PinkyBerry High-Tea

This will be a long post that consists of 3 short recipes that might come in handy for any teatime treat. Since recently there is a lot of fresh and nice strawberry available at the supermarket, I really cannot resist the temptation to get a box too. And moreover, I also wish to do a post of “PINKY” theme whereby I can include a few short and sweet recipes for my guests. So here you go…….. welcome to my “PinkBerry High-Tea”……

For starter, let's have a cup of Berry Smoothie to cool down from the summer heat. Smoothie is a blended beverage made from fresh fruit (fruit smoothie) or vegetables. In addition to fruit, some smoothies might include crushed ice, frozen fruit, honey, yogurt or fresh milk. This "Berry Smoothie" here is pretty easy to whip up, what you require are:- fruit blender, some strawberries, honey(optional) and fresh milk.

Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
5 - 6 Medium Size of Strawberries
200ml of Strawberry Milk
50ml of Fresh Milk
1/2 Tablespoon Honey, optional

Method:
1. Rinse and trim the strawberries, cut it into halves then blend it together with fresh milk and honey till smooth and creamy.
2. Transfer it to serving cups and top with extra strawberry slices as garnish.

Note:
~ You can use mixture of strawberry & plain milk or either one type for this smoothie.

Chocolate usually goes pretty well with strawberry as it perfect it with an extraordinary flavour. It is not difficult to make this beautiful treats, but you may take a bit of practice on how to dip and yet not drop the strawberries in the melted chocolate.

After our Berry Smoothies, let's have some Chocoberry to start off this afternoon high-tea. These are some easy to make and yet presentable sweet treats whereby you can impress your guest with different kind of decoration design. I am sure this will help you to score more points no matter your guests are Kids or Adults, they will definitely loves these.

Ingredients: (serves 3 - 4)
8 Medium Strawberry
80g 70% Dark Chocolate
30g White Chocolate
Some toothpicks, optional

Method:
1. Gently rinse the berries with tap water then spread them out on a clean dish towel to dry
2. Dry completely before you start dipping and make sure not a drop of water should be left on the berries.
3. Chop/break the dark chocolate bar into small pieces, put the chocolate pieces in a small microwave safe dish.
4. Melt chocolate in the microwave, for about 1 minute at 20 minutes interval on medium power. (Give a quick stir at each interval to even out the melting process)
5. If it still did not melt, continue melting in 15 second increments in the microwave. Stir the chocolate. It should be smooth and have no lumps.(because sometime it depend on the voltage of your microwave)
6. Once the chocolate is melted, start dipping by cover about 2/3 of the strawberry with chocolate.(this looks prettier than covering the entire strawberry)
7. Put the dipped berries on some greaseproof paper and set them in the freezer for about 5 to 10 minutes before decorating it with the white chocolate.

Note:
~ If you are having difficulty holding the strawberry, skewer it just under the green bit with a toothpick just like what I have done in the photo shown above.
~ If you don't prefer white chocolate, you can used chopped nuts, shredded coconut, colour bits and etc to decorate your chocoberry.
~ These Chocoberry should be stored in the refrigerator and eaten at room temperature within 24 hours.


For snack, we will be having this “Strawberry Cupcake” which is made from Strawberry Milk and freshly diced Strawberry. The texture of the cupcake will be slightly moist due to adding of fresh strawberry and when put it near your mouth; you will be able to smell that sweet and fragrance strawberry milk aroma in it.

This simple recipe can bakes about 8 mini cupcakes within 30 minutes including the preparation and baking time. In this way, you can get everything ready and bake it just a few minutes before the guests arrive. I am sure they will be impressive by your little healthy “Strawberry Cupcake”.

Ingredients: (makes 8 mini cupcakes)
100g Cake Flour/Top Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
60g Caster Sugar
50g Butter, melted
1 Medium Egg
30ml Strawberry Milk
3 Medium Strawberry, diced
Extra Slices of Strawberry for topping, optional

Method:
1. Sieved the flour and baking powder together and set aside.
2. Use the electric beater, beat the egg and sugar till white and creamy.
3. Slowly add in the melted butter and continue to beat the mixture.
4. Next add in strawberry milk while the mixer still still beating, then gradually beat in the sieved flour mixture till well combined.
5. Use a spoon or spatula to stir in the diced strawberry and carefully not to over mixed it. (don't worry the mixture will be kind of gluey)
6. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake case till 3/4 full, top with a thin slice of strawberry and bake in a pre-heated 180 degree oven for about 15 minutes.
7. The surface of the cupcake will not be golden in colour so do not over baked it, test it with a skewer or toothpick check whether the center is cooked through.

Note:
~ You can replace Strawberry Milk with plain milk and 50g of butter with 50ml of corn/olive oil.
~ The texture of the cake will be slightly moist and the surface will be a bit sticky due to the adding of milk and fresh fruit.


Since today’s theme is “PinkyBerry High-Tea”, all the items we have will be based on Pink/Strawberry. So after some light refreshment and snack, we can relax and let go ourself in some heart to heart conversation with a pack or two of "Strawberry Flavour Pocky" to spice up the some discussion topics.