Freedom Leaf Recipes: High Tea

A proper British-style high tea—a light meal eaten in the late afternoon or early evening—requires a nice selection of teas and an assortment of dainty sandwiches, and scones served with jam and clotted cream. To make it a truly high tea, all you have to do is add cannabis. I use decarboxylated dry-ice kief to medicate most of the items at my ganja-infused tea parties, since it pretty much disappears into the sandwich spreads and fillings, and it’s easy to dissolve into the honey I like to serve with tea; you can skip the honey altogether and stir some decarbed dry-ice kief directly into hot tea. To decarboxylate, simply place the kief in a ramekin or ovenproof dish and bake for 20 minutes at 250 degrees F.

Medicated Honey

Use this honey to add some medicated sweetness to your tea.

1/2 cup honey 1 gm. decarboxylated kief

Place honey in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add kief and heat, stirring constantly, until kief is dissolved. Cool. Serve with hot tea, with either lemon or milk.

Blueberry Orange Scones

You can’t have a proper high tea without scones. I’ve often found traditional scones to be dry and bland, so I changed that with the addition of fresh blueberries and a sweet orange syrup glaze that makes these medicated scones moist and
flavorful (although you can also serve them with jam and the traditional Devonshire, or clotted, cream).

Scones:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. cannabis-infused butter
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup plus
1 tbsp. heavy cream
2 tbsp. coarse raw sugar, optional

Glaze:

1/4 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
Grated zest from 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a baking sheet with a silicon mat or parchment paper. Place flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a food processor bowl and pulse to combine. Add butter and cannabutter, and pulse to combine until butter is incorporated into the flour in coarse crumbs. Transfer mixture to a medium-size bowl. If you don’t have a food processor, use a pair of forks or a pastry blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gently fold blueberries into the batter mixture, taking care not to mash blueberries. Make a well in the center. Add heavy cream and gently fold everything together until just incorporated. Work dough as little as possible; this will keep the scones tender. Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface and press it together into a rectangle-shaped log about 12 inches by 3 inches. Cut the log in half, then cut the pieces in half again, equaling 4 squares. Cut each square in half on a diagonal, equaling 8 triangles. Place each dough triangle on the prepared baking sheet; brush tops with a little cream. Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F. or until lightly browned. Remove and place on wire rack to cool. While the scones are baking, prepare the glaze. Mix orange and lemon juice with confectioners sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves and glaze is smooth. Whisk in the butter and orange zest and smooth out any lumps. Spoon glaze over scones. Sprinkle with coarse raw sugar, if desired. Serve warm or cooled. Makes 8 scones.

High Tea Sandwiches: Four Variations

Cute little tea sandwiches are a staple of any traditional high tea. A lot of recipes
call for plain old white bread, but I find it tends to get soggy. Instead, I use quality breads like sourdough, rye or pumpernickel. For a nice presentation, use a variety of different breads. Just make sure they’re thinly sliced and the crust is removed; cut off the crust and trim the remaining bread into squares or rectangles. For a slightly fancier but still easy-to-make presentation, use cookie cutters or the top of a glass to cut shapes or circles out of the crustless bread for your sandwiches. Each of these recipes makes eight small tea sandwiches.

Cucumber Tea Sandwiches with Lemony Dill Spread

These classic tea party cucumber sandwiches have so much flavor, thanks to the tangy, lemony dill spread, you probably won’t even notice the cannabis.

16 slices sourdough, rye and/or pumpernickel bread
1/2 large English (seedless) cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
2 oz. cream cheese 1 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. lemon zest, finely chopped
1/2 gm. decarboxylated kief
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper

Place cream cheese, dill, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, pepper and kief in a food processor bowl and blend until smooth and ingredients are incorporated; or mince all ingredients finely and use a fork to mash cream cheese and other ingredients together until smooth and well incorporated. Cut bread into sandwich shapes. Coat each sandwich bread with lemony dill spread. Add layer of thinly sliced cucumbers on bottom half of sandwich and top with second bread. Garnish tops of sandwiches with additional cucumber slices and dill sprigs.

Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches

Thinly sliced salmon adds a sophisticated smoky flavor to this popular tea sandwich.

8 slices sourdough, rye and/or pumpernickel bread
1/8 lb. thinly sliced smoked salmon
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. fresh dill, minced
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 gm. decarboxylated kief
Cucumber ribbons and dill sprigs for garnish, optional

In a small bowl, mix mayo, lemon juice, dill, salt, pepper and kief until well combined. Cut bread into sandwich shapes. Spread each sandwich bread with dill mayonnaise. Add layer of thinly sliced salmon on bottom half of sandwich and top with second bread. Garnish tops of sandwiches with a thinly sliced ribbon of cucumber and dill sprigs.

Egg & Olive Tea Sandwiches

Green olives give this medicated egg salad a lot of flavor and a touch of sophistication.

8 slices sourdough, rye and/or pumpernickel bread
3 boiled eggs, peeled and divided
1/4 cup finely chopped pimiento stuffed green olives
2 tbsp. celery, minced
1 tbsp. mayonnaise
1/2 gm. decarboxylated kief
1-1/2 tsp. whole-grain mustard
1-1/2 tsp. chopped fresh dill
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, optional
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive slices and dill sprigs for garnish, optional

Cut bread into desired sandwich shapes. In a small bowl, combine finely chopped eggs, olives, mayo, kief, mustard, dill, cayenne, salt and pepper. Use as sandwich filling for 8 small tea sandwiches. Garnish on top with a small sprig of fresh dill and an olive slice.

Roast Beef Tea Sandwiches

A tangy horseradish spread carries the medication for this tea sandwich variation.

16 slices sourdough, rye and/or pumpernickel bread
1/8 lb. thinly shaved roast beef
2 oz. cream cheese
2 tsp. prepared horseradish
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. green onion, minced
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 gm. decarboxylated kief
Cucumber strips or slices for garnish, optional

Place cream cheese, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, green onion, salt, pepper and kief in a food processor bowl. Blend until smooth and incorporated; or mince all ingredients finely and use a fork to mash the cream cheese and other ingredients together until smooth and well incorporated. Coat both sides of each sandwich with horseradish spread. Add a layer of thinly sliced roast beef on bottom half of sandwich and top with second bread. Garnish tops of sandwiches with additional cucumber slices.

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