From The Tea Party Lady

You need:

A store bought poundcake

Your favorite jelly

Powdered Sugar (about 2 cups)

Water

Little squeeze tube gel icings

Little sugar cake decorations

Cut the poundcake it into thin slices (about 1/2") and trim the crust from all sides. Use two slices to make a jelly sandwich (if you will) but make sure it is a thin coating of jelly. Cut the "jelly on poundcake" sandwiches into fours squares and put the little squares into the freezer for a little while - (just until you are done making the icing below)

Use the powdered sugar and water and make your icing concoction. Add a tiny bits of water at a time until the mixture is smooth and drizzly. Then separate the icing into cups and add some food coloring to each one. (I did pink, yellow and light blue)

Get the poundcake sandwiches from the freezer and place them on a wire rack. (I guess a cookie sheet lined with wax paper would work too)

Spoon-drizzle the icing all over the cake until it is completely covered. When the icing has hardened and is completely dry you can decorate your "petit fours" with whatever you like. I used those little squeeze tube gel icings and put the girls first initial on some of them and then some of those little sugar cake decorations.

They were so cute......and relatively easy. They would be a great mother daughter tea party snack making project. I bet chocolate (oh, white chocolate) would work too! And then you could color the chocolate to like red or green for the holidays.

Here is a simple tea sandwich that kids love!

Banana and Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches

2 ripe bananas

1 cup softened cream cheese

1/4 cup cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

Mash the bananas until soft. Mix together with cream cheese then add cream and mayonnaise. Mix and spread on slices of white bread. Yummy! Always cut the crusts off but you can use those cookie cuters to make them into cute shapes - then just toss the crusts

And here's a simple cookie recipe.

Tea Time Cookies

¾ cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon almond extract

½ cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup sifted confectioners' sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350° F. Cream butter and sugars in a medium bowl until fluffy. Add egg and extracts; beat until smooth. In a small bowl, combine flour and salt. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture; stir until a soft dough forms. Chill dough 3-4 hours before rolling out. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut out cookies and transfer to a greased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browed. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with sugar or frost to decorate. Enjoy with your favorite cup of tea!

Colored Bread

Lots of bakeries will make colored bread if you just ask.......they should ask you too which way you want it sliced..........regular or long ways........when you cut the colored bread long ways you can make pinwheels - just spead your favorite spead from end to end and roll up into a tube - put that in the freezer .......then defrost and slice when you are ready........WE ALWAYS use them at our tea parties!

About the Author:

Lisa Marie owns and operates a children's tea party business in New Jersey. You can visit her online at www.teapartylady.com