As far as daytime food gatherings go, tea parties are by far our favorite. There are mini tea sandwiches to nibble on, bottomless cups of perfectly steeped tea, plus flaky, buttery bites and desserts as far as the eye can see.
Most of the dishes ubiquitous to tea parties are smaller bite-size treats but make no mistake: they are just, if not more, satisfying. If you’re planning an afternoon tea, you’ll need a few essentials — including these party-perfect recipes. Each one deserves a spot on your table but quite frankly, it just wouldn’t be a tea party without at least one type of finger sandwich.
That’s why we’re starting with these delicate bites.
With fresh cucumber, radishes and herbs tucked into soft, brioche bread, they’re perfect as a standalone nibble or a palate cleanser in between different bites.
Kashmiri Kahwa
Kahwa, which originates in Kashmir, is a supremely aromatic and delicate green tea flavored with spices, such as cardamom, saffron and cinnamon, and served with almonds. Traditionally, it is prepared in an ornate tea kettle called a samovar. Kashmir is known for its fragrant rose gardens, and some homes add dried rose petals to their kahwa, as I do in this recipe. This delectable tea is bound to fill up your senses and warm your soul.
Glazed Almond Mini Cakes
Many pilgrimages to bakeries across Austria inspired Molly Yeh to dream up these pastel purple cakelets, scented with almonds rather than a rum soak as is traditional in petits fours. Eye candy, sweet and nutty to the tongue, they are the snackable pastry bound to stun at a tea party. Don’t expect to have leftovers.
Fennel and Orange Scones
There’s many things to love about scones, but most of all is their flexibility. You can dial back on the sugar to make room for savory fillings or that sweet potential can be explored, especially if incorporated with orange zest and dotted with strawberry jam.
Southern Tea Sandwiches
Kardea gives two different types of tea sandwiches a flavorful twist. She makes a homemade onion cream cheese to pair with smoked salmon and cucumber for one — and a bacon-studded egg salad for the other.
Special Tea Party-Inspired Brew
Because you can’t have a tea party without tea! This special tea blend, infused with fresh herbs and spices, is a step-up from bagged sachets from the grocery store — but comes together as effortlessly as boiling water.
Lemon Drizzle Cake
Tender lemon cake is elevated by sweet lemon cream cheese glaze. By creaming together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, you not only promote leavening (i.e. help cakes rise up) but guarantee that the final baked treat will have a light texture with the smallest, delicate crumb.
Spring Pastel Eclairs
Pastels for spring? Yes please. We dress up eclairs with bright, colorful glazes that are tinted naturally with a variety of fruit juices.
Ham and Cheese Scone Sandwiches
Scone turned into a sandwich, or sandwich turned into a scone? Either way, these minis are the best of both worlds.
Truffled Deviled Eggs
Anne pulls out all the stops with her deviled eggs, adding chopped black truffle. It’s an expensive ingredient so feel free to skip it — the truffle oil will add enough flavor to make each bite special.
Millionaire Shortbread Cookies
A shortbread from Elizabethan-era Scotland may look like a million bucks (or pound sterling) but the fact of the matter is, they’re the most ho-hum baked good to make. All you have to do is pulse cookie dough, dump, pour with caramel and chocolate, and bake. Naturally, it’s the best treat to have with your cup of tea.
Mint Tea
This soothing mint tea serves as the refreshing balm to your choice of scones, sandwiches, cakes and light bites. Enjoy hot or iced.
Sheet Pan Petit Fours
Petit fours are special-occasion mini fancy cakes that can be eaten in one bite. Bakery shop versions can take hours to construct, but you can make these with our basic sheet pan cake! It is wide enough to punch out multiple rounds using a cookie cutter and thin enough for filling and stacking.
Russian Tea Cakes
Russian tea cakes are cookies masquerading as cake but we haven’t received a single complaint on the matter. Seemingly a baking project, it’s actually rather easy to tackle this recipe in steps, spread across a day or two before the anticipated tea party. For example, you can prep and chill the cookie dough tonight, mix them with nuts and shape into balls tomorrow. Then, on the morning of your big event, bake them off and roll in powdered sugar.
Smoked Trout Canapes with Creme-Fraiche and Herb Sauce
What’s lovely about a tea party is how you can customize the scale of the production to the number of guests you expect to serve. Serving a small party? Make less plates! It’s really that easy. By that logic and with the right recipes, the tea party format can easily be rejiggered into a spread that’s perfectly portioned for two. Anyone who ever said, ‘dates can’t be tea parties’ clearly never made canapes for two!
Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries
If you can dunk your shortbread in tea, then you absolutely can dip strawberries into melted chocolate! They’re a maximalist decadence with a teeny-tiny ingredient list: just grab your best chocolate and a pint of the juiciest, plump strawberries.
Orange Tea with Honey
Easily enhance the citrus flavor of the bergamot in your Earl Grey tea by adding orange blossom water and strips of fresh lemon and orange peel after you steep it.
Masala Chai
Chai means tea and masala means spices, and masala chai is a heavenly concoction of tea cooked with milk and spices. It is the ultimate comfort drink for most Indians, who drink it all day long, summer and winter. Available in chai shops on every street corner, on every highway and at every railway station, it tastes best in an unglazed terracotta cup called a ‘shikora’ or ‘kulhar’ that can be crushed underfoot after drinking–huzzah! The earthy smell and taste of the red clay complements the chai and takes the experience to a whole new level.
Masala chai can be made using a variety of spices, including fresh ginger, cardamom, black pepper, bay leaves, cinnamon and saffron (and loads of sugar of course).It’s wonderful on its own, but is also often enjoyed with sweet Parle-G biscuits or fried savory snacks such as samosas, pakoras and crunchy namkeen or murukku. A couple of rules for good chai: one, make it with black CTC tea (the cheap tea that looks like tiny black pellets) and never use expensive leaf tea, as it will turn bitter while cooking; and two, always use fresh ginger.
Ham and Leek Mini Quiches
Paired with all the other fixings served at a tea party, a big slice of quiche can be a bit much. But bake the eggy filling in mini muffin tins and just like that, it becomes easier to digest. Don’t write off mini quiches merely as tea party fare: you’ll be thankful to have the leftovers for busy mornings on-the-go.
Pineapple Sweet Tea
Depending on what time of the year you’re throwing a tea party, you may want to serve a big pitcher of iced tea. And while nothing is burdensome about ice-ice, using pineapple-ice to chill black tea (or any variety for that matter) instantly teleports your senses to somewhere tropical.
