AFTERNOON TEA PARTIES

Recently i had read a book title Afternoon tea parties by Susannah Blate. A very lovely book on afternoon tea menus. The author has created 20 different tea party menus, with their own distinctive character and charm. The recipes are easy to follow with great pictures as illustration. It really makes me want to organise a tea party for my family and friends.

What is your dream tea party? Is it a tea party in the greenery gardern on a sunny afternoon, a birthday party for the children or adults, a romantic tea for 2 person, wedding tea party or even a lovely tea party by the beach. What is your ideal tea party food? Scones, finger sandwiches, cupcakes, cakes, butter biscuit and yes not forgetting quality tea to indulge in. You can experiment a lot of recipe for tea parties.

I had tried out making the fruity tea punch and ’strongman’ tuna sweetcorn and spinach sandwiches by using the above book recipes. The steps are clear and easy to follow making them too. Great food for afternoon snacks too.

Fruity Tea Punch

Fruity Tea Punch

Make 8 small glasses

2 fruit tea bags of your choice

2.5 tablespoons caster sugarsWhat

600ml fresh orange juice ( i bought marigold peel fresh orange juice w/0 sugar)

225g strawberries, washed , hulled and thinly sliced

Put the tea bags in a heatproof jug or bowl over 600ml of boiling water. Leave to infuse for 5 minutes, then remove tea bags and stir in the sugar. Leave to cool. When cool, stir in the orange juic and chill until ready to serve. To serve add the strawberry slices and pour or ladle into cups or glasses. 

For the fruity tea punch, i do not add any sugar to the tea as the orange juice will be quite sweet. The taste is great and refreshing except the orange juice taste is too strong. I will reduce the vol of orange juice to 500ml in future so that the flavour of the tea will not be mask. But overall a greast caffeine free fruit infusion drinks that goes well with the strawberries.

I had used the sunshine brand wholemeal garlic bread instead of the wholegrain bread but it taste as wondeful too. The combination of garlic spread with the tuna and corn. Yummy!

‘Strongman’ tuna sweetcorn and spinach sandwiches

185g tin tuna in brine or oil well drained

2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise

4 tablespoons tinned sweetcorn kernels (optional)

butter for spreading at room temperature

6 slices wholegrain bread

a handful of baby spinach leaves

freshly ground black pepper

Our Afternoon tea snacks

Put the tuna in a bowl and break it up into flakes using a fork. Add the mayonnaise and mix to combine. Add the sweetcorn, if using and season to taste with a little pepper. Butter the slices of bread, then divide the tuna and sweetcorn mixture between three of slices and spread it evenly over the top. Top each slice with baby spinach leaves and follow with a second slices of bread. Press down gently.

Click here to get the book from amazon 

Afternoon Tea Parties