Ladies, welcome to the dining room in the 1906 Queen Anne style home we're renting for the month. The room has a berry hue and is adorned with antique furnishings. The windows are majestic, and allow in so much natural light and a glimpse of the courtyard. What a lovely room to host a book club luncheon.
The fireplace is the focal point of the room, and hosts a china cabinet to the left and a secret door to the right.
The owners of the home are collectors of Gone With The Wind memorabilia, it adorns several of the rooms, and is fascinating to peruse. Here are some books to talk about at the book club.
Scarlett's Green Dress commemerable plate.
The patina on the silver forks and serving spoons.
Scarlett and Rhett's Honeymoon commemerable plate.
The Melanie and Ashley commemerable plate
The Strolling in Atlanta commemerable plate
The back wall overlooks a sideboard, which houses all the table linens and cloths.
The extensive doll collection and more plate memorabilia.
After reading, I plan to make some delectable raspberry ripple and basil cupcakes from Ren Behan.
Ingredients
3 eggs, large, free-range
150ml Plain, natural yogurt
175g Melted, Unsalted butter
175g vanilla sugar (or use caster sugar and the seeds of a vanilla pod/teaspoon vanilla extract)
180g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
60g ground almonds
pinch salt
2 basil leaves (optional, finely chopped)
400g icing sugar
200g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2 basil leaves (optional, finely chopped)
4 heaped tablespoons Raspberry Coulis (e.g Salisbury's Taste the Difference)
12 Basil (Small leaves to garnish.
Directions
Step 1
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Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and double-line a 12 hole muffin tray with cupcake cases.
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Step 2
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Mix the yogurt, eggs and melted (cooled) butter in a jug or bowl.
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Step 3
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Sift the vanilla sugar, flour and baking powder into a separate bowl, add the ground almonds and a pinch of salt. Mix well. Pour in the yogurt, eggs and butter into the dry ingredients and mix together until smooth. If using, add in the chopped basil leaves and mix.
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Step 4
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Use an ice-cream scoop or a tablespoon to fill your cupcake cases until about 2/3 full.
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Step 5
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Bake in your pre-heated over for 15-17 minutes, a stick should come out clean when they are cooked. Leave the cupcakes to cool for a few seconds in the tin, then take them out and leave them to cool on a rack.
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Step 6
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To make the butter cream, beat the 200g butter in a bowl until pale and then gradually add the icing sugar in small amounts. If the butter cream is a little thick, add a tablespoon of milk or water and beat again. Add the chopped basil leaves, if using.
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Step 7
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Put the butter cream into a piping bag and pipe a swirl onto each cupcake - or just dollop on!
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Step 8
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Using a teaspoon, carefully drizzle over a little bit of the raspberry coulis over the top of each cupcake. Add a sprig of basil to decorate.
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Hope y'all enjoyed the book club luncheon and try the raspberry ripple and basil cupcakes. I'd love to hear your suggestions for other Gone With The Wind posts.
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