Having Tea Parties

I love having tea parties! I keep it pretty casual though, so we don’t dress up or anything. Most of the time I’ve had people over around lunch time. I do the whole three-tiered platter for afternoon tea. I usually make the scones and the tea sandwiches, and others bring desserts, and more tea (not that they need to, because I have plenty!) I don’t really have any links, but you can find lots of recipes for scones and tea sandwiches online. I like buttermilk-based scones, but cream-based ones are pretty good too. For tea sandwiches, cucumber and cream cheese are pretty typical. I usually do an egg salad tea sandwich too. Last time I did an avocado and egg tea sandwich, which was really fresh and delicious. Good luck!

I wish I had more local friends that drank tea, or I’d love to have some tea parties. Would also help me drink down my tea!

Here’s a good list of tea sandwich ideas
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-and-cooking/50-tea-sandwiches/index.html

One of my friends had one not too long ago. They served three small courses, and three teas. All the food contained tea of some sort as well! Chicken poached in blueberry tea, made into chicken salad sandwiches, matcha macarons, etc.

Small courses, think appetizer sized things. I normally do 3 savories, 2-3 small sweets and smallish scones. Egg salad, ham salad, chicken salad – all those are good to put on either bread, rolls or small croissants. You can cut down on your prep time by doing fresh fruit and cheese slices or cubes as well. Frozen cream puffs, refrigerated mini quiches… things like that can make prep go faster as well.

I usually wait till the morning of the tea party to bake the scones. I think they are better the day of baking.

Here’s a link to my recipe site http://www.nicolesrecipes.com/ – if you click on the menu bar for Tea Parties, I have the recipes I have used for tea parties (or want to use).

teapot warmers :)