My daughter was a tomboy growing up. She preferred to be Robin Hood rather than Maid Marion. She would rather collect bugs than play dolls and the only reason she agreed to wear dresses is because it meant she only had to put on two articles of clothing in the morning.
I was quite pleased when she discovered American Girl books and fell in love with Felicity…until I read the books and realized that the reason she liked Felicity so much was because she snuck out of the house at night, wore boy’s clothing, and “borrowed a horse”.
When she got together with her friends for tea parties, they brought their dolls. Since it was unacceptable to wear breaches to a tea party, she let me make her smocked dresses. However, she laid down her terms: she would only dress like a girl if she wasn’t required to act like one! One of my favorite memories is of her leading her friends over boulders and up a tree in their tea party finest, needless to say, this did not endear either one of us to her friend’s mothers!
Shrewsbury Cakes were a requirement for a Felicity tea party. The name is misleading; they are really more like shortbread. They are flavored with rose water, which my daughter and I learned to make ourselves. Because these cookies are so flavorful, I was able to replace the butter with non-hydrogenated organic shortening without compromising the flavor.
Once Felicity was replaced with a sword, lembas bread became the rage. You can use this recipe to make lembas bread by rolling it out to 1/4 thick and using a pizza cutter to cut it in squares. All other directions remain the same.
My daughter has mostly retired her sword and willing dresses like a girl and even occasionally acts like one. She is planning an end of summer tea party for her friends and we will roll out the Shrewsbury Cakes for old time’s sake. Here is the Shrewsbury Cake Recipe. We decorate them with Decorator’s Icing and candied flowers:
This post is linked to Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Gluten-Free Wednesdays.
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Mary Hudak-Collins says
This sounds really tasty. Have never heard of this before. Will definitely be giving this a try in my kitchen. Thanks for sharing!
Iris says
What lovely little cakes! I’ve never had a proper tea party, but if I did, I would want to make these!