Cindy made Curried Chicken Sandwiches. She said they were a huge pain to cut into perfect little rectangles, but they looked fantastic and tasted great. I kept going back for more even though I was stuffed.

Colin made Black Forest Ham and Gruyere Sandwiches. I understand why tea sandwiches tend to use soft bread with the crust removed for aesthetics and daintiness of eating, but I really liked the heartier crusty bread he used.

Alyssa made Cucumber Watercress Sandwiches with Lemon Chive Butter. As pretty much the only item on the table with fresh greens, these were a refreshing treat. I loved the Lemon Chive Butter. Cucumber sandwiches make me feel I’m at a proper tea but I tend to find them boring; these, however, were the best I’ve ever had!

Tao went off-book and made his own recipe for Veggie Wraps. He even home-made the wrap itself. They were tasty, but he gets a demerit for not using the cookbook 😉

Erin and Mollie made the Turkey Chili. They said when they first tasted the chili, it was very bland, so they ended up adding a lot more of the spices than what the recipe called for. It was great to have the chili to counter-balance all of the bread and sweets!

Alyssa also made Lavender Earl Grey Scones. Earl Grey-flavored everything seems to be a trend right now, but I’m enjoying it. Instead of using cream to coat the top of the scone, she used buttermilk, which gave them more of a sheen. As a bonus she made Maple Butter – a wonderful accompaniment for the scones!

Shayna made Bacon Cheddar Scones. I was really excited about these because I love bacon and cheese and they looked gorgeous. Surprisingly, I preferred the sweeter scones. These were drier and not as cheesy as I was hoping for.

I made Lemon Poppy Seed Scones. I am a fan of lemon-flavored baked goods, and these fit the bill. I thought they came out great, even though I forgot to put the cream coating on until they were half baked. I would definitely make them again – next time with the cream on from the start!

Hui Ye made Buttermilk Scones. To go with them, she brought shortcut clotted cream (made with cream cheese and sour cream) and raspberry preserves. I ate a lot of this combo when I was in Scotland, and this brought back happy memories of that trip.

Heather tried to make Pumpkin Scones, but the dough was way too wet. It seems there might be an error with that recipe, as it calls for double the amount of liquids as the other scone recipes. As a last-minute replacement, she gave up on the cookbook and made these stunning Apple Rose Tarts.

Shaz made Ginger Molasses Cookies. The recipe calls for ground ginger. She used fresh ginger, not realizing that ground ginger is a lot stronger. So she ended up making three batches, each with progressively more fresh ginger. I tried the most gingery version and think it still could have used a bit more ginger.

Anthony made Peanut Butter Ganache Cake. The chocolate cake was incredibly moist, the peanut butter frosting was rich, and the dark chocolate ganache cut through the sweetness nicely. It presented well too. Great cake for a party.

Kamy made Banana Nutella Cake. This has alternating layers of banana cake and Nutella, all coated in cream cheese frosting. I am not a huge fan of banana flavored things, so I just wanted to scrape up all the Nutella and cream cheese frosting. Might just be my own personal bias.

Sheana made Indian-Spiced Chai Tea-Infused Creme Brûlée. I’ve yet to meet a creme brûlée I didn’t like, especially if it’s flavored. This one was no exception. The spicy-ness of the chai flavor is a great complement to the sweetness. I actually even wished the chai was stronger.