Do you randomly wake up in the middle of the night and wonder what the Queen of England likes to put on her sandwiches or are you normal?
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If you’re the former, then you can rest assured because a former royal chef has decided to impart the very valuable information that you’ve been yearning to find.
Chef Darren McGrady, who worked in the Buckingham Palace kitchens for nearly 15 years, has set up a YouTube channel where he regularly shares recipes from the royal kitchens.
One of the most popular demands from his loyal viewers is to find out what the monarch prefers for her afternoon tea.
You might be the subject of a long-running Netflix show that gave Olivia Coleman another opportunity to prove that she’s the best, but you are still not exempt from getting hunger pangs in the middle of the day. This is why the Queen prefers her afternoon tea to have an assortment of sandwiches, scones with strawberries and cream, and, of course, a cocktail.
Out of the assortment of sandwiches, Queen Elizabeth’s favourite is one that is known as ‘Jam Pennies’.
These jam and butter sandwiches have been the Queen’s favourite since she was a little kid and was served these regularly in her fancy nursery.
How can you make the sandwiches on your own? McGrady has, very generously, shared the simple recipe for his followers, “It’s just bread with jam and a little butter, usually strawberry jam. We’d make the jam at Balmoral castle the gorgeous Scottish strawberries from the gardens. Sandwich it together and cut it into small circles. They were called ‘Pennies’ after the size of the old English penny.”
McGrady also revealed that, aside from Jam Pennies, the Queen also likes another sandwich that’s made out of cream cheese, with a hint of fresh spearmint, that’s topped with a layer of thinly peeled cucumbers.
If you really want to commit to the royal style of eating sandwiches, McGrady recommends taking off the crust of the bread and cutting it into tiny two-bite sandwiches.
So dig out your fascinator and the good pair of gloves, you’ve got an afternoon tea party to throw!
