Fall Tea – Ultimate Hen Party!

This Fall Tea menu features recipes for salad, soup, sandwich & sweets.

Fall Tea – Ultimate Hen Party

What fills your joy bucket? For me, it’s sitting down with these wonderful women to share an afternoon filled with fun and food.  I even take delight in the planning phase of this annual event. Everything from researching recipes, to creating a craft project, to decorating the table.  Then after weeks of planning and putzing, I am greeted by the smiles and sincere gratitude of my dear guests. To be honest, I think this Fall Tea blesses me more abundantly then my guests. That’s because it gives me the chance to share what I love doing, with people that I love. What could be better than that?

Spiced Champagne Punch

I kicked off our event with purchased snack mix and pitchers of Spiced Champagne Punch. Hints of cinnamon and allspice give this cheery cranberry-based punch a great Fall flavor. It was the perfect beverage for sipping through our social hour, crafting project and light lunch course. For guests that preferred a non-alcoholic option, I also made a version using sparkling grape juice instead of champagne. 

Light Lunch – Soup, Salad & Sandwich

Many Teas feature a single course where sandwiches and sweets are served at the same time. My preference is to serve 2 courses, starting with a light lunch, then followed by the sweets. For this year’s Tea, I selected a Celery Apple Spiced Pecan Salad paired with a soup and sandwich that were favorites from last year’s Tea. The recipe for this light, crunchy salad is featured below. This would also be a great simple salad to serve for Thanksgiving.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Velvety in texture and savory in flavor, this pureed Fall soup features roasted butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and a great spice combination of nutmeg, allspice, ginger and cayenne. A drizzle of cream and a sprinkle of fresh snipped chives, provides a little extra flair. I used small tasting bowls for serving this soup so my guests could save room for the the goodies yet to come.

Cashew Chicken Salad Tea Sandwiches

Everyone loves these sandwiches! You start with creamy cashew chicken salad, which is delicious all on it’s own. Then you spread it on slices of thin, soft buttered bread which is also buttered along one edge and dipped in toasted sesame seeds. Low calorie? No. But I assure you, the richness of these combined flavors is pure nirvana.

Bring on the Sweets!

A Tea must of course include an array of delectable sweets. For the line-up this year, I selected recipes with a variety of different flavors. Both the Mini Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes and Chocolate Acorns (pictured in the photo at the top of this post) satisfied our chocolate cravings. 

To round out the selection of sweets, I brought back a few favorites which I baked for the Tea and for Christmas last year.

These Pumpkin Scones with Cinnamon Honey Butter scream Fall! Dense and crumbly, these rich scones are perfect with the whipped cinnamon butter which is sweetened with powdered sugar and honey.

Tart & Sassy Cranberry Lemon Drops feature ground toasted pecans, dried cranberries and lemon peel. Frosted with lemony cream cheese frosting and topped with dried cranberries and crushed lemon drops, these cookies are as pretty as they are tasty.

Craft Gals

Our Winter Luminary craft project was a great success! A big thanks to my daughter Jessica who ran this craft project. I also want to thank my step daughter Stacey and Jesse for all their help hosting the Tea. Your help makes it possible for me to not only host, but to also enjoy attending the Tea! 

Just a few basic, low cost items are required for this cute holiday candle holder. We added a few embellishments to our version of the luminary. These included using red & white twine, red candles and then dusting the top of the epsom salts with glitter. I couldn’t find the recommended glitter version of Sno-Tex, so we used basic Sno-Tex for painting the pine cones. Then we used some little plastic “ice crystals” on the tops of the jars. I think our customized luminary turned out quite charming!

I hope you enjoy sampling the recipe links throughout this post and the salad recipe below. 

Celery Apple Salad with Spiced Pecans

Crunchy thin sliced apples, celery & spiced pecans in a sweet & tangy dressing

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Course: Salad

Keyword: fruit salad, side salad

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 8

Author: Star Tribune Taste section recipe

Ingredients

Spiced Pecans

• 1/2 cup pecan halves
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Salad

• 4 tbsp. sour cream regular or reduced fat
• 2 tbsp. white wine or rice vinegar
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 8 ribs celery peeled if desired, thinly sliced on a diagonal
• 3 apples halved, cored and thinly sliced. Slices halved, crosswise
• coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Spiced Pecans

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pecans in a bowl. Melt butter over low heat in small saucepan and stir in spices. Remove from heat and stir until well combined and sugar dissolves. Pour over pecans and mix well.
• Spread pecans evenly on a baking sheet and bake, stirring often, until toasted and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Cool completely before serving. This recipe will make more than needed for the salad, but are great for snacking too. They can be kept covered in refrigerator for a week or can be frozen for future use.

Salad

• In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, vinegar and sugar until smooth.
• Add celery and apple; season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss gently to combine and top with pecans. Serve immediately.
• Note – you can make the spiced pecans, dressing and slice the celery a day in advance. Store the dressing and celery separately in the refrigerator. Store the pecans at room temperature. Slice the apples up to a few hours in advance and store refrigerated in a bowl of water with half a lemon squeezed into it. Drain apples well and combine with the rest of the ingredients as directed, just before serving.