A Classic British Afternoon Tea

All the foods and beverages on our classic tea menu should be recognizable to the over 25% of Americans with British ancestry as well as expat Brits around the globe. Iconic finger sandwiches, scones, clotted cream, little tarts and buttery cookies are all on the blue print. What is not found are any foods which are messy,,strongly spiced, non-British, and/or trendy. This is the time to polish the silver, dust off the best china, and iron the snowy tea cloths. When in doubt as to what to serve, use this menu. For Queen and Country: Keep Calm and Carry On!

Menu

Beverages:
English Breakfast or Earl Grey Tea, served hot with sugar, lemon OR milk (never both) with milk poured into the cup first (why? who knows)
Sherry

Savories:
Stilton with Wheat Meal Biscuits and Branson Pickle Relish
Tea Sandwiches: 
          Classic Cucumber Sandwiches on buttered, thinly-sliced white bread, 
          Egg Salad on buttered brown bread, 
          Tomato on buttered bread (either brown or white)

Breads and Scones:
Cream Scones with Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam

Sweets:
Shortbread Cookies
Almond Tea Cakes
Bakewell Tart 
Victoria Sponge with Lemon Curd
Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Recipes Included:

Classic Cucumber Sandwiches
Cucumber Sandwiches have been a staple of Afternoon Tea in England for generations. Their charm lies in their simplicity. Fresh cucumbers, newly picked from the garden, are thinly sliced, lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper, and placed between buttered slices of freshly baked white bread. Classic Cucumber Sandwiches are a true example of the old adage, “Less is more.”

Egg Salad Sandwiches
Egg Salad Sandwiches are appropriate in all four seasons. They are tasty and easy to make. Start by boiling 6 eggs for 10 minutes, rinsing them in cold water and chilling them in cold water with a few ice cubes added for at least half an hour. This process will make peeling them a little easier. Peel the eggs and roughly chop them into a medium sized bowl. Add mayonnaise to taste; start with about half a cup or less. Add about a tablespoon of prepared yellow mustard. Stir this mixture and sprinkle it liberally with salt and freshly ground pepper. Adjust the ingredients to your liking, and your Egg Salad Sandwich Filling is ready to go. Refrigerate it until just before you make the sandwiches. We feature this simple classic on our British Afternoon Tea menu.

Best Summer Tomato Sandwiches
The British prefer small sandwiches that include only one or two ingredients, and they love their summer vegetables. We agree that sliced tomatoes, fresh from the garden and never refrigerated, offer a pure and intense taste that evokes memories of childhood and seasons past. Honor your ripe tomatoes with the freshest bread you can find.
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Cream Scones
We are grateful to the British for inventing, these warm little biscuit-like treats that belong at every Afternoon Tea party. There are many recipes for Scones, but this classic version contains both butter and cream to create the perfect texture for serving with Mock Devonshire Cream and Strawberry Jam.

Mock Devonshire Cream
For our Classic British Afternoon Tea, we want to come as close as possible to serving authentic Devonshire Clotted Cream with our Cream Scones and Strawberry Jam. Our Mock Devonshire Cream is a thick, spreadable combination of sour cream, whipped cream, powdered sugar and a touch of vanilla. We don’t think you will get any complaints from your British friends.

Shortbread Cookies
Shortbread cookies are one of Scotland’s greatest gifts to the world. (You will forgive us for suggesting that Shortbread is even more important than golf!) This most elemental of desserts is composed of only three ingredients—flour butter and sugar. Shortbread, which has been a Scottish staple since at least the 1200s, reflects the hardy culture of the highlands. This ancient culture manages to thrive in a climate and terrain that provide only the most rudimentary resources for survival. The Scots have been nurtured by healthy and wholesome oatmeal for centuries and have clothed themselves in the exquisitely patterned tartan plaid wool provided by their own intrepid sheep. These very sheep also add meat and cheese to the very basic Scottish diet, which as we know, has also been fortified by Scotch whiskey, a tonic against the cold weather. Today, Walker’s Shortbread, popular throughout the British Isles, is also Scotland’s largest export to the rest of the world.

