70 Recipes For A Tea Party

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Here in the U.S. we typically recognize three main meals a day (plus assorted snacks), but trend spotters and social media mavens are predicting that we may soon take a tip from our friends across the pond and adopt a fourth meal: afternoon tea. Whether out of a fondness for British costume dramas ("Bridgerton"-themed teas are now a thing) or an appreciation for the health benefits of a post-meridian cuppa, you now have the perfect excuse to throw a tea party and we're here to help out with recipe suggestions.

Afternoon tea is based around the genial beverage from which it takes its name (hot, never iced!), with the one de rigueur food item being scones. Finger sandwiches are also strongly suggested, as are bite-sized pastries, cookies (or "biscuits," to give them the proper British terminology), and even candies to fill in the gaps, while a tart or cake may top off the meal. There is, however, an entirely different meal called high tea which, contrary to what many believe, is not an even fancier version of afternoon tea. In fact, quite the opposite is true as high tea is basically Brit-speak for "supper" and as such consists of hearty mains and sides washed down by several mugs of tea (plus maybe a pint of ale). While "high tea parties" have yet to catch on, we've included a short selection of appropriate recipes in case you'd like to kick off that trend.

While scones, as we mentioned above, are generally served with clotted cream and jam, some prefer to eat them with nothing more than butter. For a party, though, you may want to upgrade the butter to a flavored version. This honey-lavender combination couldn't be much easier to make and it has a sweet, delicate flavor that can turn a simple scone, biscuit, or bread roll into a delightfully indulgent experience.

Recipe: Honey Lavender Butter

While Turkish delight may not be a British candy, anyone who's read the C.S. Lewis children's classic "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" may recall that it's been popular in the U.K. (as well as in Narnia) for many a year. Plus, as candies go, it's one of the prettiest and makes a lovely way to fill in the gaps on your tea tray. For Turkish delight that's even fancier and more flavorful, try rolling it in dried rose petals or finely-chopped pistachios in place of the powdered sugar.

Recipe: Turkish Delight

If you really want to wow your tea party guests with the amount of time and effort you put into your preparations, try making your own cream puffs. It's not actually all that difficult. More time-consuming than troublesome, we'd say, but you may want to practice a time or two before you plan on serving them to company. Once you do master the art of cream puff making, though, the real fun comes in customizing the filling. The one given here is a plain whipped cream, but you can dress the cream up with flavor extracts, food coloring, and mix-ins like crushed peppermint candies or swap it out for custard or ice cream.

Recipe: Cream Puffs

Which came first, the chicken salad or the egg salad? It doesn't matter, as both of them make great sandwich fillings. Chicken salad, at its most basic, consists of chicken and mayonnaise with maybe some chopped vegetables (celery and green onions are used here). If you're using it for finger sandwiches, though, you'll need to chop the chicken and vegetables extra-fine. That way, instead of hearty chunks that tumble out of the bread, you'll have a smoother spread that can be used to create more refined nibbles.

Recipe: Basic Chicken Salad

This pineapple-coconut cake is another maybe not-so-British dessert, but as we've already established, there's no universal law of afternoon tea that says all foods must originate in the British Isles. No one will mind the non-U.K. origins of this tropical-inspired layer cake once they see how beautiful it looks on a cake stand. In contrast to its pristine coconut-frosted exterior, though, this cake hides a hidden surprise inside: a layer of pineapple preserves that takes its flavor over the top.

Recipe: Best Pineapple Coconut Cake Recipe

Tea and crumpets! If you are inviting the Geico Gecko over to dine, you know these are a must. But what, exactly, are crumpets? They're something that has yet to catch on in the U.S., at least not to the extent that scones have done. Crumpets are kind of like thinner, chewier English muffins, although they are also a bit like fat, yeasty pancakes. Hard to describe, yes, but not terribly difficult to make, and they taste great with butter and/or jelly.

While this recipe does call for crumpet rings, if you don't want to invest in such a specific piece of kitchen equipment, there are workarounds. Round cookie cutters will do the trick, but you can even use aluminum cans as long as they're the kind where both the top and bottom can be removed with a can opener.

Recipe: Crumpets

One of the prettiest British cakes is the checkerboard-patterned Battenberg, a cake that may (or may not) have been named for Queen Victoria's grandson-in-law. While the cake looks very complicated to make, it's actually quite doable for a fairly experienced home cook, as long as you have a steady hand and the ability to cut even-sized slices. What really ties the cake together is the sweet layer of marzipan that takes the place of frosting and wraps it all up in a lovely, flavorful package.

