Tea with Jane Austen: Recipes Inspired By Her Novels and Letters

Dinner with

by Pen Vogler

Enjoy a cup of tea and a slice of cake with one of the world's favorite novelists

Enjoy a cup of tea and a slice of cake with one of the world's favorite novelists

Inspired by the novels and letters of Jane Austen, this collection of cakes, bakes, and pastries is based on authentic recipes from the Recency era, which have been fully updated for modern-day cooks. In Jane Austen's day, tea and cakes were usually served after dinner, or to evening guests, but these rolls, buns, tarts, and biscuits will be equally welcome at breakfast, with mid-morning coffee, or for an English afternoon tea. Recipes featured in the book include: English Muffins, based on the muffins served with after-dinner tea in "Pride and Prejudice"; Buttered Apple Tart as offered by Mr. Woodhouse to Miss Bates in "Emma"; and Jumbles, inspired by the cookies enjoyed by Fanny in "Mansfield Park". From Plum Cake and Gingerbread to Ratafia Cakes and Sally Lunns "Tea with Jane Austen" has all the recipes you need to create the finest tea time treats, and the original recipes are given alongside, so you can compare them and appreciate modern time-savers such as dried yeast, and electric mixers all the more!

Genres: Cookbooks, Jane Austen, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food, Tea, Regency

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Miranda Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long story short, this is YET ANOTHER literary cookbook for my collection and I'm no where near stopping. Bury me in my books for all I care.

This is a gorgeous little hardcover about tea-themed recipes from Jane Austen's era.

Many of them were taken directly from her letters or books, and then modernized slightly (after all, the cooking methods of her time are a littttttle different from those available in the 2000s).

There's a lot of little cakes and buns and delicacies to go along with meals or to be eaten as snacks. I loved the full-color pictures of the dishes - very aesthetically pleasing with the way it was laid out!

I do wish there was a bit more recipes to the book - it's a handy little pocketbook but I would've wanted more in terms of depth and breadth.

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[Plateresca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sweet little book with such nice food photography!
I only wish it would go more in-depth into everything.
The instructions are fairly easy to follow, but I'd appreciate a more detailed approach. For instance, natural rosewater: how did one make it? Or 'drop the mixture...', how thick should this mixture be?
But, really, I'm just being particular, the booklet is lovely.

Upd: jumbles and ratafia are my absolute favourites, so easy to cook and so delicious!

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great! It had a specific mention before each recipe of where the treat had been mentioned in her novels (or sometimes in her letters to her sister) - which I love. Also the recipes pulled from traditional sources from that era which was cool. When I have more of a kitchen I would maybe buy this to try some of the recipes - or maybe for a bookclub meeting or something.

Also found out Jane Austen doesn't like cream in her tea, and that the sort of trendy/coveted tea to drink in her time was actually green tea! Not black. I guess that makes sense but it's weird to think of.

[talia ♡]

my beautiful beautiful bestest friend sent this lovely book (along with a painted picture of THEE pride and prejudice hand flex scene!) as a gift for me while i'm across the country at uni :')

i miss her beyond words but jane austen and tea has always brought us together

[Mirona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will definitely try out some of the recipes in this little book. The quotes and introductions to each recipe are fun, to see where a recipe or cake was mentioned in the novels or to describe a certain ritual where food was concerned.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my souvenirs from visit to Jane Austen House Museum.
Introduction has interesting bits of tea drinking traditions from Jane's time. Such as tea was usually drank after the evening meal. It was kind of a dessert buffet.
Looking forward to making Strawberry Tartlets when berries are in season.

[Shay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a really cute mini cook book full of tea time snacks with excerpts from Austen's novels and other sources. Some of the recipes look really great and I will totally be trying them out soon. Others just aren't my cup of tea. (Pun intended)

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful small cook book. Loved the connection to
Austen and her novels. Gorgeous photos too.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is much shorter than I thought it'd be.

That being said, it doesn't feel short, or small. It feels like you're going through that old cookbook that belongs to your grandmother or great-aunt, flipping through pages of recipes that open up a glimpse of a time that's out of reach and yet lingers through literature, art and modern nostalgia for the past.

This is a wonderful collection of recipes from the late 18th, early 19th centuries that Jane Austen lived in and had most possibly ate, or at least tried, herself. I recommend this to any Jane Austen fan, any baking or food historian, and for any baker who likes trying out recipes. (I have not made any of these recipes myself as of yet.)

[itskaileysworld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will definitely will be trying some of these recipes.:]
Such a lovely little book.

[The Lit · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lit Whisperer's analysis finds that the recipes in this collection are absolutely fantastic; they are well-researched and truly capture the period's culinary spirit. I fully intend to eventually try every single recipe in this book! However, while the food is wonderful, I was personally hoping for a bit more "Austen" between the dishes. Including some of her famous quotes, fun historical facts, or trivia about her life and work would have been such a nice touch to bridge the gap between the recipes. Perhaps that was just my expectation as a fan, but those extra details would have made this a perfect experience.
​A solid 4 stars for a beautiful and delicious concept.
​Follow me for more reviews @TheLitWhisperer.

[Abi Pellinor · Rating 3 out of 5]

My wonderful other half got me this for Christmas as he knows I want to get into the kitchen a little more and that I've been loving some Jane Austen work recently!

I wanted to read through this before I made the recipes from it. I've not made any recipes yet but this is such a lovely little book! The recipes all look very easy to follow and I love that the aligning recipes from the 1700s and 1800s are present too so you can see the exact ingredients and instructions given back then and learn a little more about history!

I love how each recipe is linked to something from Austen's life or books. This is such a lovely little present for an Austen fan and I can't wait to bake something from it! I'm tempted to start with the mince pies with actual mince in!

