<p>Hello, I am having an afternoon tea next month for my older sister’s 60th birthday. There will be about 10 people there. Looking for suggestions for finger sandwiches, small desserts, scones,etc. Suggestions in general(including anything that can easily be store bought) of what works would be helpful. A neighbor has a pretty big collection of teapots, teacups, platters, etc. that she has collected so we will be able to use some of her things. Thanks!</p>
<p>cucumber sandwiches are classic. my fav is mix 1 pkg ranch dressing mix with 2 c. sour cream, use cooky cutter to cut rounds of pepperidge farm white bread. , spread sour cream on bread, add cucumber slice . 1-2 cucumbers sliced, soak in vinegar 1 hour. drain 15 minutes. </p>
<p>I have a cranberry scone recipe that is very popular with garden club and my dd, who loves teas, it is mixed in the food processor. let me know if you want it.</p>
<p>strawberries both fresh and chocolate covered</p>
<p>Miniature chocolate eclairs. VERY EASY</p>
<p>just use a classic choux pastry recipe and fill with custard and then glaze.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to bother with homemade, Costco sells delicious profiterols in the frozen food dept.</p>
<p>Sure, memphismom. Thanks.The scones sound great. Is clotted cream hard to find in stores? The cucumber sandwiches sound very good. I also saw a cucumber recipe that included mint but this one may be more classic. Is the cucumber supposed to be an English cucumber or is any kind of cucumber okay? I had been thinking of strawberries(thanks mom60) but would I need real whipped cream with it? (I’ve never made real whipped cream and am nervous about it). Thanks,musicamusica, those are also the kinds of ideas I’m looking for also as we do have a Costco near her .</p>
<p>Real whipped cream is one of the easiest things in the world to make. Dump the cold heavy cream (use heavy cream; light cream won’t work) into a bowl. Then either mix with a stand mixer or mix with a handheld mixer- in either case, stop every thirty seconds to see if it’s ready, because if you mix too long you get butter. Add some sugar and a little vanilla if you feel like it.</p>
<p>If you don’t have a powered mixer, you can use a wire whisk. I’ve even made whipped cream with a tiny wire whisk when I was doing loaded, unsupported bike touring. Yes, I was sitting out in the woods with a little bowl and a tiny whisk, and I whipped cream for strawberries. Seriously, it’s dead easy.</p>
<p>I did a tea for a bridal shower recently. The Nancy’s Quiches were very popular (Costco or supermarket, heat in microwave). Lemon bars were the most popular dessert, after chocolate—if I had thought about it I would have done the choclate elcairs mentioned earlier. Strawberries or some other fruit…either on a platter or in a fruit salad.<br>
Here’s a receipe for the Lemon Bars–easy, but wonderful.<br>
Lemon Bars
2 1/4 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup powder sugar
1 Cup butter, cold, cut into pieces
4 large eggs
2 Cups granulated Sugar
1 tsp Lemon Zest
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp baking powder
additional powdered sugar</p>
<p>Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13X9 pan with parchment paper (Reynolds will work in a pinch, just butter it).<br>
Stir 2 cups flour and 1/cup powdered sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly. Press mixture into the bottom of the pan.
Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly browned.
Meanwhile, whisk eggs until smooth, then add granulated sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice. Stir 1/4 cup flour and baking powder together, add to egg mixture. Pour egg mixture over the hot crust.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes until filling is set. Let Lemon Bars cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then lift out of the pan using the parchment paper. Remove paper or foil, cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes, then cut into bars and sprinkle with powdered sugar.</p>
<p>NOTE: I just dump the flour and sugar into the mixing bowl, add butter and mix using the paddle attachment until crumbly. After you put mixture in the bottom of the pan, use the same bowl to do the eggs etc. The zest and juice is basically one lemon.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t say you need to have whipped cream with strawberries. I like my strawberries plain and simple but I know my D likes to tell that the Mom of her BF dips them in brown sugar.
