Hosting a Stress Free High Tea is Easier than you Think!

Hosting a stress free high tea is easier than you think! All you need is some creativity and organisation. Follow these simple tips and everyone will be raving about your tea party!

Are you ever caught out and leave yourself short on time to organise an event you’re hosting? You’re not alone. This week has been very busy and Friday came around way took quickly. I had not thought about the afternoon tea I was having at home for 5 of my friends.

So of course I had a little freak out before I decided to forget about cooking things myself and be sensible!! I headed to Woollies and scoped out what I could use for my own high tea. High tea should include savoury and sweet and I like a mix of hot and cold savoury.

This is what I came up with:-

Hot Food

• Warm ham and cheese rolls. I used small brioche hot dog rolls. You could also use mini croissants. Shaved ham is best as it looks more substantial in the roll. I also like to use Jarlsberg cheese with ham. They go so well together. You can add some mustard as well.
• Mini quiche. I chose Petite quiche lorraine. I’ll be honest I thought these were ok for the situation I was in but I know the little ones I make myself are much tastier.
• Pumpkin and Feta arancini balls. Again these were ok but I would probably try something different next time.

Cold Food

Finger sandwiches are a must for high tea. The options are limitless. For mine I chose curried egg and lettuce because I had some beautiful farm fresh eggs. Some other options are:-

• Cucumber
• Smoked Salmon
• Coronation chicken
• Ham and mustard
• Roast beef and pickle

To make curried egg sandwiches hard boil eggs depending on the number of guests you’re having. I found three eggs do two sandwiches which will give you 6 fingers. Add some butter and a little curry powder to taste, mix together and spread on the bread. Add some lettuce, wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge before cutting. If you don’t wait until it cools the egg will be squished out everywhere. Trust me on this I know from experience!!! My favourite bread for finger sandwiches is good old white bread, something I never normally eat. You absolutely must remove the crusts! I like to cut each sandwich into three fingers. You can use different breads if you would prefer, I have had sandwiches that have white bread on top and wholemeal on the bottom. I chose to keep things simple this time.

Showing you how to throw a stress free high tea would not be complete without the inclusion of scones with jam and cream. This is an essential high tea item. I have a great recipe for my take on lemonade scones but obviously I was time poor so I purchased scones from the supermarket and used a cookie cutter to make them smaller. I did whip some fresh cream for the scones but if you didn’t have time for that you could use the canned cream. Raspberry jam is my jam of choice but strawberry or any other jam would be just as good.

The Sweet Things

Cheesecake is one of my favourite desserts ever!!!! So of course I had to add some to my high tea. To do this I used a frozen french vanilla cheesecake, used a cookie cutter to make small round cheesecakes and topped them with a raspberry.

My local supermarket had some delicious macarons available so I grabbed them along with caramel slice and brownies. I also found some lemon tarts.

With the brownies I cut into small pieces and dusted with icing sugar to give more of a homemade look to them. The caramel slice was also cut into small triangles.

When it came to the lemon tarts I used some of the whipped cream for the scones to pipe a little bit of cream on top of the lemon. I did this for both look and taste and it was a winner.

Setting the Table

Setting the table for a stress free high tea is pretty simple. Use a white tablecloth and add beautiful napkins, they don’t have to be fabric you can get really lovely paper napkins too. If you have vintage teacups they’re perfect but if you don’t just use what you have. White plates and cups or mugs always look good you could add some floral paper plates for some colour. This is where you can use your imagination. Get out your prettiest serving ware and add in some flowers, real or faux it doesn’t matter. Remember though this is stress free, just put love in to your table setting and it will come up perfectly.

If you would like some more tablescape inspiration you will find a vintage table here and a spring time table here.