The day before I left to NYC we decided to put together a last minute tea party. Since I am still new to tea, I figured this would be a great opportunity to maybe try some new ones. And to bake some scones! Delia style. I replicated a lemon honey ginger tea I tried at a local coffee shop and served it. A friend, Sara, brought some delicious apple tea and lemon salt that went really nicely with it. I wish I had some cute tea cups to serve them in but unfortunately I am still working on that collection. But we did manage to get a cute tea kettle at a vintage sale the morning of the party.
I love making macarons. Don’t know why, maybe it’s because like when baking bread you really have to be patient and if you succeed the reward is so damn pretty. I made two types of macarons: a chocolate ganache and a pink lemonade (had a lemon buttercream filling). I made the pink lemonade in two colors: rosey pink and hot pink.
I’ve been obsessed with cake stands and managed to buy a few on sale during the Christmas sales.
To balance all the sweets we were serving we put out cheese and crackers. I’m not a huge fan of cucumber sandwiches so they might not ever make an appearance at future tea parties. Maybe I’ll make another type of finger sandwich next time.
Can’t serve tea without sugar, honey and some extra citrus fruits for those who like some extra tang in their tea (me!!!)
Who knew making scones was so easy? These came out delicious and we served them with the mandatory Devon clotted cream and strawberry jam.
I never remember to buy flowers for a table. Ever. And another one of my hostessing fails is that I always forget to serve coffee at the end of a meal. I know, not cool. Anyhow, thankfully my friend Thomas added some spring to the table with these beauties. Thanks Thomas!
For the next tea party I would love to make people come dressed up as a character from Alice and Wonderland. Too much?
1. If you’re concerned that the Alice theme would be too much, perhaps you could scale it back to “wear one piece of clothing, one color, or one accessory to symbolize your favorite Alice character.” Simpler, and yet more challenging!
2. Special request: could you share all your recipes?! I want to replicate your tea party!!
I like that idea! I might have to borrow it.
Here are the recipes I used:
I used this recipe for pink lemonades, adding red coloring to the batter after the eggs have been folded into the almond flour: http://goo.gl/rRrne
Lemon Buttercream filling: http://goo.gl/baSac
Chocolate Ganache Macarons: http://goo.gl/ZhiPn
Scones: http://goo.gl/K3hAn
For the Lemon Honey Ginger tea: per cup, squeeze a slice of lemon, a slice or two of orange and 2 thin slices of ginger. Throw in boiling water and add honey according to taste.
Enjoy!
Lovely party and I’m drooling over the tea kettle.
I am going to resist the urge to start collecting them. There are so many pretty kettles out there. *sigh*
the dress up idea is genius!
What a cute spread! I’ve always loved the way macaroons looked and have been wanting to make them … hopefully I will be motivated now after seeing how pretty yours turned out
Confession: I’ve never even had a macaroon before.
You MUST fix that problem stat! Have you come across the Tartelette blog? She is kind of a macaron master. She has a tutorial in her blog and posts the most beautiful food pics I have ever seen. Check her out: http://goo.gl/HL1Mj. And definitely give macarons a go. They are fun to make!
Oh my sweet goodness, her food photography is fantastic! I will most definitely try making them. Thanks for sharing the link to her blog … now I just need to decide what kind to make first.