I love high tea or afternoon tea.  My aunt usually takes my cousin and I for tea at The Empress every Christmas. I had some high tea ideas of my own, so when my cousin’s sister came out to visit this week, I invited them both, plus my aunt to high tea, hosted by myself and my mother in law. This is very much NOT a meal in a hurry…I prepared this well in advance, except for the crab and shrimp boats and the pork pasties…which were made by myself and my mother in law and cooked off just before serving. All the baking was spaced out over several evenings, and I made the sandwiches the night before.
The menu consisted of:
- hot pork pasties with chutney
- hot crab and shrimp boats
- carrot and ginger sandwiches
- egg salad sandwiches with cream cheese
- cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches
- curried chicken and cashew sandwiches
- salmon lox and cream cheese pinwheel sandwiches
- chocolate rounds with white chocolate and blueberries
- apricot and white chocolate scones with whipped cream and blackberry or peach jam
- lemon pecan shortbread
- brownies with violet glaze
- orange date cake
- cherry cheesecake brownies
- penuchi fudge
- banana bread with caramel icing
- watermelon cubes
- green grapes
- special blend tea (darjeeling and assam)
- pear cinnamon tea
I overdid the food a little. We are all getting older and cannot eat so much these days, but I gave everyone a care package to take home.
The sandwiches:
For 5 people, I made 2 of each type of sandwich. Each sandwich yielded about 8 finger sandwiches, except for the egg salad, which I made using a smaller loaf of bread.
Carrot and Ginger- 1 cup finely grated carrot, 1 tablespoon grated ginger, 1/4 cup cream cheese, 1 tablespoon mayonnaise, salt and pepper
Egg salad- 2 hardboiled eggs, diced with 1 large green onion chopped (or 2 tablespoons chopped chives), 1 teaspoon curry powder, 1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise, salt and pepper
Curried chicken and cashew: 1 cup diced cooked chicken, 1/4 cup chopped cashews, 1 stalk celery, finely diced, 1 teaspoon curry powder, 1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise, salt and pepper
Cream cheese and cucumber- blot excess moisture from cucumber, spread bread with a mixture of cream cheese and a tiny dab or horseradish, cover with cucumber slices
Salmon lox and cream cheese: spread cream cheese on flatbread. I used an Italian herb flatbread that comes in rectangles(useful). Layer the lox at one side, and roll up.