well stocked super-market. The few things that are harder to find, a good specialty shop should carry.
Margaret Johnson also has some Irish cookbooks and I think I should get them too. I loved this one and I've been interested in learning more European cooking.
You can find this book at the publisher's site, Chronicle Books or from Amazon: Tea and Crumpets (affiliate link)

I was talking to a friend who uses a 3 ring binder and page protectors for her recipes instead of using recipe cards. I'm a recipe card user so pages for recipes never occurred to me. These are the first ones I've ever done and I hope you like them! Click on the images for the full size 100 ppi versions.