But real whipped cream is easy to make as Cardinal Fang mentioned. If you have a stand up kitchen aid mixer it is super easy. Sweeten to your own taste.</p>
<p>Berry-nut scones
2 c all purpose flour 1/2 c cranberries
3 Tbsp sugar 1/4 c. chopped nus
1/2 tsp salt 4 Tbsp butter cold and cubed
1 Tbsp baking powder 1 egg
1/2 c. haevy cream
Pre-heat oven to 425
In a food processor, mix flour,sugar,salt,baking powder. Pulse in the butter until it looks like coarse cornmeal. Mix the cream and egg together, then pour into the processor and pulse just until it’s combined. Fold in the nuts and berries. Flatten into a ball and cut into 6 wedges for traditional scone shape, or cut into hearts to make everyone happy. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes for the wedges, about 10 for the cute little hearts. You can make the dough the night before, wrap well in platicwrap and bake in the morning. </p>
<p>Mock Devonshire Cream
1/2 c. heavy cream
2 Tbps powdered sugar
1/2 c. sour cream
Beat the cream to medium stiff peaks, adding sugar gradually at end. fold in the sour cream
This would be also great on the berries.</p>
<p>I go to/give a tea every month in connection with a charitable organization I belong to.</p>
<p>The best and easiest way to do scones is to use the Krusteez mix. Plain scones are better to use if you are serving them the traditional way, strawberry jam, butter and clotted cream. Tip on the clotted cream, since it’s so hard to get here and even if you do find it, it’s usually not very good, is to OVER whip a pint of heavy cream without adding any sugar or vanilla.</p>
<p>Lemon tarts are always a hit at a tea.
Refrigerated pie crust
Jar of Lemon Curd
Canned whipped cream</p>
<p>*Cut your pie crust into rounds using a biscuit cutter. I have one that is fluted and it looks very pretty.
It’s best to use a tart pan which is like a muffin pan but it’s shallower, but you can use a muffin pan if that’s what you have. When you’ve put the dough in the pan pierce the bottom with a fork. Bake in a hot oven for about 10 minutes, watch them, they bake fast.
Take the tart shells out of the pan and cool.
*Buy a jar of Lemon Curd. Put he contents in a bowl and add a little FRESH lemon juice and maybe a little zest and stir. Add to the cooled shells.
*You can do this the day ahead, store in a covered container.
*Just before serving put a little whipped cream on the top. If you use whipped cream from a can put it on the tarts JUST before serving. If they sit too long the cream will disappear!</p>
<p>Jam Tarts are also easy and very traditional.</p>
<p>*The tart shells same as for the Lemon Tarts, just don’t pierce the bottom
*Put a teaspoon full of your preferred jam in BEFORE you bake them, do not overfill!
Bake the same as above and watch very carefully, they can burn quickly. As soon as they come out of the oven remove from pan and cool. These can also be done ahead.</p>
<p>Tea sandwiches are best if made the night before or in the morning. Layer them in a covered container with waxed paper between the layers. After the last layer in the container place one more piece of waxed paper over that the put a couple of just damp paper towels over the waxed paper cover tightly and refrigerate.</p>
<p>If you make the cucumber sandwiches don’t skip the vinegar/salt step or they will be soggy and gross.</p>
<p>If you want your table to have a traditional look here are a couple of tips. Buy some paper doilies and put on each plate, tray or platter before arranging food. Use some cake stands to put some of the plates of food on. Make sure your tea pot, milk (use whole) and sugar (use cubes) are on a separate tray on the table.</p>
<p>It sounds like a lot of fun! Good Luck!</p>
<p>[Mexican</a> Wedding Cookies recipe](<a href=“http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/mexican-wedding-cookies-91976.aspx]Mexican”>http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/mexican-wedding-cookies-91976.aspx)</p>
<p>My British friends taught me about teas when I lived in the UK–great fun! They say one should serve a few savories and a few sweets. For something sweet, I try to include something lemon-y like the bars above and a simple, somewhat delicate (but relatively easy) cookie like these. My recipe is very similar. You might consider tiny smoked salmon sandwiches, minus crust.</p>
<p>A nice floral centerpiece can serve as a focal point on your table. Use dainty tea cups with saucers and a sliver or china tea service. Don’t forget the doilies and use linen napkins if you have them.</p>
<p>Sounds like a great way to honor your sister and recognize such a milestone. Have fun!</p>
