Monday, July 9, 2012

Plum Puffs and Raspberry Cordial for an Anne of Green Gables Tea

I'm so excited today to be participating in a progressive Anne of Green Gables tea party hosted by Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage
Today I made Anne's Plum Puffs, which, according to my recipe from a book called The Anne of Green Gables Treasury, is a cream puff, with plum jam and whipped cream! Doesn't that sound delightful? I'm sure, though, that Marilla made her own Plum Jam and didn't purchase the Smuckers brand from the local Kroger!! LOL!!
I also made Anne's infamous Raspberry Cordial! This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Anne was having her best friend Diana over for tea. Marilla has given her permission to use a bottle of her famous Raspberry Cordial. Poor Anne had never tasted raspberry cordial before and picks up a bottle of Red Currant Wine instead. She serves it to Diana, who proceeds to drink not one, but three large glasses of it and gets very tipsy indeed!! So cute! I got the recipe from here if you would like to try it. (The cordial, not the red currant wine lol!!).
So welcome to my part of the tea party! Let me pour you a glass of Raspberry Cordial. Please help yourself to a Plum Puff.....
and have a seat at the table and enjoy yourself! While you're having your refreshments, I thought I would show you how I made the Plum Puffs.

The first thing you do is heat a bit of water and butter in a saucepan until boiling, then turn heat to low and add your flour and sugar. Just stir with a wooden spoon until mixture leaves the sides of the pan - usually only takes a minute. What I do next is transfer my mixture to a bowl of a mixer and let it cool about 5 minutes before adding the eggs. Add your eggs one at a time and beat each time until mixture becomes smooth. Thats it! Now drop dough by spoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. I use my small icecream scoop and it works just great. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. The recipe didn't say this, but what I do next is to take them out, poke a hole in each with a toothpick, turn the oven off  and place the puffs back in. Let them dry out about 5 more minutes in the oven.
After the puffs have cooled, split them open to get them ready to fill.
Next, whip your heavy cream and sugar in a chilled bowl with chilled beaters and whip till stiff. Then either fill a piping bag with the cream or just plop some on the puffs with a spoon.
Here's a closeup of the puffs with cream. Doesn't it make your mouth water?!
Then you place a spoonful of plum jam on top! Yummy! You could also combine the cream and jam and whip together. I think you might get a pretty shade of pink if you did! I think Anne would like that version as well! Finally you place the top on the cream puffs and give them a pretty sprinkling of powdered sugar! So pretty!!
I arranged my plum puffs in a lovely milk glass stand and decorated them with some organic roses. They look so pretty next to my glasses of Raspberry Cordial! I bought the pretty vintage glasses at an antique store. For the Tea Table I used a vintage tablecloth from my collection.
I think Anne would approve! 



Thanks so much for coming today. I hope you enjoyed yourself. Have a great day!

14 comments:

  1. You really caught my attention with this post! Anne with an 'e' was one of my favourite childhood companions, and still is, really! The plum puffs looks absolutely delicious, you've inspired me to make some :)

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  2. Oh how divine - yum...must try that recipe.

    You have done a fabulous job, thank you so much.

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  3. Hi Jina,
    What a fabulous job you have made of the Plum Puffs and raspberry cordial. Your presentation is just gorgeous with the roses tucked in among the puffs and the cordial in the beautiful glasses! I was so very happy when you offered to make them for the party!
    Please be sure to link up with me too as it would be nice to have some other ladies come visit you. Thank you so much for joining me for my Anne Tea today. It is lovely to have you and I wish you a delightful week.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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  4. well I sure approve, that was beautiful, so so pretty the setting. I must try those puffs, they look so good. Such a pretty setting, I really did enjoy it all. Thank you for sharing...

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  5. Sandi's idea of having this a progressive tea was nice. I enjoyed the plum puffs and raspberry cordial you served, the recipes look easy enough to try.
    I'm going to have a look at some of the other sweets you make.
    Judith

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  6. Those plum puffs look like they are to die for! Think I am going to try them as I have tons of my plum jam from my poor plum tree that was destroyed in a storm last summer. Blessings to you Sharon

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  8. Oh my heavens! I just want to hop into my computer screen right now- those look delicious!!! And I am sure they are just as delightful with smuckers ;) The table setting is also just breathtaking. Thanks for sharing your amazing talents :)

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  9. How simply wonderful, they look so wonderful...very nice the table as well. You put a place to find the raspberry cordial, but not the recipe for the puffs. Is the recipe in the same place???? with love Janice @ spoonwither.blogspot.com

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  10. So, so pretty. I have teas at my church each year. The ladies would love this.

    I'm a new Linky Follower. Come for a visit whenever you have time. I love tea and vintage linens!

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  11. BEAUTIFUL!! I truly wish I could have a plum puff right now...yes, NOW, quick! We love doing tea parties here too, every chance we get and have done the raspberry cordial before, very fun!

    So nice to meet you through Pinterest. I LOVE your blog & your Pinterest site...such a feast for the eyes. You do beautiful work! May I ask, did you ever go to chef school or are you self-taught? Just curious.

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    1. Thanks so much! I LOVE Pinterest and spend waaaay too much time there!! I am a self taught baker. I actually didn't even discover that I had a love for baking until after I graduated college! Thanks for your sweet comments!! xo Jina

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  12. Hi Jina (Pink Piccadilly Pastries),

    Am posting here because I couldn't find any other route to contact you, hope that's ok.

    Love your blog, and your Pinterest boards are just beautiful! How much traffic do you get from Pinterest?

    I help creative businesses to market themselves online & find leads / customers, and I'm teaching them how to use Pinterest for their marketing.

    Is it ok if I show your Pinterest boards as a 'case study' (i.e. an example of how to do it right) :-)

    (please ignore the 'diet diva' handle, that's an old site which used to be linked with my Google)
    My website is below if you want to contact me

    Kind regards
    Ann :-)
    www.thecreativebusinesscoach.com

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  13. Oh my goodness!! I just found your blog through Sugar Pink Boutique, and what should I stumble upon here but an ANNE post!!! Yay!! I read all of LM Montgomery's books when I was a girl, and have always dreamed of summers spent on PEI sipping raspberry cordial! How exciting to have found you and your beautiful blog! Thank you for sharing the recipe!!!
    ~xoxo, CoriLynn

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