Recipe: Chocolate Battenberg Cake

Kringla cookies may be associated with the winter holidays in Scandinavia (could this have anything to do with the fact that their name resembles that of a certain Kris Kringle?), but there's nothing about their delicate nutmeg-spiced flavor, golden-brown color, or infinity-twist shape that really screams "Christmas" to anyone who's not of Nordic descent. Even though these cookies are traditionally served with coffee, they're equally well suited to tea and make for a perfect teatime treat at any time of the year.

Recipe: Kringla

A somewhat simpler French dessert to serve at your soiree is the classic tarte Tatin, which is the continental answer to apple pie. It's actually easier to make than apple pie, too, as there's no need to roll out a pie crust. Frozen puff pastry to the rescue again! If you can cut it into a circle shape, you're golden, and the tarts will be, too, when they come out of the oven all fresh, warm, and delicious.

Recipe: Apple Tarte Tatin

For an autumn-themed tea, we suggest serving spicy teas like ginger or Constant Comment along with slightly heartier sandwiches and apple pastries. As for the scones, pumpkin-flavored ones would be perfect. These scones are American-style, meaning they are almost cake-like: large, sweet, and drizzled with a powdered sugar glaze. With all of the sugar and the frosting in this recipe, there's no need to serve these scones with cream, jelly, or any other add-ons as they make for a standalone dessert just as they are.

Recipe: Pumpkin Scones

If you're a fan of the Apple TV+ comedy series "Ted Lasso," you've no doubt noticed the title character's penchant for baking and gifting his favorite shortbread cookies. While Lasso didn't share his recipe with us (being a fictional character pretty much precludes him from being able to do so), we feel that these vanilla-flavored shortbread fingers make for a reasonable facsimile of the cookies that are so often shown on the show.

Recipe: Copycat Ted Lasso's Shortbread Biscuits

Baking with liqueurs is fairly common, but baking with wine is somewhat less so. That just means that these red wine cupcakes are sure to elicit comments once your tea party guests have guessed the mystery ingredient. While the wine may not be immediately noticeable in the chocolate cupcake batter where its presence is more subtle, it lends not only flavor but color to the cream cheese frosting and makes a real impact here.

Recipe: Red Wine Cupcakes

How can you put on a sophisticated teatime spread without blowing your entire food budget for the week? The best way to do so is to focus on dishes where the simplest and cheapest of ingredients can be turned into something that transcends their humble origins. Such is the case with finger sandwiches made from egg salad, and this particular recipe is well suited for party fare as the standard boiled egg-mayonnaise mixture gets a flavorful, yet inexpensive, makeover with the aid of chopped red onions, mustard, and curry powder.

Recipe: Classic Egg Salad

Deviled ham may not have the greatest reputation as it's often associated with a rather dubious canned food product that can be found on supermarket shelves right next to the equally suspect Vienna sausages. This recipe, however, includes no such mystery meat but instead provides a great way to repurpose leftover ham into a tasty sandwich spread. Finely-chopped ham, celery, onions, and maybe some pickles mixed with mayonnaise makes for a finger sandwich filling that can be both elegant and economical.

Recipe: Quick Deviled Ham Salad

Madeleines, as any devotee of French literature will know, are the cookies that kicked off Marcel Proust's multi-volume fictional memoir "À la Recherche du Temps Perdu" or, in translation, "Remembrance of Things Past." While these lemon-flavored cookies aren't guaranteed to trigger the great American novel, nor even a trip in the Wayback Machine, you'll certainly agree with Proust's narrator that they make the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea on a nostalgic afternoon.

Recipe: Classic Lemon Madeleines

'While many two-ingredient recipes tend to be, well, not the kind of fare you'd want to serve at even a semi-formal occasion, we can think of one pretty fancy dessert that's made with nothing more than egg whites and sugar. Did you guess it? Ha, no need to guess, since the title gave it away – yes, we're talking about meringues. While meringue may be familiar to many as a pie topping, it can also stand on its own as a cookie that is easy to make and pretty to look at. And it tastes like a crunchy little cloud.

Recipe: French Meringue Cookies

Petit fours are among the cutest of desserts as they resemble miniature layer cakes. To look at them, you might think they'd be next to impossible for any but the most experienced and best-equipped bakers to attempt. Well, traditional-style ones are certainly no easy undertaking, but our simple shortcut involves using thin-sliced store-bought pound cake layered with jelly. Rather than a picture-perfect frosting job, we're also going with a more casual drizzle of powdered sugar glaze, then topping the teeny cakes with fresh berries. No, these dainty morsels are not identical to store-bought petits fours, but they're still very pretty.

