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Menu suggestions for a tea


greenbean

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My women's group has a mentoring program and one of the events for our young ladies is a tea. I have been asked to come up with a menu and I could use some suggestions. We have 38 girls and a number of the group members will be attending, so we'll probably have around 50 people. I want to offer the girls some things they may not eat regularly, but in flavors they are willing to try.

Here are some of the ideas I've had so far:

Chicken Salad in Pate a Choux Puffs

Mini Quiche:

Palmiers

Tea sandwiches: Cucumber, Salmon Cream Cheese, Pimento Cheese or Egg Salad

Scones

Mini-Biscotti

Petit Fours

Some sort cookie

Fruit

Cream Puffs

Pound Cake

I'm not planning to do all of these, I'm just throwing out ideas at this point. I want items that aren't too complicated, can be made ahead (at least partially) and look appealing. I also need some help on how many items we should offer and how many of each item to make, based on the number of people.

As the parent of a nine year old daughter, I realize that feeding this age group can be a challenge. This exercise is not only about proper behavior and etiquette, but exposure to new things.

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You may find this book helpful: http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Have-Tea-Party-...92392721&sr=8-1 It's a book on Tea Parties for girls and has lots of ideas. You will likely find it in your local library.

Edited by CanadianBakin' (log)

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Orison Swett Marden

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There's a great thread about tea parties somewhere on egullet with lots of ideas.

Lots of sites on the internet with recipes/ideas too.

I like a sandwich made with apricot jam, coconut and butter mixed together.

Scones are a must, a lot of time I use frozen biscuits when pressed for time, they are great with lemon curd or strawberry jam and a dollop of mock devonshire cream ( cream cheese, butter and Cool Whip).

Good luck-

Cheese - milk's leap toward immortality. Clifton Fadiman

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What about "build your own" for the tea sandwiches? You could offer butter, jam, cream cheese, walnuts, lox, thinly sliced dill pickles, cucumber and tomato slices, chopped black olives, chopped chives and scallions, etc. And then there's watercress--just for a sociology experiment. On second thought it's possible this hands-on approach is counterproductive if you are after propriety and etiquette.

An interesting bread alternative is that swirled pumpernickel & white bread (I can't remember what it's called) but it looks fun and fancy and often prompts discussion amongst kids who haven't seen it. (That would be nice w/chicken salad or egg salad--yum!)

My daughter was really into the cream cheese and olive combo, and I think she even tolerated tomato and scallions on it. I've always been surprised by the number of kids who like olives--maybe it's the salt--but haven't put cream cheese and olives together. Good on white bread, excellent on a fresh bagel. I can't look at a can of chopped black olives without thinking about school lunches. Sick as it may be, I always thought that tinny taste of the can was integral to that sandwich. I tried using "real" olives but it never tasted quite right.

Other sandwich ideas: thinly sliced cheddar and apples, cheese and pickles, date-nut bread with cream cheese, chicken salad w/walnuts. Oops--make sure the kids know there are nuts if you use them. Otherwise tea will be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Maybe just go with the olives.

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It depends on how adventurous the girls are, in regards to food.

Either open faced or not: Nutella sandwich on raisin or date bread, with apples, cream cheese, and walnuts. Red onion sandwiches, made on white bread with butter. Mini-caprese sandwiches. Tomato, cream cheese, and pesto sandwiches.

Various different olives, esp. varieties they might not have had before.

Celery cut into bite sizes, filled with cream cheese or unsalted butter with salt sprinkled on the top.

Offer various different breads, with compound butters.

Mini fruit skewers

Apple slices topped with peanut butter

Apple slices topped with cream cheese and brown sugar

Truffles (of the chocolate variety)

Mini-tarts

Lemon bars

What kind of drinks are you planning to offer? Herbal teas, too? What about hot chocolate? (When I was a kid, my family didn't drink regular tea, for religious reasons, but we did herbal tea. Some warmed juices were good, too.)

What's the seating going to be like? Because it's often nice to do tiered tea trays, and share amongst 2-4 people (depending on the size of your trays), and that would allow you to offer a bigger variety, but less of each.

Misa

Sweet Misa

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There's a great thread about tea parties somewhere on egullet with lots of ideas.

Lots of sites on the internet with recipes/ideas too.

I like a sandwich made with apricot jam, coconut and butter mixed together.

Scones are a must, a lot of time I use frozen biscuits when pressed for time, they are great with lemon curd or strawberry jam and a dollop of mock devonshire cream ( cream cheese, butter and Cool Whip).

Good luck-

There's quite a bit of information on this thread about pairing different teas with tasty bits.

Shelley: Would you like some pie?

Gordon: MASSIVE, MASSIVE QUANTITIES AND A GLASS OF WATER, SWEETHEART. MY SOCKS ARE ON FIRE.

Twin Peaks

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