<p>I love tea sandwiches. You have to cut off the crusts and cut them on the diagonal or into thin rectangles like this [Cucumber</a> sandwich - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucumber_sandwich]Cucumber”>Cucumber sandwich - Wikipedia). Personally I like the classic British which is cucumber with butter and a little salt and a tiny bit of lemon. Egg salad, tuna, salmon mousse are also good choices and easy to make lots of quickly. Assuming your mint cucumber sandwich is this one [English</a> Cucumber Sandwiches](<a href=“http://thepauperedchef.com/2006/02/cucumber_sandwi.html]English”>English Cucumber Sandwiches | The Paupered Chef) , it looks good. I think I’d like it even better with dill though. Watercress sandwiches with just butter are yummy too. Part of the charm of English tea is that the food is very simple.</p>
<p>An easy sweet is to put a mix of lemon curd and plain yogurt into pastry or filo dough shells. Or you can use vanilla yogurt and top them with a few berries.</p>
<p>I think it’s nice to have some plain fruit and crudites for people on diets. :)</p>
<p>Another great way to serve strawberries…dip in brandy then roll in powdered sugar - YUM!</p>
<p>Another idea for tea sandwiches - pimento cheese</p>
<p>Thanks so much to all for the great suggestions. I am in Virginia and will be going to Pittsburgh for the birthday. I can’t remember if my mother has a food processor or not to do the scones (my mother and sister live together-my sister has never married and she is the primary caretaker for my declining 86 year old mother so I want to do something special for her-my sister loves to go occasionally to afternoon tea so her friends think it is a great idea)… I have made Krusteaz lemon bars before but just went to our store and they had many Krusteaz mixes but not the scone mix. I think I’ll have to see what I can find when I actually get to Pittsburgh. I did see some croustades and little shells that would work (as mathmom said). About the cucumber-do you use an English cucumber or regular cucumber? I assume you remove any seeds? Thanks again to all. There is a wealth of knowledge (and help) on these boards!</p>
<p>I’d use the English cucumber the skins are thinner and their are fewer seeds. Slice them as thin as you can. You don’t have to remove the seeds with the English cukes.</p>
<p>I would also consider, if not opposed, to serving a glass of champage with a raspberry in it.</p>
<p>I think I may do the champagne with raspberries. Great idea.That may be the only place (when doing the cake) that I may have to use plastic flutes as I don’t think my mother has a bunch of champagne flutes. Great to have a mock clotted cream recipe in case we need it. Will have tea (will remember to get sugar cubes!) and probably some punch as my sister’s neighbor says she has a punch bowl. Will get some doilies too for the platters. Some of the things I have been thinking of (with everyone’s help) is cucumber sandwiches on white, open face salmon and cream cheese on pumpernickel, maybe egg salad (I have a Silver Palate recipe I like) or possibly chicken salad. The eclair idea sounds good and I will look for something frozen. Maybe some lemon tartlets (the little Athens frozen tarts that were mentioned) with a raspberry on top. Some other possibilties I have thought of-chocolate truffles,the small Walker’s shortbread, mints, pastry stuffed olives ). I’ve been looking at some old food magazines and found a radish and cream cheese on pumpernickel tea sandwich that looks interesting. Also, the chocolate covered strawberries to go with plain ones (there is a good picture showing the chocolate covered ones sprinkled with finely chopped pistachios for another twist on strawberries. If anything doesn’t sound okay or appropriate ,feel free to comment. Also, if there are any different suggestions out there, I am still open to suggestions. Thanks to all!</p>
<p>when shall we show up, sevmom? It sounds scrumptious (and maybe more ambitious than necessary, but only you can know if that is true).</p>
<p>Yes, Mafool, I definitely don’t want to go overboard so some of this would come off the list for sure. My neighbor likes the scones and punch (she is really into afternoon tea)and I will be using some of her china so I will probably keep those in. Also, at least two of the tea sandwiches and at least 2 different desserts. It will be small as my mother’s house is small. It will be at least 8 of us, 11 at the most (waiting to hear back from 3 others). I am nervous about this as I want it to go well so probably best to keep it as simple as possible.</p>
<p>sevmom, it will be very nice, because your intention is so nice. (That sounds trite; it isn’t, really.)</p>
<p>I had tea at the British Museum last year. I’m no expert, but I guess that reference is semi-official?? I think that your description of scones, 2 desserts and 2 sandwiches sounds just right.</p>