I’m Planning An Afternoon Tea
I really must be a slow mover - at least in some areas. I’ve been thinking about hosting an afternoon tea in honor of my mother for several years now. This year, I’m actually going to do it.
I am so excited about it. It will be held on Mother’s Day and the guests will include our local family.
Following the English example, this tea will include both male and female guests. We often think of matrons with floral dresses and large hats sipping tea, but teas were originally for everyone.
Before I go further, let me say that a tea need not be elaborate. Tea and cookies or tea and scones is enough. But I’ve decided on quite a bit more for this tea.
It will be a full tea and an afternoon tea, but not a high tea. I’m setting it at 5:00, about as late as you want to schedule an afternoon tea. Since there are other mothers on my guest list, I want to give them as much time as possible for their other Mother’s Day activities.
If this were a high tea, the menu would resemble a full meal much more.
Since it is a full tea, we will be having three courses: scones, tea sandwiches, and sweets.
I’ve decided to make apricot scones and I will serve them with homemade lemon curd, raspberry jam, and clotted cream.
Clotted cream is not available in my town, or even in the next town. But I do know a place in Winston-Salem, the closest city, where I can get it at a gourmet market.
I’ll probably be trying out my lemon curd recipes between now and then. The last time I made it, it was a little too tart for my taste. Once I’ve settled on the best one, I’ll post the recipe either here, in my newsletter, or on my website.
The next course will be tea sandwiches. I’ve decided on turkey with cranberry mustard and my favorite tea sandwiches. These tea sandwiches are cream cheese-based, a popular choice.
I first made these sandwiches in 1979. Since it wasn’t a tea, I made the sandwiches a little bit bigger than finger size. In fact, I used two different colors of bread (pumpernickel and rye, if I recall correctly) and made an alternating design.
First I froze the bread. Then I used a sturdy, sharp cookie cutter to cut the bread into decorative rounds. Using a smaller cookie cutter, I cut out a design in the middle of half of the slices. I believe it was a simple flower shape. I popped out the centers and switched them. Then I assembled the sandwiches using a solid bottom and a decorative top.
The filling is simple to make, but will get a lot of attention from your guests. It’s really good.
Favorite Tea Sandwich Filling Recipe
2 3-oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
1 oz. bleu cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 tsp. minced dried onion flakes
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
Mix all ingredients well. Place in the refrigerator for several hours to blend flavors. Bring to room temperature before filling sandwiches. Lightly spread bread with a thin coat of butter before filling.
Makes about 1 1/2 cups of filling.
I’ll be able to make those sandwiches a day ahead of time, carefully wrap them airtight, and store them in the refrigerator until about 1/2 hour before serving time.
We’ll talk about the sweets, tea, flowers, invitations, and music another day.
Laurie
Tags: afternoon tea, entertaining, Mother's Day