Recipe: Easy Petit Fours

A spring or summer tea calls for fruit flavors, and one of the most tea-friendly of these is lemon. Even if you prefer a splash of milk to a slice of lemon in your tea itself, you'll surely enjoy a slice of zesty lemon pound cake to accompany it. The cake itself is flavored with lemon zest and fresh-squeezed juice, while additional lemon juice is used to make the sugary glaze. For an additional hit of flavor as well as lemony-yellow color, you can also sprinkle lemon zest over the top.

Recipe: Zesty Iced Lemon Pound Cake Recipe

Waldorf salad is an American classic that dates back to the Gilded Age and originally consisted of nothing more than mayonnaise, celery, and apples. Here we're turning it into a chicken salad with the addition of, well, chicken. We've also tossed in some chopped nuts and grapes because, why not? While the recipe as written makes for a super-chunky salad served up in hearty sandwiches, for a more tea party-worthy version we suggest dicing the ingredients very finely and spreading light layers of chicken salad between thin-cut bread. As a final touch, slice the sandwiches into two-bite "fingers."

Recipe: Waldorf Chicken Salad Recipe With A Sweet Twist

Macarons are a treat that's not nearly as easy to whip up as, say, a batch of brownies, but if you break the process down into baby steps, it's doable for a relatively experienced home cook. First, you make the filling (we're using a white chocolate one here), then you make the batter and pipe it onto the cookie sheet in the form of hearts or any other simple shape. Bake the cookies, pair them up as best you can to get two matching halves, then sandwich them together with the filling. You'll need to start these macarons well in advance of your tea party, however, as they require at least 24 hours of refrigeration before they're ready to serve.

Recipe: Heart-Shaped Macarons

Of all the fruit-flavored cakes – and there really aren't all that many fruit-flavored cakes now that we come to think of it – lemon reigns supreme. There's just something about that sunny yellow color and bright, tangy flavor that makes us think of summer even in the middle of winter. While this lemon bundt cake is made from scratch, it's actually not difficult at all, and as long as you can get it out of the pan intact, you won't even have to bother with frosting it. A light dusting of powdered sugar or a drizzle of glaze will make the cake perfectly party-ready.

Recipe: Lemon Cake

Honey cake is a classic Russian recipe that, according to some accounts, was originally served to tsars and tsarinas (some sources may cast doubt on this origin story). Looking at this cake with its multiple layers and fine crumb coating, you might think you'd need all the resources of the Romanov's palace kitchens to create such a thing. Surprisingly enough, it's actually fairly doable for the home cook as long as you have the patience to follow all of the steps involved. Patience, in this case, will be its own reward, as the finished cake will make for a very impressive ending to any tea party.

Recipe: Easy Russian Honey Cake

While chocolate ganache truffles sound like something super-fancy, the truth is, they really couldn't be much simpler. In fact, this recipe has just three ingredients: chocolate chips and whipping cream to make the truffles, plus cocoa powder to sprinkle over them once they're done. All you do is heat up the cream, mix it with the chocolate chips until they melt, then chill the mixture. Once the ganache has thickened up, form it into little balls, dust these with cocoa, and you're done. In fact, if the tea party you're planning is an all-ages event, you can even skip the last two steps. Just tell the kids the chocolate ganache is edible play-doh and have them shape their own truffles. Sure, it'll be messy, but they'll have a great time doing it!

Recipe: Dark Chocolate Ganache Truffles

If you're planning a spring teatime, or perhaps one in honor of St. Patrick's Day, how about making finger sandwiches with a green filling? No food coloring is needed for this verdant chicken salad as the color and creamy texture both come courtesy of mashed avocados, plus there's a little extra green from cilantro. To make this salad more finger sandwich-appropriate, though, you'll need to mince the chicken, avocados, and onions more finely than is called for in the recipe.

Recipe: Creamy Avocado Chicken Salad

This chocolate orange tart calls for only five ingredients: cookie or graham cracker crumbs plus butter for the crust; chocolate, cream, and orange extract for the filling. It takes maybe 20 minutes to put together and is something even a rookie cook can nail on the first try. While the tart is full-sized, its lack of a top crust plus its firm chocolate filling means that you should be able to slice it into dainty wedges without it falling to pieces as a pie might do.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Chocolate Orange Tart

Macarons, unlike macaroons, are a very delicate type of cookie, and one whose batter really doesn't stand for much tinkering with. For that reason, these cookies are not pumpkin macarons per se as they do not contain any actual pumpkin. They do, however, take their flavoring from pumpkin pie spice and their hue from orange food coloring (a drop of red + a drop of yellow, for those of us who only have the primary colors), so they're permitted to take their place among the pantheon of official autumnal desserts.