Let us begin with the name of this delightful little cookie. The word “short” does not refer to the height of the cookie but to the fact that it is full of shortening, in this case a high percentage of butter. The high butterfat content gives these cookies a very appealing crunchy texture. The word “bread” harkens back to a time when “bread” referred to any baked item that contained flour. These hearty little confections keep for long periods of time and can be carried along on journeys and mailed to friends as very welcome gifts. They require no refrigeration. They can also be made with no modern equipment other than an oven, though you can make yours with a food processor.

Shortbread can be made in many shapes, from rectangular “fingers” to squares to fan shaped wedges known as “petticoat tails.” You can even buy shortbread molds that will produce decorative patterns on the cookies when they are removed from the pan. Some recipes add small amounts of salt or vanilla, and there are any number of chocolate, ginger, lemon or other flavored shortbread recipes. Our recipe creates the original three-ingredient basic shortbread cookie. You can sprinkle plain or colored sugars on the dough before baking, but shortbread really needs no decoration.

Almond Tea Cakes
The classic British Afternoon Tea offers a variety of finger foods, which the guests can enjoy in small servings, thus providing a wide array of treats to sample. These little square Almond Tea Cakes, similar to French Petites Fours, but much easier to make, are consumed in a single delicate bite. After experiencing the charming almond flavor of these tiny cakes, the guest can still appreciate a small shortbread cookie, a little slice of Bakewell Tart and perhaps a small serving of Victoria Sponge and Chocolate Biscuit Cake.

Bakewell Tart
Very appropriately, this delectable pastry was developed in the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire, England. It combines a buttery crust similar to shortbread with a layer of jam and a ground almond topping called frangipane. Frangipane itself is an ancient food of Italian origin. The word frangipane means “break the bread” in Italian. Frangipane is similar to marzipan, a sweetened almond and butter confection popular throughout Europe. The French became especially fond of frangipane, which is a featured ingredient in many French pastries, including Petites Fours, Jesuit and King Cake, traditionally served on the Feast of Epiphany.

In England, pastry shops and tearooms sell Bakewell Tarts as small individual tartlets, but a Bakewell Tart can also be made as a single large tart sliced and served in small wedges. Our recipe is the latter, featuring cherry preserves and a puffy frangipane topping. While this dessert may seem exotic and difficult, it is in fact very easy to make, as the pastry crust, the ground almonds and the frangipane topping can all be prepared in a food processor without even cleaning the bowl between the steps. The pastry crust dough needs to chill for at least 1 hour before you roll it out, so you might want to make one of the other items on this menu, such as the Chocolate Biscuit Cake, while the dough is chilling. We think your guests will fall in love with your gorgeous and surprising Bakewell Tart.

Victoria Sponge with Lemon Curd
This famous British dessert is so called because it was apparently Queen Victoria’s favorite teatime cake. It is a golden sponge cake that can be served plain or as a two layer cake sandwiched together with lemon curd, jam or berries and whipped cream. It is therefore good in all four seasons, and the tea party host can choose to enhance the sponge cake with the season’s best produce such as strawberries in the summer or spiced apple butter in the autumn. Since the Bakewell Tart that you will also be serving at your British Afternoon Tea contains cherry preserves or raspberry jam, we suggest filling your Victoria Sponge with lemon curd for visual contrast and ease of preparation.

Our recipe for Victoria Sponge is an adaptation of an authentic Victorian version from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, first published in England in 1861. The author, Isabella Mary Beeton, is justly famous as one of the first compilers of familiar recipes and general advice on managing a well-run home.

Lemon Curd
Lemon Curd, another British creation, is a sweet and tart condiment that resembles both custard and marmalade. You will need fresh lemon juice, eggs, sugar and butter to make this classic spread from scratch. Your homemade Lemon Curd will serve as the filling for the lovely, light Victoria Sponge Cake that you will present, along with the other sweets, hopefully on your best cake stand, at your British Afternoon Tea. Lemon Curd is also a versatile filling for cookies, tarts, any kind of layer cake, and of course it is traditionally served at Afternoon Tea with Scones.

