You have set a beautiful table for your Ladies Tea and you want to serve food that is beautiful to look at too. Beautiful doesn't have to be difficult. These recipes are quick and EASY to make but are delicious and look wonderful!
Menu
Scones with Raspberry Jam and Clotted Cream
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Cucumber Sandwiches
Bacon and Broccoli Quiche
Coconut Macaroons
Petit Fours
Cream Wafer Cookies
Chocolate Dipped Apricots
You can prepare the desserts, the raspberry jam and the clotted cream the day before your Tea. Make the scones, sandwiches, and quiche the day of the Tea. Have fun preparing all of these delicious recipes and arranging them on beautiful plates. Enjoy your Tea!
Scones with Raspberry Jam and Clotted Cream
Scones
These are quick and easy! No mixer; not even a rolling pin. Short bake time. Just mix with a fork, shape dough with your hands, cut out and bake! This recipe makes 10-12 scones.
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut up
1/4 cup granulated sugar (use 1/3 cup for slightly sweeter scones)
2/3 cup milk
Heat oven to 425 F.
Pour flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl; stir to mix well. Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine granules. Seriously, just pick up the mixture in your clean hands and rub it between your fingers to cut in the butter. (You could try doing this with a food processor; I haven't tried that.)
Add sugar; toss to mix.
Add milk and stir with a fork until dough forms.
Form dough into a ball, pressing together with your hands.
Shape the dough into a circle 1/2 inch thick.
Use a round cookie cutter to cut into 2 inch circles.
Place pieces on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
Bake about 12 minutes or until slightly brown on top.
Raspberry Jam
Easy, easy easy! And so good!
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed
1 cup sugar
Heat and stir raspberries in a saucepan to bring to boil.
Add sugar; heat and stir to return to hard boil
Boil two minutes.
Pour jam into a bowl and let cool. Store in refrigerator.
(If the jam does not set to the thickness you want, you can pour it back into the saucepan, sprinkle some Sure-Jell into the jam, bring to boil for 2 minutes.)
Clotted Cream
This is a short-cut, easy way to make clotted cream to serve with your scones.
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar
Use a whisk attachment on a mixer to whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
Remove from mixer and hand whisk in the sour cream and confectioners sugar until just combined.
Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Guests may slice the scone in half and top with clotted cream and raspberry jam.
Tea Sandwiches
Tea sandwiches are small sandwiches made by removing the crusts of bread and cutting the sandwiches into rectangles, triangles or squares. For an even more decorative touch, use a cookie cutter to cut the sandwiches into shapes.
Select two or three types of sandwiches and use different types of bread: white, wheat, marble.
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Here's a quick and easy recipe for tasty chicken salad sandwiches!
1 (13-oz) can white chicken meat
1 (13-oz) can white chicken meat
8 slices of bread
butter, softened
2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise (or more for desired consistency)
2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise (or more for desired consistency)
1-2 stalks celery finely chopped
salt and pepper as desired
Drain chicken and place in medium sized mixing bowl.
Shred up chicken. Salt and pepper as desired, stir.
Add chopped
celery and mayonnaise, stir.
Salt and pepper again if desired.
Cut the crust off of the bread.
Spread a thin layer of butter on the insides of the bread. (This helps to keep the bread from getting soggy.)
Spread chicken mixture on one piece of bread. Top with a second piece of buttered bread. Cut the sandwich in half (triangles or rectangles.)
Yields 8 whole sandwiches (16 tea sandwiches)
Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Cucumber Sandwiches
Cream cheese, softened
Cucumber
Fresh dill weed
Partially peel the cucumber by dragging the peeler lengthwise to make stripes.
Cut the cucumber into thick slices.
Use a cookie cutter to cut bread into shapes.
Spread the softened cream cheese onto the bread.
Top with a slice of cucumber and a sprig of fresh dill weed.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Quiche
Broccoli and Bacon Quiche
This is the easy way to make a delicious quiche -- no pie crust required! This recipe serves 8.
2 cups milk
4 eggs
3/4 cup biscuit baking mix
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 (10 oz) package chopped frozen broccoli, thawed and drained. (You can use a 10 oz. package of chopped spinach if you prefer.)
16 oz. bacon cooked until crisp and broken into pieces
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat over to 375 F. Lightly grease a 10-inch quiche dish.
In a large bowl, beat together milk, eggs, baking mix, butter and parmesan cheese. Batter will be lumpy. Sir in broccoli, bacon and cheddar cheese. Pour into prepared quiche dish.
Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes until eggs are set and top is golden brown.
Slice in wedges to serve.
Desserts
Coconut Macaroons
14 oz. sweetened flake coconut
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Maraschino cherries, quartered
Preheat oven to 325 F.
Combine cocount, condensed milk and vanilla in a large bowl.
Using the whisk attachment on an electric mixer, mix the egg whites and salt on high speed until stiff peaks form.
Carefully fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.
Drop rounded teaspoons of the batter onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
Press a quarter of a maraschino cherry into each cookie.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Remove immediately to wire racks to cool.
Yield: 20 cookies.
Petit Fours
1 boxed pound cake
2 pounds confectioners' sugar
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons orange extract (or almond or vanilla)
Food coloring
Bake Pound Cake according to box directions. Remove from pan and cool completely.
Thinly slice the crust off the edges.
Cut the caked into 1 1/4 inch squares.
Place the squares 1/2 inch apart on wire racks over wax paper.
In a large bowl, combine glaze ingredients. Beat on low speed just until blended; beat on high until smooth. Divide the glaze into two or three smaller bowls and add food coloring of choice to make pastel colored glazes.
Drizzle glaze evenly over tops and sides of cake squares, allowing excess to drip off. Let dry. Repeat if necessary to thoroughly coat squares. Let dry completely.
Cream Wafer Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Sugar
FILLING:
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons heavy whipping cream
Food coloring
Preheat oven to 375 F. In a small bowl, beat the butter, flour and cream. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with a floured 1 1/4-in. round cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle with sugar. Prick each cookie 3-4 times with a fork.
Bake for 7-9 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool.
In a small bowl, combine the butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and enough cream to achieve desired consistency. Divide icing into smaller bowls and tint with food coloring. Carefully spread filling on bottom of half of the cookies; top with remaining cookies. Yield: 2 dozen sandwich cookies.
Chocolate Dipped Apricots
1 package dried apricots
1 (6 oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. (You can set a smaller saucepan in a larger one with water int he bottom one.)
Dip the apricots into the melted chocolate to cover half of the apricots. Set them on wax paper until the chocolate is cool and firm.
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