A Berry Princess Tea Party

So being the cool mom that I am (I'm sure my girls will think differently in a few years, but I'm cool for now) I decided to let my girls have some friends over for a real, big girl tea party. The girls all dressed up like princesses, I let them wear some of "Mommy's special jewelrey," and used the good dishes. To add to the affair, I wanted to create a menu fit for afternoon tea at the Plaza. While I may not have quite accomplished that, the spread was certainly better than their usual fare of imaginary cookies and water tea. Here is what we had:

Berry Green Tea (with sugar in a sugar bowl)
Tea Sandwiches (cucumber, egg salad, and peanut butter & blackberry jelly)
Carrot and Celery Plate
Strawberries with Whipped Cream (piped into them, of course)
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Raisin Scones with Raspberry Jam and Mock Devonshire Cream (since the real version is insanely expensive and very hard to find)

Here is a picture of our lovely tea party table:

My absolute favorite part was the Raisin Scones. I had never, ever made scones before, but I wanted the girls to have something extra special for their tea (the little one is now asking if we can have "stones" for breakfast, as she can't quite remember how to say "scones") so I decided to give it a shot. Hey, if I failed, I failed. Its very rare that I have a complete and total flop, but I usually try to avoid using a new recipe when I have company coming, just in case. But alas, if you don't take risks, you end up with just PB&Js for lunch...

So here was the scone recipe that I found at Allrecipes.com, with a few alterations:

Raisin Scones

Ingredients
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup raisins (optional)


Directions:
-In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
-In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt, and cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or hand mixer. Stir the sour cream mixture, egg, and vanilla into the flour mixture until just moistened. Mix in the raisins.
-Kneed dough briefly in bowl a minute or two, till it can be gathered into a flaky ball (like pie crust). Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round. Cut into 12 wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
-Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom.

Chocolate Chip Cookies and Raisin Scones

It was a very lovely tea party. I think the girls had a lot of fun, and so did their friends. And Mommy got to have some adult time, so it was a happy day all around. Just a few more highlights:

Tea Sandwiches

Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Ah yes, before I forget...speaking of whipping cream, a fantastic addition to the scone recipe is a Mock Devonshire Cream recipe. Of course, its not like the original or clotted cream, however it is a pretty darn good substitute, and quite simple all you do is this:

Mock Devonshire Cream

Ingredients
3oz cream cheese(room temp, very important)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 c heavy whipping cream

Directions
Simply add these ingredients to a bowl, and using a hand mixer (or a whisk, if you're feeling old fashioned), and whip like you would standard whipped cream. The addition of cream cheese makes this a thicker, richer version that is perfect for spreading on scones - with raspberry jam of course. Happy Baking!