Chocolate Biscuit Cake
This easiest of all desserts is a relative newcomer in the panoply of British sweets. Prince William made his childhood favorite famous when he chose Chocolate Biscuit Cake as his Groom’s Cake when he married Catherine Middleton. This no-bake “cake” is really just a combination of melted chocolate and broken cookies mixed together, poured into a pan and refrigerated. The only tricky thing about this recipe is the fact that the word “biscuit” in England refers to a “cookie” in America. We offer an Irish version of this recipe, which calls for “digestive biscuits,” slightly sweetened cracker-like cookies that are also very good with cheese. Digestive biscuits can be found in British import shops and the “foreign foods” section of many grocery stores.

There are many versions of Chocolate Biscuit Cake, some containing golden syrup, whipping cream, raisins, nuts or candied fruits. This very basic version, adapted from edible-ireland.com, features espresso powder to deepen the flavor of the dark chocolate and sweetened condensed milk to create a creamy texture. If you cannot find digestive biscuits, you can substitute any kind of plain commercial butter cookies such as Lu’s Le Petit Beurre, or Pepperidge Farms Chessmen, which we used with fantastic results. Look carefully at the package, as you will need 7-9 ounces of cookies. We recommend making the Biscuit Cake in an 8” square pan and serving it in very thin slices, as it is extremely rich and fudge-like, but you can also make it in a 9” cake pan and serve it in thin wedges.

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THE TEA BOOK
The Road Back to Civilization
A Brief History of Tea
  Philosophy of Tea
     Harmony
     Humility
     Respect
     Creativity

Guidelines for the Host/Hostess

  Gathering and Greeting
  Sharing Stories
  Sharing Food
  Sending the Guests Home

Guidelines for the Guest

  Respect your Hostess/Host
  Bring a Gift if You Wish
  Practice Humility
  Monitor Your Conversation
  Arrive With a Grateful Attitude
  Help if Help is Needed
  Do Not Criticize
  Leave Gracefully
  Send a Thank you Note

A Checklist for Planning a Tea Party
Teas of the World and How to Make Tea

  A Sampling of Teas
  Herbal Teas and Tisanes
  How to Make Tea
  Making Iced Tea
  Tea Concentrate
  Brewing Tea for a Crowd

Tea Utensils and Accessories

  Tea Kettle
  Tea Pot
  Tea Cozy
  Teacups
  Plates
  Silverware
  Teacart
  Tea Strainer
  Tea Infuser
  Three-Tiered Server
  Cream Pitcher and Sugar   Bowl
  Cake Pedestal
  Trifle Bowl
  Jam Pots
  Serving Dishes, Platters, and Trays
  Silver Tea Set or Silver Tray
  Linens
  Kitchen Equipment for Food Preparation

Tea Menu Basics

  Sandwiches and Savories
  Savory Spreads and Dips
  Scones and Tea Breads

About Lemons

  Afternoon Tea and the Four Seasons

     A Spring Tea
     An Outdoor Summer Tea
     A Winter Afternoon Tea
     An Autumn Afternoon Tea

A Calendar of Tea Parties

  January:A Japanese New Year’s Tea
  February:Valentine’s Day Tea
  March:A St. Patrick’s Day Irish Tea
  April:An Easter Tea
  May:Mother’s day Tea
  June:A Wedding Reception Tea

Lemon Yogurt Wedding Cake

  July:A Picnic Tea
  AUGUST:A FAMILY REUNION TEA

A North American Family Reunion Tea
  An Eastern Mediterranean Family Reunion Tea
  A Kosher Family Reunion Tea
  A Scandinavian Family Reunion Tea

  September:An Ozark Farm Harvest Tea
  October:A Tea to Honor   Our Ancestors(Dia de los Muertos)
  November:A Post Thanksgiving Tea
  December: A Christmas Tea

  In Defense of Fruitcake:Fruitcakes and Candied Fruit

A World of Tea Parties

  A Chinese Dim Sum Tea
  A Portuguese Tea
  A Classic British Afternoon Tea
  An Indian Chai Party
  A California Tea
  A Hawaiian Tea
  An Italian Tea
  An American Southern Tea
  A Russian Tea
  A French Afternoon Tea
  A Kosher Teawith  Traditional Jewish Foods

Afternoon Tea for Special Occasions

  An Afternoon Tea for  Children
  A Tea for Our Elders
  A Honey Bee Tea in the Garden
  An Urban Tea on the Go
  Tea for One
  Afternoon Tea For a Large Group
  A Vegan Tea
  A Rose Tea