As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I have a December birthday. Because of that I have many Christmas š decorations and quite an assortment of snowmen āļø platters. I decided to have Snowmen Christmas Decor for High Tea!
Snowmen Christmas Decor for High Tea
And since weāre now wintering in December, I thought it would be fun to have a snowman āļø high tea āļø for my California girlfriends. So I packed up the snowman stuff and headed west.
My darling sister-in-law, Michelle was coming out for a visit with her great son Jack so I had the crazy plan to have a tea party for the ladies. Wow, what a project! If youāve been following me for a while you know I canāt do anything halfway. So I did my usual over-the-top event replete with snowmen āļø soupš, snowmen āļøcookies šŖ, and even snowmen āļøtruffles!
Hereās the recipe for the soup. It is from Jan Karonās Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader.
Roasted Red Pepper š¶Tomato š Soup šwith Snowmen āļø Croutons
Ingredients:
-2 T Extra-virgin olive oil
-1 Cup chopped green onions
-4 1/2 Cups chicken š stock
-2 Cups chopped jarred roasted red peppers š¶
-2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans whole stewed tomatoes š
-1 tsp granulated sugar
-1 1/2 tsp dried basil
-Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Steps
- Warm the olive oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium-low heat.
- Add the green onions and sautƩ until soft, about 6-8 minutes.
- Add the chicken š stock, red peppers š¶, tomatoes š , sugar, and basil.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Now using an immersion blender, blend until smooth.
- Season with salt š§ and pepper to taste.
- To make the croutons, I used a snowman āļø cookie cutter and cut out snowmen from whole wheat bread. On the day of the tea, I put the snowmen on a small cookie sheet. I baked them at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes (until they were firmly toasted and light brown). Once they were cool and right before serving, I had my girlfriend Sandy do the snowman decorationsš¬! We spread whipped plain cream cheese over each snowman āļø and then using tweezers(!) to place teensy pieces of chopped black olives for the face and buttons, and slivers of orange pepper for the nose!
- Ladle the soup in the bowls and slide in the snowmen āļø for a very FUN first course!
Recipe for the Snowmen āļø Cookies (adapted from Family Circle magazine 2011)
Ingredients:
-One package of ginger cookies from World Market (you could use any store-bought ginger snap)
-Mini chocolate chips
-Candy Corn (sliced in half lengthwise)
-16 ounce pkg. of powdered sugar
-3 T meringue powder (I got it at Hobby Lobby)
-1/2 tsp. Cream of tartar
-1/2 cup warm water
-1 tsp. Vanilla
Steps:
- Put the powdered sugar, meringue powder, cream of tartar, water and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat on LOW until combined.
- Beat on high 7-10 minutes or until icing is very stiff.
- Beat in additional water to reach desired consistency for piping.
- Put the icing in a piping bag and cover the tops of several cookies. You want to ice a few cookies at a time because the icing will harden and then the decorations wonāt stick.
- Now using a tweezers (!) apply the mini chocolate chips and candy corn nose.
- While youāre applying the decorations keep the residual icing (in the bowl) covered with a damp paper towel to avoid it drying out.
- Enjoy!
The last snowman āļø treat was a fun and delicious recipe for Snowmen āļø Truffles!
Ingredients:
-One Pkg. of golden Oreos (finely crushed, using your food processor)
-One 8 ounce package of Philadelphia cream cheese, softened to room temperature
-One pound package of white candy melts (I used the vanilla ones from Hobby Lobby)
-One Tbsp Crisco solid shortening
-One black and one orange edible writing pens (Amazon)
Steps:
- Combine the cookie crumbs and cream cheese (I added the cream cheese to the cookie crumbs that I had just crushed that were still in the food processor
- Line a rimmed cookie sheet with waxed paper
- Using a 1/2 inch scoop (head) and a 1 inch scoop (body) shape the truffles into equal numbers of each.
- Put the balls on the cookie sheet and refrigerate for at least an hour
- Once the truffle pieces are chilled, melt the candy melts. (I followed the directions on the package using the microwave.)
- Stir in the tablespoon of Crisco shortening.
- Now comes the fun part. Take the chilled parts and assemble the snowmen āļø by putting a toothpick all the way through the head segment and then thru the top of the body segment. Do this to all the snowmen āļø.
- Now carefully dip the snowmen āļø into the melted candy mixture.
- Using a fork under each snowman āļø let the excess liquid drain off and then carefully place the guy on the waxed paper.
- One by one, dip, drain and place on the tray. As soon as you place him on the tray wiggle the toothpick out of the snowman āļø. If thereās a hole at the top, cover it with a little drop of liquid.
- Once the guys āļøare all hardened, decorate with the edible markers!
- Enjoyāļøāļøāļø!!!!
Arenāt these snowmen āļø truffles soooo cute?! And they tasted delicious. My advice to you is to make these this weekend! Bring them to your Super Bowl Party. If itās cold by you, make these as a winter treat. If itās warm (like here in California š), make them and smile. You wonāt regret it!āļøāļøāļø
P.S. Please note many of the photos in this post were taken by my lovely and talented friend, Gail Margarites.
