A Simple, Make-It-Yourself Afternoon Tea
When we invite someone over for afternoon tea in Albuquerque, it is a time set apart especially for them. We honor and elevate our guest by this gesture, whether it be the little girl next door, our best friend, our husband, or the elderly person who never gets invited anywhere. It is a special, pleasant time for you to be together.
But isn’t afternoon tea too complicated and time consuming? It doesn’t have to be. Below are some tips that will help you create a simple, but lovely afternoon teatime for you and your guest.
All you need is a pot of tea, a few dishes, and some typical afternoon tea foods. These will include tea sandwiches, scones, and a sweet.
Tea Sandwiches – Tea sandwiches, especially cucumber tea sandwiches, are iconic. And they are extremely simple to make! All you need for a great tea sandwich are: thinly-sliced cucumbers (hothouse or English are the best), high-quality sliced bread, and quality butter (like Plugra or Kerrygold), which can be flavored with any number of delicious flavors (such as herbs, lemon peel, or finely-chopped mint). You can add thinly-sliced radishes or even strawberries if you like, if you want to add a crunch or add some more sweetness.
Tea sandwiches are always small, so be sure to cut the crusts off and cut them into triangles or finger-food shapes. Tea foods are beautiful, dainty, and delicious. If you want to make the tea sandwiches ahead of time, they will save very well refrigerated in an airtight container, with a slightly damp paper towel on top of them to keep them moist.
Scones – There is also something unforgettable about a warm, flaky scone, each half slathered with butter and jam. A real scone is rolled and cut with a round biscuit cutter, never plopped down in a lump! A lump scone will never separate beautifully in half, nor will it flake like a real scone. So please, do your guest the honor of giving them the real thing. Here are some tips to help you make a successful scone recipe.
- Make sure the butter you use is cold. As you cut it into the flour mixture, you will want small pea-sized pieces of cold butter incorporated. This is what makes the scone flaky.
- Just get the dough to stick together, use a little flour so it will be easy to roll out, and don’t handle it too much. If you do, you will replace a tender, tear-apart, scrumptious center with a tough one.
- I always heat the baking sheet in the oven as it’s pre-heating, so the dough immediately starts to puff and rise.
- Make a batch of scones and freeze the unbaked scones you will not be needing for your tea. It is so nice to have unbaked scones put aside in the freezer. You can bake scones straight from the freezer any time. Make one batch of scones and have someone over for tea six times!
Click on the following link for our Recipe Blogs, and click on the Scone Recipes filter for a number of great recipes!
https://stjamestearoom.com/blog-standard/
Sweets – As for a sweet to end your tea meal with, it can be as simple and beautiful as a champagne glass filled with berries and whipped cream, a lovely pastry purchased from your local bakery, or homemade cookies. You could even coat some grapes in frothed egg whites, roll them in sugar, and spear three at a time for a healthy sweet treat (that is even better frozen, so you can prepare ahead of time!)
The most important thing to remember is that this is a special, set-apart time for you and your guest to be together, to enjoy each other’s company. Afternoon tea in Albuquerque is a most delightful way to build into the lives of others, encourage them, and help them know they are valued.
Yours for the return of Grace, Civility, Beauty, Gentility, and Excellence,
Mary Alice
