TEA SANDWICHES

Guacamole Chicken & Chive Cream Cheese and Cucumber Tea Sandwiches:

Using a round or square cookie cutter, cut out the center of the bread, removing the crusts.

Ingredients

• 24 bread slices (recommended: white, rye, whole grain, pumpernickel, or a combination)
• 1 cup guacamole
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, thinly sliced
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
• 1/2 English cucumber, sliced into thin rounds
• Special Equipment: 3-inch round/square cookie cutter

Guac Chicken – Take a piece of the bread and, using a butter knife, spread 1 side of it with guacamole. Spread 1 side of another piece of bread with mayonnaise. Top guacamole with chicken and then the mayonnaise-smeared bread.

Chive Cucumber – Mix chives into the softened cream cheese. Spread 1 side of 1 slice of bread with the chive cream cheese. Top with a few slices of cucumber and then with another slice of bread.

SCONES

Dried Cherry Almond Scones

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 lemon, zested
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 sticks cold butter, cut into pea size pieces
• 1 cup dried cherries
• 1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Turbinado sugar, for garnishing
• Honey Butter, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, salt and cinnamon. Add in the butter and rub with your fingers into the dry ingredients until a coarse meal forms. Add in the cherries and almonds. Add the heavy cream and combine it into the butter flour mixture.

Form the dough into a 1-inch thick disk and cut it into 6 wedges. Sprinkle each wedge generously with the Turbinado sugar. Transfer the wedges to a parchment-lined sheet pan and bake in the preheated oven for 17 to 18 minutes, turning the pan halfway through. Serve warm with Honey Butter.

Honey Butter Spread:

• 1/2 pint cold heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 orange, zested

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add all ingredients and whip on high speed until the cream starts to clump and turn light yellow. Continue mixing as butter forms and the buttermilk begins to separate out. Scrape sides and continue mixing until mixture is one lump of butter. Place butter into a clean container or serving dish and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

SWEETS

Lady Nina’s Earl Grey Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons loose Earl Grey tea leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

In a food processor, pulse together the flour, tea, and salt, until the tea is just spotted throughout the flour. Add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and butter. Pulse together just until a dough is formed. Place dough on a sheet of plastic wrap, and roll into a log, about 2 1/2-inches in diameter. Tightly twist each end of wrap, and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice the log into 1/3-inch thick disks. Place on parchment or silpat lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart (2 probably needed depending on size of sheets). Bake until the edges are just brown, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks and cool to room temperature.

COCKTAILS

EARL GREY MarTEAni
Ingredients
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 ounce simple syrup (1:1 sugar-to-water ratio)
1 1/2 ounce Earl Grey tea–infused Tanqueray gin (see recipe below)
1 egg white
Garnish: lemon twist

Instructions
Measure all the ingredients into a mixing glass. Add ice, and shake hard to a 10-second count. Strain into a chilled martini glass, 1/2 rimmed with sugar, and garnish with a lemon twist.