Welcome to my Valentine Tea Party … come on in!
I love Valentine’s Day.
And, I love afternoon tea…
from children’s make-believe tea parties to frou-frou teas in swanky hotels …
and everything in between.
Tea, tea and more tea, please.
And scones, obviously.
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If you read about my Valentine’s Day front porch ideas you know
I’m not really hosting a tea party.
Not this year.
But I went ahead and set the tea table, and baked scones.
Because I’m a blogger now!
The Table Setting
I needed a tablecloth but failed to plan ahead.
I fell in love with this floral tablecloth from William Sonoma, but it’s on backorder. Darn.
I ordered it anyway. As one does.
Then I found this cute hot pink and green cactus flower tablecloth on Wayfair
and it was available. Whew.
I got out my mom’s china. It’s Royal Doulton’s Coronet pattern.
Can I tell you a secret? It’s embarrassing.
I inherited the china 22 years ago and have never used it.
I also inherited my grandmother’s silver.
It’s Lunt’s American Victorian pattern. I’ve never used it either.
I’m ashamed.
But, there’s a first time for everything and that includes polishing the silver. Ugh.
Good news on that front, Jim volunteered to do it.
He ironed the blush colored napkins too.
While watching football (he told me to add that).
The Flowers
Our local grocery store, Diablo Foods, has a wonderful floral department.
They helped me pull together a combination of pink peonies and white hydrangeas to fit in my
Tiffany crystal bowl.
The Food
When hosting any type of gathering I follow Ina Garten’s advice.
Make two or three things and buy-or-assemble the rest. If it works for Ina …
I made the tea sandwiches, scones and mini-quiches.
The tea sandwiches are so easy. Deli ham, sliced brie with strawberry jam
on sliced sourdough and marbled rye.
I made full sandwiches and used a small, heart shaped cookie cutter to get tea-sized servings.
Full disclosure. I used Williams-Sonoma Cranberry Orange scone mix.
Iplanned to make my favorite Currant Scone recipe, but … quelle horreur …
I was out of currants.
Thankfully, I had the scone mix in my pantry.
And heart shaped cookie cutters.
They are every bit as delicious as from-scratch scones.
I ordered another package of cranberry orange mix as well as blueberry, raspberry,
lemon poppyseed, and chocolate chip …
to have on hand in the event of future emergency.
I’ll include my Currant Scone recipe at the end of this post if you’d like to try it.
To accompany the scones … I served raspberry jam, lemon curd and made faux clotted cream, a Pioneer Woman recipe.
I didn’t think it was sweet enough and added 1/8 to 1/4 cups sugar. Perfection.
Then there’s the bacon and spinach mini-quiches. It’s a gray area.
Technically I baked them. But, this may fall under the buy-or-assemble category.
And, Finally The Desserts
Clearly bought and assembled.
We’re blessed with the most fabulous local bakery … Le Gateau Elegant.
They make beautiful and delicious Petit Fours.
While there I spotted these amazing Mexican Wedding cookies and macarons …
there’s plenty of room on my 3-tier tray.
And, the piece de resistance … the cake.
Decorated with a pink ombre buttercream frosting, the filling is their legendary
Swedish Princess cake.
It’s a vanilla genoise cake with custard and raspberry filling. Ou la la!
The Tea
I brewedFortnum & Mason English Breakfast Tea.
Accompanied by cream, sugar and lemon slices.
I’ve had these cute, heart shaped sugar cubes since my last tea party …
to celebrate Princess Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle.
Now the Duke and duch*ess of Sussex.
Doesn’t that seem like a lifetime ago?
I think they came from Williams-Sonoma, but I couldn’t find them, or anything similar, anywhere.
This cake plate was my mother’s as well.
I love the heart shape in the stem.
Want to kick the party up a notch?
Add sparkling wine to your menu or my favorite holiday co*cktail, the Raspberry Kir Royale.
It’s a workhorse co*cktail that’s perfect from Thanksgiving through Valentine’s Day!
Tea Party Inspiration
What brought on my desire to host a Valentine’s Day Tea Party?
The inspiration came out of the cancellation of a holiday tea.
The Historical Society of a neighboring town, hosts an annual Holiday Victorian Tea and craft faire. It’s a fundraiser for the museum housed in a historic home where the tea is held.
Last year, a good friend and I attended and it was so delightful
we decided to make it an annual thing.
Then the pandemic came along and the fundraiser was cancelled.
Not to be deterred from raising much needed funds for the museum, the society put together a Tea for Two Box to be enjoyed at home.
We planned to turn our Tea for Two into a Valentine’s Day Tea Party.
But some things have come up, plus the pandemic, and our tea date is TBD.
I decided to do a practice run …
so when we do have our tea I’ll appear to be an effortless hostess and she’ll be impressed.
Just kidding.
PIN THIS POST TO SAVE FOR LATER
As promised, here’s my Currant Scone recipe …
Currant Scones
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 15 minutes mins
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Servings 12 Scones
Ingredients
- 2-1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 3 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 3/4 cup Half & Half Cream
- 1/2 cup Chilled Butter, cut into pieces
- 1 large Egg, beaten
- 1/3 cup Currants
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 375. Grease baking sheet.
Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Cut-in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles large crumbs.
Combine cream, currants and egg in small bowl.
Stir currant mixture into dry ingredients using a fork.
On floured surface, knead dough 5-6 turns. Pat dough into 3/4" thick round. Cut into wedges or use biscuit or cookie cutters. Place scones onto greased baking sheet.
Brush tops of scones with cream (1-2 tbsp). Bake 15-20 minutes, until light, golden brown.
So, there you have it …
Snowberry’s Valentine’s Day Tea Party!
Jim and I sipped tea and gobbled up the sandwiches, quiches and scones.
I sent the cake home with Monica, of Monica Vargas Photography,
who takes my beautiful photos.
I hope she enjoyed it!
Need Valentine gift ideas … for yourself (yes, you!) or your Galentine’s … here are a few cute things I found around the inter-webs.
As always, I appreciate your visit and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Next week I’ll be joining a group of amazing bloggers to share our kitchen styling ideas!
You can read all about Snowberry’s kitchen renovation here.
Until then, cheers from Snowberry!
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Photosin this post by Monica Vargas Photography
