December tea

 Usually I don';t host aDecember tea because people have been so busy during the month of December.  But as the kids have grown,  the number of mandatory school plays and athletic awards banquets has dwindled, and the frantic search for the perfect gift has been moderated, I thought perhaps more of us would be free to enjoy.  So here is the table-dressed, but not set with foodyet since the ants would carry them all away.  I always have such fun setting the table.  The big white cloth has a honking great stain in the middle, so I got it at an estate sale for $1.  Then I took the red cloth I found at a garage sale on a Sunday afternoon and persuaded the lady to let me have it for $2 to save her the bother of packing it up for GoodWill.  Red cloth covers stain and voila - festive table.  The flower holder napkin rings with red and white carnations work perfectly!

Don't you think?   Orange, almond, chocolate cupcakes, orange and rosemary shortbreads, chicken salad with rosemary, and TW said she was bringing leftovers from her church bakesale, so the feasting will be monumental and varied.  TW is a demon baker!

I

I wanted to make peppermint macaroons like these.  I separated the yolks from the whites and warmed the whites to room temperature (extra yolks went into the cake)  I made sure the bowl and beaters were scrupulously clean and grease-free.  I added the sugar to the whipped egg white a careful spoonful at a time.  I had even gone to the fancy bakery supply shop and gotten extra wonderful peppermint flavoring to make the cookies superbly delicious.  At the last I added the flavoring to the whipped egg whites and watched in horror as the whole fluffy mass subsumed into a frothy scum.  Then I read the flavoring bottle more carefully.  Peppermint oil - not extract.  Ohhhh -crap! I added the almond flour and gave it a try anyway.  Instead of those lovely high, melt-in-your-mouth fluffs of flavor,  I got -

Mostly gummy ugly flat wafers that wouldn't even let go of the parchment paper.  They tasted quite strongly of peppermint, though.

I was also going to make cheesecake pops, but my courage failed me and I decided to quit while I was not too far behind.  The cupcakes are yummy, and the shortbreads are not bad.  Clementines and chicken salad sandwiches will round things out nicely.  We will be a small group anyhow, so why go all crazy with this?  I will NOT be serving these failed macarons, but I will try macarons again.  They are soooo decadent.  What flavor?