It was a quiet morning last month when a text arrived from my brother Seth in California. “I just ordered Meghan Markle’s apricot jam, shortbread cookie mix, and peppermint tea,” he announced. “It was sold out in an hour last time—they just restocked. Get on it!”
I’d never actually seen the Duchess of Sussex’s crafty Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, and to be honest I don’t have a strong opinion on her adventures and exploits. But I am a fan of teatime, and just like Meghan, I, too, like to make my own homemade jam. And while I don’t whip up sachets of bath salts for my houseguests or host beehives in my backyard, I confess I can see the appeal.
Thirty seconds later, I was frantically searching for in-stock products on Meghan’s As Ever brand site. The tea was already sold out (“Gonna sell it on EBay,” my brother joked). But he was right—several items were still in stock. I grabbed a $9 jar of the apricot jam—a spread, actually, but I still wanted it. I also ordered the two remaining items that were available: a box of crepe mix and the intriguing-sounding Shortbread Cookie Mix With Flower Sprinkles. Those were $14 each.
The order went through—or seemed to. An email promptly arrived letting me know that “Something delightful is coming your way.” Another note popped up from Meghan herself. “Dear Ingrid, I’m so pleased to have you here! At As Ever, we celebrate the beauty in the details and cherish the small moments of magic that can be found in the everyday.”
The shortbread cookies with flower sprinkles, as they appeared on the Duchess’s show, With Love, Meghan.
A week later, on June 27, I learned that Meghan would be launching her own “crisp and beautifully balanced” rosé on July 1. Sadly, I did not “get on it” fast enough this time and the wine sold out. Still, things were looking up three days later, when I learned that two of my items—the mixes—were on their way.
By day’s end, I also got some surprising news, as did my brother and—to judge from the uproar on social media—many other disappointed customers. “Due to high demand,” the email announced, “we are unable to fulfill your order of the apricot spread at this time.”
Clearly the Duchess was spread too thin. I was informed that I would get a refund and that “when the apricot spread is back in stock, you will be the first to receive it, free of charge.” I’m still waiting.
The jam was clearly in a jam, but two weeks after I placed my order, a plain brown box landed on my doorstep with a sticker that warned: Open with Care. Inside, a card said simply, “Enjoy—Meghan.” I brushed away the popcorn peanuts, opened the shortbread mix, and set to work. The box contained two packages: the cookie mix and a small bag of “flower sprinkles,” which turned out to be about a tablespoon of dried edible flowers, including rose, calendula, blue cornflower, and hibiscus. There was also a note from Meghan on the package: «Let’s call this a hug in a box,» she said. «I fell in love with the ritual of tea and ‘biscuits’ during my time in the U.K.»
All I had to supply was two sticks of butter. I whipped the butter and slowly added in the mix, aiming for the creamy consistency specified by the recipe on the box. Mine turned crumbly, but a little hand pressure got the dough to adhere. I folded in the dried flowers and rolled the dough into a log. At this point, I worried that it was too dry and made the mistake of checking TikTok, where amateur bakers were mixing and rolling their As Ever shortbread like pros. But with one rare box of cookie mix in my possession, there was no turning back.
The editor’s own version, baked from the Duchess’s As Ever mix.
After an hour in the refrigerator, the dough was sliced into wonky rounds and baked. The recommended 9 to 11 minutes went by without the pale brown result recommended by the recipe. I added a few minutes, then removed them from the oven still looking a bit pale, but firm to the touch, and let them cool.
My family looked skeptical but eager to try them. “I prefer chocolate cookies,” my husband Joel declared. “But for shortbread, they are 10/10.” At the ELLE Decor office the next day, my colleagues devoured the rest of the batch.
I have yet to try the crepe mix but, once again my brother Seth was way ahead of me. “The crepes came out a lot better than I predicted and were delicious,” he said. “Though they could have used some apricot spread.”
Baking, Sussex-Style
Ingrid Abramovitch, the Executive Editor at ELLE Decor, writes about design, architecture, renovation, and lifestyle, and is the author of several books on design including Restoring a House in the City.
