Sarah's Teahouse

Recipes for your Tea

Tea foods are little bursts of flavors and small serving sizes mean you can try everything. Finger foods afford one the opportunity to take a petite bite and easily maintain a conversation. This is important as one is not merely taking tea to gain nourishment or satisfy hunger, but to take time to relax, converse and enjoy the company of dear friends. Remember, good tea food is traditional with a little twist. When using a 3 tier platter the savories go on the bottom, the scones go in the middle and the sweets go on top.

Tea Sandwiches:
What really distinquishes tea sandwiches is the fact that the crusts are always cut from the bread and the ingredients and shapes are carefully orchestrated for beautiful presentation. You can make tea sandwiches a day ahead and keep them fresh by first covering them with a barely damp kitchen towel, then with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until about an hour before tea time.

Chicken Salad Tea Sandwiches

    4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, boiled and separated
    ½ cup mayonnaise
    2 tablespoons mustard
    ½ cup finely chopped celery
    Salt and pepper to taste
Combine ingredients in a bowl. Spread thinly on sliced bread. Trim crusts and cut into rectangles or triangles.

Cucumber and Lemon Tea Sandwiches

    thinly sliced cucumbers
    lemon juice
    butter
Spread butter thinly on bread. Lay cucumber slices on bread. Squeeze juice of lemon over cucumber slices. Trim crusts and cut into desired shapes.

Quiches:

Quiche Lorraine

    1 9 in. unbaked pastry shell
    3 beaten eggs 6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled 1 ½ c. milk ¼ tsp. salt 1 ½ c. shredded cheese 1 Tbsp. flour
Line the un-pricked pastry shell with foil. Bake at 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes more or until pastry is nearly done. Remove from the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Meanwhile, in a bowl stir together eggs, bacon, milk, and salt. Toss together shredded cheese and flour. Add to egg mixture and mix well. Pour egg mixture into hot pastry shell. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. If necessary, cover edge of crust with foil to prevent over browning. Let stand 10 minutes.

Scones:

Basic scones

    2 cups flour
    1 tablespoon baking powder
    2 tablespoons sugar
    ½ teaspoon salt
    6 tablespoons butter
    ½ cup buttermilk
    Lightly beaten egg
Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles course cornmeal. Make a well in the center and pour in buttermilk. If you don't have buttermilk, use regular milk. Mix until dough clings together and is a bit sticky-do not overmix. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and shape into a 6-8 inch round about 1 ½ inches thick. Cut into pie wedges. The secret to tender scones is a minimum of handling. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, being sure the sides of scones don't touch each other. Brush with egg for a shiny, beautiful brown scone. Bake at 425 for 10-20 minutes, or until light brown.

To add variety to this scone mixture add chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, pecans, dried cranberries or apricots.

Sweets:

Shortbread

    1 cup butter
    ½ cup sugar
    1¾ cups flour

Cream butter and sugar until very soft and fluffy. Add flour until mixed well. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead dough. Roll out. Cut with floured cookie cutters into desired shapes. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Watch closely and do not let it get brown or the flavor will be ruined.

Devonshire Cream

    ½ cup heavy whipping cream
    2 tablespoons powdered sugar
    ½ cup sour cream

Using a chilled bowl, beat cream until medium-stiff peaks form. Add the sugar in the last few minutes of beating. Fold in sour cream and blend. Makes 1 ½ cups.

 

 

Do you have a question about tea? E-mail Sarah at SarahMero@comcast.net

 

This site designed and maintained by Bryan Mero. Copyright 2006.

Overstock.com, Inc.