Afternoon Tea

For the rye bread finger food sandwiches:

• place the rye bread in the fridge to chill slightly, then taking a small cookie cutter, cut circles of bread to top with different fillings. these make delicious open-faced mini sandwiches that are the perfect addition to any afternoon tea
• For the toppings try these combinations:

Avocado, tomato and mozzarella – Slice each of the above into thin slices then layer a slice of avocado, tomato, and low-fat mozzarella on top of a circle of rye bread. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper

Cucumber and herb cream cheese – In a bowl mix together the reduced-fat cream cheese, chopped chives and dill, a little lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread some of this mixture onto the rye bread circles and top with slices of cucumber. Garnish with some more chopped chives.

Pear, walnut, and blue cheese – Roughly chop the walnuts into small pieces and mix with crumbled low-fat blue cheese. Spoon some of this mixture onto the rye bread then top with a thin slice of pear. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

For the mini jam tarts:

• Combine the low-fat margarine and flour by rubbing between your fingers till you achieve a bread crumb like texture. Add the soaked chia seeds and gradually bring the sought together being sure not to over mix. Place in the fridge to firm up slightly.
• Next using our no added sugar jam recipe plus your preferred fruit (we use strawberry but raspberry or blueberry works really well) make up your jam and place it to one side to cool slightly.
• Roll out your pastry and cut small circles, then place these in a lightly greased mini tart tray.
• Add a spoon of your homemade jam to each one and if you have any remaining pastry cut mini hearts to top each tart with.
• Place in a pre-heated oven at !80•c and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
• Remove and place on a wire rack to cool.
• Garnish with small pieces of fresh fruit.

For the scones:

As this is the key ingredient to any afternoon tea we feel that the scone itself should be as it comes but we have taste tested a few and found that most “made without” or “free-from” varieties really are incredibly good and also lower in calories whilst being suitable for even more dietary needs.

As to the topping, we have also decided to bow out of the debate as to which comes first – the cream or the jam – We at Skinny Bakery couldn’t possibly interject in this age-old debate. However, if you fancy trying something a little less heavy to clotted cream we have found that low-fat crème fraîche coupled with our no added sugar jam recipe really does hit the spot.

There you have all the key ingredients to making a really special afternoon tea – Enjoy