During our June vacation in England this year, my husband and I indulged ourselves with having tea almost everyday. From the relatively simple Cream Tea (scones, jam and clotted cream), to having a cup of tea with a piece of cake, to the very elaborate English Afternoon Tea (sandwiches, scones and sweets) we always loved the experience very much. One of the most memorable English Afternoon Teas we enjoyed in Bradford on Avon at The Bridge Tea Rooms, which I blogged about here already, which was truly one of a kind.
Being back in America, we miss having tea the way the British do and this has inspired us to celebrate the art of having tea at home now. My husband and I have even started to bake our own little tea treats for these special occasions and have so much fun doing it.
In this post I show you our first attempt to prepare a full English Afternoon Tea. We set up our little tea table in the family room, since unfortunately it was too hot to have tea in the garden. And this is what it looked like!
The creme colored roses on the table were coming from my own garden. The variety is called 'Auckland Metro'. The petals of this rose have a good substance, so they make a great lasting cut flower.
Coming to my second contribution to our tea time: The smoked salmon-cucumber canapes with Nicoise olive tapenade garnished with parsley. I wasn't too happy with those, I have to admit. First of all the visual presentation is not so appetizing. The cucumber pieces had to be cut smaller and I would have loved to be able to bring the salmon slices into a more rose or rosette shape, but my clumsy fingers just wouldn't do the job.
The tapenade was a little too salty for my taste, but maybe I have not followed the recipe precisely enough. I still think the idea of having these canapes for Afternoon Tea is great though, so I might try to do them again.
The fruits were a nice little finish for this rich Afternoon Tea and I didn't miss having any "real" other sweets at all.
Being back in America, we miss having tea the way the British do and this has inspired us to celebrate the art of having tea at home now. My husband and I have even started to bake our own little tea treats for these special occasions and have so much fun doing it.
In this post I show you our first attempt to prepare a full English Afternoon Tea. We set up our little tea table in the family room, since unfortunately it was too hot to have tea in the garden. And this is what it looked like!
We had whole grain rolls with chicken-celery salad, scones with clotted cream and jam, smoked salmon-cucumber canapes with Nicoise olive tapenade. Instead of further sweets we went with a healthier version and had a mix of fresh fruits.
Traditionally you will find finger sandwiches as a first course for an English Afternoon Tea, but we chose our home made gluten-free whole grain rolls with chicken-celery salad for a little bit more of a heartier version. I really have to praise my husband, as the rolls were ultra delicious and so was the chicken-celery salad. Unfortunately I can not point you to the recipe, since my husband googled it on the internet and can't remember which one it was anymore.
The gluten-free scone was my doing, you see it cut into two halves on the lower tier, between the rolls with the chicken-celery salad. Usually you cut a scone horizontally and not vertically to spread the clotted cream and jam onto it, but my scone didn't rise enough to do this or maybe I distributed the dough to thin on the baking sheet. The taste was very good though. I used the standard gluten-free recipe from epicurious.
My simple scone became a delicious, melt in your mouth experience, which in my mind transported me right back to England, with a decent amount of clotted cream spread on top of it...
...and the clotted cream had to be crowned by an equally thick layer of jam, of course. Yum!
We found the English Luxury Clotted Cream from The Devon Cream Company at Jimbo's, our local health food store, which has a really authentic taste and texture.
The jam we brought back with us from England. It is an organic strawberry jam from Tonda Terra, which we bought in the little village shop in Blockley, England. What I really like about this jam is, that it wasn't overly sweet and it had a truly great fruity strawberry taste. The little jar is long gone and I haven't researched if the brand is available in the US as well.
The creme colored roses on the table were coming from my own garden. The variety is called 'Auckland Metro'. The petals of this rose have a good substance, so they make a great lasting cut flower.
Coming to my second contribution to our tea time: The smoked salmon-cucumber canapes with Nicoise olive tapenade garnished with parsley. I wasn't too happy with those, I have to admit. First of all the visual presentation is not so appetizing. The cucumber pieces had to be cut smaller and I would have loved to be able to bring the salmon slices into a more rose or rosette shape, but my clumsy fingers just wouldn't do the job.
The tapenade was a little too salty for my taste, but maybe I have not followed the recipe precisely enough. I still think the idea of having these canapes for Afternoon Tea is great though, so I might try to do them again.
The recipe for the canapes is from the July/August issue of the Tea Time magazine, which I have subscribed to and truly enjoy reading.
The fruits were a nice little finish for this rich Afternoon Tea and I didn't miss having any "real" other sweets at all.
We served an organic Darjeeling Tea to complement the tea treats. The china I set the table with is called Dibbern, from the maker Schoenwald Germany, which I brought with me from Germany, when I moved to the US many years ago.
Honestly, I can't wait until we have time to prepare the next English Afternoon Tea for us! Do you also spoil yourselves with a lovely tea time occasionally? I sure hope you do, since it is such a pleasant experience.
Wishing you a wonderful week!
Warm regards,
Christina
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