On CAWPILE I rated this: Credibility/Research: 6, Authenticity/Uniqueness: 7, Writing/Readability: 7, Personal Impact: 6, Intrigue: 6, Logic/Informativeness: 8, and Enjoyment: 7, which gives a 6.71 score and a rating of 3.5*!

I'm excited to delve into some of the recipes for this and see how they turn out!

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars
Challies' 2016 Reading Challenge - #12 a book published in 2017

Very short but some of the recipes look delicious. As soon as cold weather gets here I'll try making several of them.

[☆ Lara the Ninth ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I am counting this for my reading goal. The introduction was very well written

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky to receive this for Christmas, and thoroughly enjoyed indulging my passions for Austen and food amongst the beautifully illustrated pages!

Inspired by the books and letters of Jane Austen, food writer (and food historian) Pen Vogler presents recipes for modern versions of a veritable feast of Regency dishes to tempt your tastebuds - as tea-time dishes (alongside extracts for the original recipes).

Some of the dishes do seem unusual given modern tastes, but Vogler adapts them to make the ingredients easy to source, and uses modern methods to prepare them - no poisoning your guests with cyanide-laced bitter almonds here, or pounding ingredients with a pestle and mortar! It is interesting to read the originals as well, and I was thrilled to see Eliza Acton getting a mention (I adored The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs).

Beyond the opportunity to make tasty Regency-inspired menus, I love the way Vogler incorporates social history in the text. She explains why the dishes are important in Regency England, Austen's own life, and what they tell us about the characters in her novels too. Austen chooses her references with great care (as expected), and the food her characters eat contains subtle information about their lives in terms of money, class, and changing fashions. Fascinating stuff!

I cannot wait to try out some of these dishes in the New Year. Many refined choices await! 😋

[Leila Mota · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm that person that doesn't know how to cook but loves recipes. As I also love Jane Austen, it was only logical that I would be attracted by this little book. Not only it brings back recipes from Jane Austen's time, but those used by her family and friends, like Martha Lloyd, for instance. Lloyd was a friend of the family, lived for some time with Jane, her sister and mother after her father died, and afterwards married one of Jane's brothers. Martha also compiled recipes that resulted in a book. In the museum at Chawton (formerly Jane's home) there's a framed recipe from Martha. Maybe some people will think all of this irrelevant. I don't. When we like something we want to know more about it, at least most people do. So you will find traditional recipes, their sources and the present and practical way of reproducing them if you want. Maybe even I will be able to try at least one of them.

[Aja: The Narcoleptic Ninja · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the great joys of reading after the holidays is starting to go through all the books you get for the holidays. I was really excited about this book and I'm looking forward to trying out some of the recipes, but I do wish the book was a little more detail oriented with the recipes.

Each recipe is introduced with a small section about where the recipes were found in Austen's works, but I think it would have made for a nice addition to actually add in some of the passages instead of just glazing over where they were mentioned.

Overall, an enjoyable read. I just wish there was more to it.

[Emily Espinosa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a cute little book, short and sweet but I give it 2 stars because it’s so short and I felt it wasn’t an approachable cookbook. It’s not bad though, I just didn’t enjoy as much as I thought I would. I thought it would make me want to get in the kitchen, make a cup of tea and watch a Jane Austen movie.

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming little book containing recipes for pastries (mostly) similar to what Jane Austen may have enjoyed. Short vignettes from Austen's novels and letters to her sister accompany each recipe. Many of the recipes are illustrated but not all. Most are way beyond my culinary skill set but it was still a nice read.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a book for any Jane Austen fanatic to have on their shelf. It has recipes for dishes ( mostly cakes and buns and the like) mentioned in her books. First there is a modern version of the recipe so that it can be recreated in the present day kitchen, but there's also a recipe for the same dish taken from a cookbook that was popular during Jane's time.

[Amber Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the recipes sound nice, especially the cherries in meringue. This book is just so tiny and the link with Jane Austen felt weak to me.I’d have liked maybe pictures of her homes, their kitchens, excepts from her letters about food or similar stuff.
I’d have liked the sections in handwriting font to have been in something a little easier to read.

[Tera · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a fan of Jane Austen, this was a fascinating look at the cookery of her time. It opened my eyes to meal traditions that I didn't fully understand while reading the books, and also gave me an appreciation for our modern cookery.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

While no recipe book can be considered "finished" without trying out at least one recipe, I'm afraid that must wait at least until I can hold my own high tea with lots of scones and clotted cream. And a few Bath buns, perhaps a strawberry tartlet, and pound cake? "Happy thought, indeed."

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've got dinner with Darcy, this doesn't have any new recipes, but it does have a table of contents, which the other book does really lack.

The thing I was struck by reading this was the scalding of apples to peel them, which is suggested by the original recipe for "A Buttered Tart" (of apples) by Hannah Glasse. I have blanched tomatoes and other produce before to remove their skins, but had never considered it for something like pie making or the like, so that was something I was very interested to see recommended, and I certainly shall try.

I have made the Bath Buns, and I did quite like them. I still need to get some bread flour to make the English muffins!

[Lucie Mayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not that I could afford to eat any of those treats, but I devoured the book in a few minutes! It is very well written, albeit very short. I love the modern-to-historical recipe layout. Now, to veganise the Bath buns!

[Joycec · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an adorable little book with references to Jane Austen novels, letters and household. The recipes are perfect for tea and includes some of my favorites (like Mince Pies). A gift from Jean and I absolutely love it!!

[danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mostly got Jane Austen & HP gifts this holiday season & I ain't mad about it

[Sarah Bierle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A delightful book with historic food information and recipes! Looking forward to trying a few recipes soon...

[Janée · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun recipes! A lot of them seem quite bland, but I guess it's appropriate for the time.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really sweet little book about recipes during the regency era/found in Austen's books.