THE Garden Tour

Today was the day.    The first private garden tour for our Master Gardeners and Garden Club.    Twenty-two guests arrived on Dolly the Trolley ten minutes ahead of schedule.    But I was ready.   

 To be up, bed made, house cleaned and garden weeded before 8 a.m. is quite an accomplishment.    We are used to much lazier mornings at Linderhof.    

But  9 a.m. tour means that both house and garden need to be tour ready before the guests arrive and any guest to Linderhof is also offered a beverage and a nosh.

They're here!

The garden at Linderhof -- the first stop on the tour.  

Once unloaded we all headed to the back garden.     A small garden to be sure, is the garden at Linderhof.    But I explained the different herbs.    The lavender is in great display now and its scent is amazing and the bees were busy flitting from flower to flower (somewhere there will be some good lavender honey) and hardly noticed that the garden filled with people.

For ease and so the guests could use all of the chairs in the garden, I served the food inside.    Not tea and cookies at 9:30 but coffee and madeleines.

Breakfast room ready and waiting.

I rarely buy paper cups and the Spode Blue Room and Blue Italian cups (sans saucers) were perfect for morning coffee.

An old gravy boat is a perfect spoon holder for the used ones can go in the gravy boat under plate!
The centerpiece fitting a garden tour.    Lavender blossoms and oregano in a Blue Italian pitcher.

And since it is a garden tour and since it is morning, lemon lavender madeleines.  

Lemony, lavender madeleines

Topped with a lemon lavender glaze.     Some took two, but I really wasn't counting!

I did agonize over what to serve because it was going to be both men and women -- and I was going to do this and then I was going to do that and then I was back to this.  

Then I thought, breakfast probably hasn't been that far away and a smaller nosh is needed.    It is a garden tour and most, if any, have probably never had a lavender sweet.  

While mulling this over, I happened upon the latest issue of Tea Time and found a recipe for strawberry madeleines.    And it made 48!    And the baking time was only 5 minutes!

After getting up early, cleaning house, weeding the garden, I made the madeleines.     They were delicious with my additions of lemon and lavender.    In fact, I liked them better than the recipe I normally use!    So this will be my new "go to" madeleine recipe!

The recipe as I made them:

LEMON LAVENDER MADELEINES

4 large eggs

3/4 c. sugar

1 c. flour

1 t. baking powder

1/8 t. salt

1/2 c. butter, melted and cooled

grated zest of 2 lemons

1 1/2 T. dried culinary lavender

GLAZE:

1/2 c. powdered sugar

Enough lavender syrup to make a thin glaze

grated zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350.    Spray wells of 4 madeleine pans with Baker's Joy.   Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar.    Beat at high speed until pale and fluffy, 5 minutes.    Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.    Add half of flour mixture to egg mixture.    Beat at medium speed until incorporated.    Add remaining flour mixture.    Gradually add butter, beating until well blended.    Add lemon zest and lavender buds.    Let stand for 5 minutes.

Spoon 1 T. batter into each prepared well of madeleine pans.    Bake until light golden, 5 minutes.    Remove madeleines from molds and cool completely on wire racks.   

Mix powdered sugar and lavender syrup to make a thin glaze (if you don't have lavender syrup you could use milk).    Add lemon zest.    Pour about 1 t. over each madeleine.

It's Thursday and I'm joining Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish and Susan at Between Naps On the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.