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Savouring Moments {Plus a Giveaway} #TeaLCMoments

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The morning rush, getting everyone fed, ready, washed up, dressed up, out the door, ensuring that nothing has been left behind, mittens or socks aren’t lost, homework has been done, checked, back in school bag — it can be a bit of a circus act, am I right?  Oh, and that’s all before your work day actually begins!  Then there’s starting your work day.

As busy moms (and dads), we need to sit back and savour moments — those quiet moments of reflection and just have at least five minutes of peace and quiet.  A cup of tea helps me do that.

Just last week, Tea Leaf Co had their Grand Opening and I have been in tea heaven!  Those who know me, know how much I love my tea.  It’s TEAlightful, TEAriffic…You get the point.  I am a tea lover.  When I was a teen, my mom introduced me to her kind of tea (which was just orange pekoe tea with sugar and milk).  When I moved abroad for work, I discovered a whole new world of tea.

I lived in Japan from 1998-2000 and I traveled all over Asia in my early twenties. Oh, the teas!! So many teas! Oolong-cha, matcha…I drank tea daily.  Hot, cold, in recipes like baked goods and in ice cream. Thus began my obsession with tea.

Check out how beautiful this is!

Spirit teaThe fragrance is intoxicating. Lovely notes of floral and vanilla in this vanilla-infused Earl Grey tea.  Although I am a fan of herbal teas, green tea, chai, oolong, white tea, my absolute favourite is a good Early Grey (black tea).  With a good cup of tea, you do not need to add anything to it.  Simply enjoy the hints of creamy vanilla in Tea Leaf Co‘s Spirit tea.

Remember I told you how much I love my tea?  I don’t only drink tea, but use it as an ingredient in cooking, baking, and ice cream making!  Yes, that’s how much I love tea!

baking with tea

I can’t resist Earl Grey tea in baking.  It’s just so subtle and adds an extra je ne sais quoi to baked goods.

Little One helped me make these incredibly TEAlightful Spirit/Earl Grey sweet rolls inspired by fellow Manitoulin Island foodie, Baking by Kendra‘s amazing Earl Grey Sweet Rolls with Raspberries & White Chocolate Chips recipe.  I didn’t have any fresh raspberries on hand (though I suppose I could have used raspberries from our farm that I had in the freezer) and I didn’t have white chocolate chips.  I ended up substituting those ingredients with dried cranberries and the rolls were a hit!

Earl Grey Cranberry Sweet Rolls

 Recipe by Baking by Kendra, with modifications by me (just substituted the raspberries & white chocolate chips with cranberries because it’s what I had on hand). Make sure to check out her site!

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours

Yield: 12 sweet rolls

Serving Size: 1 (11×13) baking dish

Ingredients
Dough
    • 1 package yeast
    • 1 teaspoon sugar
    • 1/2 cup warm water
    • 1 egg
    • 2 tablespoons oil
    • 3/4 cup warm water
    • 4 cups all purpose flour, sifted
    • 1/4 cup sugar
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • *4 teaspoons Earl Grey tea (or 2 Earl Grey tea bags, if not using loose leaf tea)
Filling
    • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
Glaze
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons heavy cream/half and half/milk

Instructions

Dough
    1. In a small bowl, mix a packet of yeast, a teaspoon of sugar and a 1/2 cup of warm water. Set aside to sit and foam
    2. In another small bowl, whisk together your egg, 2 tablespoons of oil and 3/4 cup of warm water. Set aside
    3. In a large bowl, sift 4 cups of all purpose flour Add sugar, salt, tea powder and whisk everything together. Make a well in the centre. Pour in your yeast and egg mixtures and using a wooden spoon, stir until roughly combined.
    4. Dump your dough onto a lightly floured surface and begin to knead for 5-10 minutes. Lightly flour your surface again if dough is still too sticky. Once your dough starts to feel smooth, place it in an oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel. Place in a warm area or in your oven with the light on. Let rise for an hour to an hour and a half, until your dough has doubled in size.
    5. Once your dough has risen, roll out into a 10×18 inch rectangle.
    6. Scatter dough evenly with dried cranberries. Be sure to leave the top inch of your dough free of any toppings so you are able to seal your roll.
    7. Starting at the bottom, begin to rolling up your dough and berries using firm pressure. Seal your 1″ border using a light coating of water. Cut 12 (1.5″) rolls using fishing line or quilting thread (place underneath roll, cross over and pull to pinch off the rolls, thus creating a more circular cut).
    8. Place in 11×13″ baking dish lined with parchment paper. Cover with a tea towel and let rise for another half hour
    9. Bake your rolls in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
Glaze
  1. Mix powdered sugar and cream (add more or less liquid depending how thin or thick you prefer your glaze)
  2. Once your rolls have baked, remove from oven and coat with glaze immediately over each roll. Wait 5 minutes and do another layer of glaze. If you have any glaze remaining, wait another 5 minutes and divide evenly between rolls.

NOTE: * If using loose leaf tea, you can crush the tea leaves by rubbing them between your palms if you want finer tea pieces. The Tea Leaf Co Spirit Tea has black tea, cornflowers, orange peel and natural flavours. My family likes the pieces of flavour spread throughout the rolls. If you’d like finer pieces, simply crush the tea leaves, cornflower and orange peel.

I suppose sprinkling dried cranberries doesn’t really count as full on “filling”.  Most fillings for rolls have sugar sprinkled and other ingredients like fruit, nuts or chocolate chips.  We could have just incorporated the dried cranberries into the dough, but Little One insisted on layering it on rolled out dough and then rolling and cutting.  She said it achieved her desired look.  Well, not in those exact words.  I believe her exact words were “There! That’s how I want it and it looks better that way!”

*sigh* Six year olds are funny!

As your sweet rolls are baking, sit down and enjoy a cuppa tea!

irie
Everything be irie!

Now that I’ve got tea on your mind, wouldn’t you love to try some of Tea Leaf Co‘s teas for yourself?  You can purchase the teas online here!

Giveaway Alert!

TeaLCMoments giveway

Good news! @4theloveofmommy and I are giving away a $100 tea gift basket & shopping spree! The prize is a tea gift basket that includes our favourite Tea Leaf Co teas (Crush on You, My Funny Valentine, Spirit, Golden Sun Kiss , Soul Good) AND a $50 worth of Tea Leaf Co products!  Winner’s choice!  You get to pick the teas you’d like to have!  How awesome is that? Honestly, it’s a tea lover’s dream come true!

14-05-TeaLC_TeaSpree-A01

 

Enter using the form below. Contest runs from January 12-26, 2015. Open to U.S. and Canada.

Comments

  44. I would try My Funny Valentine first. It sounds like the perfect beverage treat to have during the day. Sweet and creamy – amazing!

    Reply

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