Dear All,
To remember our handyman wedding, we wanted to share with you these days small moments that occupied us for… a year (yes, indeed).
Xim’s fad was the photobooth; mine was the tea bar.
Why a tea bar? Because we got married in early October and we had no certainty about the weather. We had hoped for a radiant day (as was the case the day after…) but we had the storm, rain, cold, lightning and all the rest… In case of good weather, the tea keeps cool. In case of rain, the tea keeps warm. So, no, this is not at all paradoxical.
I also wished that the guests had “something to do” during the photo session, which can take long time, and it was also a way to do a little something awaiting the start of the aperitif (which began later than expected).
To make a beautiful tea bar, you need:
- tea services , because tea is good, but in paper cups or plastic, it is a lot less friendly. I found few services at a quite acceptable price on leboncoin.fr website (where you will find them very soon). I also want to thank my mom and Lô, who helped in research and acquisitions. For the deployment on site, after a thorough cleaning on the dishwasher, everything was packed in all we had about tablecloths and napkins, then transported in plastic boxes. Avoid any break during travel was essential…
Beware about the services, be sure to have several teapots. With the number of teapots and coffee pots, we could offer our guests five flavored teas at the same time.
- You need some tea, obviously. I usually buy mine at Vert-Tige, tea specialists in Normandy, which makes beautiful and, above all, delicious things (I know that the thé Ô Citron had its little success). I took the opportunity to buy paper filters.
- You need some kettles! Because you need hot water. It’s silly, but it would be a shame to forget. You should habe at least two kettles for 80 people, but three is better. A small fairy of the tea bar told me she had some difficulty with only two kettles.
- Also you need the sugar and honey, for those who prefer a touch of sweetness in tea (I had thought about, and then totally forgot, the milk but I think it was not missed by anyone).
- For those who do not drink tea (those who do not like it, do not want or the children), I planned some syrups and organic fruit juice. You must therefore also have water, bottled or tap water.
- The disposable tableware (the base for biscuits, cups and spoons, and paper surrounding the muffins) was biodegradable and compostable, hence our regret is that everything has been thrown into the “normal” trash, but we could not control everything. Eventually, we should have given precise instructions, thing we have not done, but the helping hands of tea bar have done a tremendous job, including about the storage: make a dirty dishes box separate from the clean dishes one is one thing that facilitated cleaning.
- About the cookies, I opted for something simple and traditional, the small Lu and classic biscuits.
- Some chocolate muffins.
The adventure of chocolate muffins
Originally, only the biscuits were expected. Then, Duchess Sophie showed me some pictures of muffins with small leaves and a pop cake Totoro. That was in our theme: “Autumn / nature and Lego”. I shown these to Xim who responded with small stars in his eyes “I want them all”. Good. I ignored the pop cake, because it was quite unreasonable, but the muffins were quite feasible. And so cute too.
It had to be competitive and muffins there to be also for vegans who hide among our friends. I made a hundred, so it really was an adventure.
The “classic”
After some experimentation, I found a great recipe on the site AZ Kitchen: Chocolate Muffins of Magali from Avignon, which I copy / paste and comments here:
Ingredients
200 g of white flour
175 g of sugar
150 g of dessert chocolate
150 ml milk (honestly, I had to put 3 tablespoons maximum, so that the dough keeps the holding – in fact, I put oat milk and not cow’s milk)
2 eggs
180 g of butter
100 g of white chocolate chips (or black) (if you want)
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 pinch of salt
Preparation
STEP 1: Preheat the oven (200 ° C).
STEP 2: If necessary, butter the molds.
STEP 3: In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until the mixture whitens. The lazy ones like me will use as a mixer for the whole recipe.
STEP 4: Then, melt the chocolate and butter, then add them to the preparation and mix.
STEP 5: Add in, progressively while mixing, the flour and the yeast.
STEP 6: Pour in the milk (not too much, just like I said) to obtain a smooth consistency. Cut your white chocolate (or black) into small nuggets and pour them into the dough.
STEP 7: In your molds, pour the preparation near to the top and bake for 20 minutes.
STEP 8: Wait a few minutes before turning out
Vegan muffins (gluten free)
I found also this recipe on the Internet, on the website Antigone XXI.
Ingredients:
75 g [1/2 cup] chickpea flour
50 g [1/3 cup] almonds flour
60 g [1/2 cup] cornstarch
70 g [3 beautiful case] agave syrup
45 g [1 curved case] puree of almond
7 g [1 teaspoon bulged] baking powder
5 g [1 teaspoon] apple vinegar
125 ml [1/2 cup] vegetable milk
1 large pinch of salt
1 large pinch of vanilla
Optional: chocolate, cocoa nibs, raisins, orange zest or lemon…
Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 220 °C.
In a bowl, mix the flour, the almond flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and vanilla.
Add the almond puree, agave syrup and gradually, stirring, the vegetable milk and vinegar. Add the seasoning and leave to thicken for 5 minutes.
Lower the oven to 180 °C, divide the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 17 minutes.
What about the small marzipan leaves?
I spent hours preparing the small leaves marzipan. I put some green marzipan on a board to cut on a film. I also put plastic wrap over the almond paste to prevent sticking to my rolling pin.
At first I was very stupid: I cut one sheet at a knife point (!!!). Then I thought about it and I remembered that at one time I was a crazy cook I was doing home calissons (I was influenced by my friend Antoine) and I had perfect cookie cutters to make small leaves.
Right away, it goes much faster…
Then just make a small hole in the center of muffin, with a stick for example, and put the small marzipan foliage.
I said that I did the leaves few days before making muffins to let the almond paste to dry a little. On second thought, the foliage is more spring/y, but they it went very well with our guest gifts. It is possible to make decorations with any sort of creation in marzipan or sugar: flowers, foliage, little subjects.
Small funny notes:
There were no break during the tea bar. Everyone was very careful. Neither during the two transports. Obviously, I dropped two cups while exiting them from the dishwasher, back to home…
The tea bar was one of the best, if not the best, idea I had for the organization of marriage. It had two little fairies of tea bar to look after it. I think it saved the rainy and cold afternoon of our marriage.
Leave a Reply