Tea Time Tuesday

 Happy Mardi Gras ! 

Today's Tea Time  we are at the kitchen table, because bad weather is coming in this afternoon . Some of the parades were rescheduled or even cancelled. But  our local one is still scheduled too roll. So we are celebrating in style with Cookies , Tea and Memories ! 

A Scrapbook Cozy Mystery : 

Amid Zydeco rhythms and popping champagne corks, bead-draped revelers are moving into the streets, and Jekyl Hardy is playing host to a party in his elegant French Quarter apartment. On a wild night like this, anything can happen. The guests - including scrapbook-store owner Carmela Bertrand - never imagine it will be murder. But as the evening progresses, Jekyl's neighbor, float designer Archie Baudier, is found on the balcony choked to death with a barbed wire garrote.
The only things wilder than the crime are the far-flung theories about who did it - from a ritualistic slaying to a mob hit to the outlandish work of a rival Mardi Gras float builder. Handsome detective Edgar Babcock isn't buying any of it. Neither is Carmela, and the odd clues are bringing out the sleuth in her: gold paint on the victim's shoes, a strange coin found next to his body, his ransacked apartment, and the peculiar fact that no one at the party really knew him. Only one thing is clear: Whoever killed Archie is following Carmela - straight into the chaos of Mardi Gras.

We are having  with our Tea : 

For the Cookies:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pinch nutmeg

For the Frosting:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 to 6 tablespoons milk
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• Purple, green, and yellow sugar sprinkles
• Optional: 1 plastic baby to hide in the cookie frosting

Instructions

To Make the Cookies:

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with a hand mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and almond extract, and beat with the hand mixer until well blended.
2. Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg and beat until the mixture becomes a firm dough. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll into 24 1 1/2-inch balls. Place on the prepared baking sheets and press down on each ball to flatten slightly. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until the bottom edges just start to turn golden. Remove the cookies from the pans to a wire rack to cool. Allow the cookies to cool completely before frosting.

To Make the Frosting:

1. In a second bowl, mix the powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons of milk, butter, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and almond extract with the hand mixer. If necessary, add a little more milk at a time until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.
2. Spread the frosting onto the cooled cookies and sprinkle with stripes of purple, green, and yellow sugar sprinkles.
3. Optional: Hide the plastic baby in the frosting of one of the cookies. Just make sure whoever you’re serving is aware that one of the cookies has this figurine, as it could be a choking hazard.

A few parade pictures....