Enjoy afternoon tea week with these recipes

Rose and dark chocolate shortbread

Shortbread is brilliantly adaptable – you can add so many different flavours to it and create something new. Here, I’ve included rose and given the biscuits a chocolate coating, a combination that works beautifully.

Preparation time:25 minutes plus chilling and cooling

Cooking time:30 minutes

Total time:55 minutes, plus chilling and cooling

Makes: 20

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter, at room temperature

100g caster sugar

1 lemon, zest

½-1 tsp rose water (rose water can vary in intensity, so add just a little at a time)

1 tsp vanilla extract

300g plain flour

2 tbsp Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients dried rose petals, plus extra to decorate

200g dark chocolate

Method

Put the butter, sugar, lemon zest, rose water (to taste) and vanilla in a large bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat together for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl down and add the flour, a pinch of salt and the rose petals, mixing together briefly until it comes together as a dough. Tip the dough onto the work surface and bring together into a ball. Flatten with your hands, then roll out to a 25cm square; place on a baking tray and chill until firm – about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 170˚C, gas mark 3; line 2 baking trays with parchment. Halve the dough, then cut into 2.5cm-thick fingers and pierce all over with a fork.

Put the biscuits on the prepared baking trays and bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts until about ¾ of the chocolate has melted. Mix vigorously with a spatula until fully melted (this is a quick method of tempering the chocolate). Dip the shortbread halfway into the chocolate, allow the excess to drip off, then lay on a clean sheet of parchment to set, decorating with a few extra rose petals. Once the chocolate has set, you can store the shortbread in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Martha Collison's triple cheese scones

Why have one cheese when you can have three? These scones are perfect for using up whatever cheese you’ve got left in the fridge, so try all kinds of combinations

Preparation time:15 minutes to 20 minutes

Cooking time:15 minutes to 17 minutes

Total time:30 minutes to 37 minutes

Makes: 20 small scones

Ingredients

300g self-raising flour

75g butter, cold and cubed

75g mature Cheddar, grated

75g Red Leicester, grated, plus extra for sprinkling

50g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

¼ x 25g pack chives, snipped

125ml whole milk

1 medium Waitrose British Blacktail Free Range Egg, beaten

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6 and line a baking tray with baking parchment. Place the flour into a large bowl and add the cubes of butter. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the grated cheeses and the chives, and make a well in the centre.

Gradually pour the milk into the centre of the well, stirring with a round-bladed knife. A soft, rough dough should form. You may need to add a little more milk to mop up any remaining flour. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead very briefly to smooth it. Overhandling the dough will make your scones tough and flat, so knead as little as possible.

Gently roll the dough out to a thickness of around 3cm. Cut into rounds using a 4cm pastry cutter, cutting straight down without twisting, because this prevents the scones from rising properly. Very gently reroll the remaining dough, taking care not to handle it too much, and punch out more scones – you should get 20 in total. Arrange the scones on a baking tray, then brush the tops with a little egg wash and sprinkle with the extra Red Leicester.

Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until risen and golden brown. Serve warm from the oven, split in 2, with a generous spread of butter.

Fruity Earl Grey tea loaf

Preparation time:10 minutes

Cooking time:1 hour 5 minutes

Total time:1 hour and 15 minutes

Serves: 10

Ingredients

2 x Twinings Earl Grey Tea Bags

250g Waitrose Dried Vine Fruit Mix or Sweet & Tangy Fruit Mix

60g dark brown muscovado sugar

275g plain flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground mixed spice

1/4 t sp salt

2 oranges, 1 finely grated into a zest, 1 kept for decorating

2 Waitrose British Blacktail Large Free Range Eggs, beaten

50g granulated sugar

Method

Grease and line a 900g loaf tin and preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4.

Place the tea bags in a medium-sized saucepan and pour over 300ml just-boiled water. Turn on the heat and simmer for 2 minutes then lift out and discard the tea bags. Stir in the fruit and muscovado sugar and simmer for another 1 minute then transfer to a large, heatproof mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, salt and grated orange zest.

Stir the eggs into the cooling tea mix followed by the dry ingredients. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour (until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean).

About 20 minutes before the end of baking time, pare the rind of the reserved orange and cut into thin strips. Heat 25g of the granulated sugar in a small saucepan with the juice of ½ the orange; stir until dissolved. Add the orange strips, leave to cool slightly, then stir in the remaining 25g sugar. Spoon over the cake while still warm in the tin then leave to cool before slicing to serve.

Cheddar & smoked salmon scones

Preparation time:15 minutes

Cooking time:10 minutes to 12 minutes

Total time:25 minutes to 27 minutes

Serves: 12

Ingredients

225g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

1 tsp baking powder

50g salted butter, diced

100g Seriously Strong

Extra Mature Cheddar, finely grated

150ml milk, plus extra for brushing

150g soft cheese

100g Waitrose Scottish Smoked Salmon, torn into 12 pieces

Salad cress

Lemon wedges, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 220ºC, gas mark 7. Stir together the flour and baking powder, then using your fingertips, rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Using a table knife, stir in three quarters of the Cheddar and then the milk to make a fairly soft dough.

On a lightly floured surface, pat the dough out to a thickness of 2cm and stamp out 5cm-wide rounds. Reuse the trimmings to make a total of 12 scones. Transfer to a non-stick baking sheet,

brush lightly with milk and scatter over the reserved cheese. Bake for 10–12 minutes until risen and golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Split each scone in half, spread the base with soft cheese, top with a piece of smoked salmon and sprinkle over some cress before replacing the top. Serve with small wedges of lemon for squeezing over the salmon.

Add texture to these scones with the inclusion of pumpkin seeds.

Mix a handful in with the ingredients at the end of step 1.

Recipes courtesy of Waitrose

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