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Macarons

Butter tarts are a British specialty, and Canada is still part of the Commonwealth, so by extension, they're a perfect fit for a British afternoon tea. Even apart from their U.K. association, however, butter tarts would be a great addition to any teatime spread. They are cupcake-sized tarts with a shortbread cookie-type crust, and the filling is – well, think pecan pie without the pecans. Unless, of course, you want to add pecans or other chopped nuts, but there's really no need to do so as these tarts are delicious without any embellishment.

Recipe: Butter Tarts Recipe

While finger sandwiches are a teatime tradition, it should be fairly safe to branch out to something along the lines of crostini, which are essentially open-faced miniature sandwiches. These cranberry brie bites pair creamy, tangy cheese with sweet-tart sugared berries atop baguette slices, then finishes things off with a drizzle of honey and a sprinkling of chopped mint. This makes for a very festive-looking crostini that would be a fine addition to any fall or winter tea table.

Recipe: Sparkling Cranberry Brie Bites

Pizza may not seem like something you'd serve at a fancy tea party, but this particular pizza, which is adapted from a Wolfgang Puck creation, is no slab of greasy, cheesy pepperoni. Instead, the crust is topped with a far less messy – not to mention more upscale – combo of sour cream, smoked salmon, and chives. (Also scallions, as these are actually two different vegetables, but the differences are slight so you can opt for one or the other if you wish.) Slice the pizza into dainty little squares or triangles and it will make for a suitable teatime snack.

Recipe: Wolfgang Puck's Smoked Salmon Pizza With A Twist

These tiny tarts are so pretty, but they really could not be any easier to make. The recipe starts with pre-baked phyllo shells, then fills them with pudding made from a mix. While vanilla or lemon pudding is specified, you could opt for pistachio or even chocolate if you prefer. As a final touch, top off each mini morsel with a few small berries or other chopped fruits and you'll have a treat that will grace the finest of tea tables.

Recipe: Mini Fruit Tart Recipe

Beans on toast, which might be considered high tea's answer to finger sandwiches, is a dish as beloved in the U.K. as is macaroni and cheese in the U.S. For some reason it never really caught on this side of the pond, but if you want to see what you're missing, all you'll need is a can of baked beans, some cheese, a little butter, and a few slabs of thick, hearty bread. Toast and butter the bread, top the toast with beans and cheese, then cook it until the cheese melts. Easy, cheesy, goes well with tea-sy.

Recipe: Cheesy Beans On Toast

Before you attempt to make a steak and kidney pie to serve at high tea, you may want to make sure that your guests are down for this quintessentially British experience. Organ meats in general have a niche appeal here in the U.S., while kidneys are a bodily part that many are especially reluctant to eat. When tucked into a pie crust with chunks of beef, though, kidneys are less earthy-tasting than when eaten alone, and steak and kidney pie is a dish that has stood the test of time in its native land.

Recipe: Traditional Steak And Kidney Pie

Eton mess is another British dish whose unappealing name belies how good it is. The first part of the name comes from the prestigious boarding school, but if this dessert is the kind of thing they're serving there, well, maybe Eton is worth the $55,000+ per year it costs to go there. For those of us without that kind of cash, though (not to mention being way past our school years), this dessert is something that can easily be made at home. All you'll need to do is break up a couple of meringues (store-bought ones are fine if you can find these), then stir them together with whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and strawberries. Within just a few minutes you'll have one tasty "mess" to serve with your high tea.

Recipe: Easy Eton Mess

Scotch eggs, a favorite British pub snack, are typically made from boiled eggs that have been encased in sausage meat, dipped in bread crumbs, and deep fried. In this three-ingredient recipe, however, the breadcrumbs and sausage are replaced with falafel and the eggs are baked instead of fried. While these atypical Scotch eggs may not be traditional, they are undoubtedly lower in fat and are also suitable for serving to any vegetarian (although not vegan) guests you've invited to take high tea with you.

Recipe: 3-Ingredient Scotch Eggs

Trifle is often served for the holidays in the U.K., and yet it's a bit too messy to be served at an elegant afternoon soiree. For a high tea, however, it makes a perfect pudding course and there's no need to save it for special occasions. In fact, the best thing about trifles is that they're a great way to repurpose leftover cake or "mistake cake" that doesn't come out of the pan in one piece. Tear the cake into chunks, then top it with Jell-O, pudding, and fruit. While this recipe calls for cranberries, strawberries, raspberries, sliced bananas, or any other soft, not-too-acidic fruits will also work. Cover the trifle with whipped cream and maybe some shaved chocolate and you'll have a dessert that will send everyone home full and happy.

Recipe: Holiday Trifle