Autumn Afternoon Tea Celebrating a Glorious Season
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As autumn leaves drift softly outside your window and a gentle chill calls for something warm, it's the perfect moment to gather for an Autumn Afternoon Tea. Picture yourself pouring spiced tea into dainty cups while the scents of scones, pumpkin treats, and cinnamon-laced pastries fill the air. An afternoon tea in fall is not only cozy-it's a celebration of the season's flavors and colors.
Whether you're hosting friends, marking a special occasion, or simply enjoying the quiet beauty of the season, this guide brings together everything you need: a collection of savory tea party food, tea party desserts, tea sandwiches, seasonal gatherings, such as a Christmas tea party, and hosting ideas for a memorable autumn table.
Autumn Afternoon Tea Recipes
These fall-inspired recipes make up the heart of an autumn tea. Choose a few to create a seasonal spread that feels special and that your guests will surely love.
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victoriamag.com
2
victoriamag.com
Ginger Cake with Poached Pears
Robust on its own, deftly spiced Ginger Cake with Poached Pears reaches new heights with chocolate-covered walnuts and drizzles of butterscotch sauce.
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3
Easy Pumpkin Spice Trifle
This Pumpkin Trifle is a beautiful fall dessert featuring layers of pumpkin bread, pumpkin mascarpone cream, and whipped cream topped with gingersnaps and pecans. It's easy to make ahead, stunning on the table, and tastes like pumpkin pie in trifle form-rich, creamy, and irresistibly festive.
Pumpkin Trifle Recipe
4
victoriamag.com
Abraham Lincoln Pumpkin Puddings
"Abraham Lincoln Pumpkin Puddings pay homage to our forefather's role in preserving Thanksgiving as a cherished American custom."
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5
victoriamag.com
Pumpkin Tarts with Salted Caramel Nuts
These Pumpkin Tarts with Salted Caramel Nuts are a decadent fall treat for guests at an afternoon tea.
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6
Pumpkin Bundt Cake: Easy Fall Cake
This Pumpkin Bundt Cake is tender and rich with the flavors of fall. An incredibly easy cake to make, beautiful to serve, and delicious with a velvety vanilla Cream Cheese Icing.
Pumpkin Bundt Cake Recipe
7
Easy Apple Spice Bundt Cake
Apple Spice Bundt Cake is one of the easiest, prettiest, most delicious apple spice cakes you can make. Made with fresh apples and warm fall spices, it's soft and tender with a stick to your fork moist crumb.
Apple Spice Bundt Cake
8
victoriamag.com
Rosemary Shortbread with Pear Preserves
"Guests discover an intriguing herbal note in Rosemary Shortbread with Pear Preserves. The golden mellow fruit offers a pleasant contrast to the hint of fragrant woodsy character in these delightful cookie sandwiches."
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9
victoriamag.com
Toasted Pecan Shortbread Cookies with Buttercream Filling
"Buttercream frosting sandwiched between traditional pecan shortbread halves is a welcome update to the classic cookie."
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10
Spiced Sugar Cookie Recipe
Spice Sugar Cookies are soft, buttery, shaped cookies deliciously infused with warm spices and perfect for the season. Whether you serve them for Thanksgiving or as a fall tea cookie.
Spiced Sugar Cookie Recipe
11
teatimemagazine.com
Pumpkin Cakes
"Filled with Cream Cheese Frosting, these Pumpkin Cakes are a rich fall dessert." And perfect for an Autumn Afternoon Tea.
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12
victoriamag.com
Pumpkin Mousse Tartlets
Filled with rich spices and topped with Sweetened Whipped Cream, these Pumpkin Mousse Tartlets will be the star of your afternoon tea.
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13
dashofmandi.com
Sweet Potato Crostini With Brie, Pear, & Honey
A beautiful savory finger food filled with fall flavors.
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14
Easy Mini Plum Tart Recipe
One of the simplest treats you can make, these plum tarts are delicious and bring beautiful color to your tea table.
Mini Plum Tarts Recipe
15
Mini Cranberry Pecan Goat Cheese Balls Appetizer
Mini Cranberry Pecan Goat Cheese Balls, a festive, delicious appetizer or snack for the holidays, that's so simple and easy it will become your go-to recipe. Packed with cranberries, pecans, fresh parsley and seasoned with cinnamon and honey. It's incredibly delicious.
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16
Apple and Turkey Tea Sandwiches Recipe
Savor the flavors of the season with our apple and turkey tea sandwiches. Perfect for autumn afternoon tea or a festive Thanksgiving spread.
Apple Tea Sandwiches Recipe
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teatimemagazine.com
Turkey-Apple Tea Sandwiches
"You will fall in love with these delectable Turkey-Apple Tea Sandwiches. Turkey-Apple Tea Sandwiches pictured with Olive-Cheese Puff-Pastry Flowers and Curried Egg Salad Triple Stacks."
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18
teatimemagazine.com
Kale-Pecan Pesto and Turkey Tea Sandwiches
"Turkey and a kale-pecan pesto are layered in these Kale-Pecan Pesto and Turkey Tea Sandwiches."
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19
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches Recipe
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches are a traditional finger sandwich for afternoon tea, brunches, showers, or gatherings of many kinds. These cucumber sandwiches are easy to make and delightful for your next tea party.
Cucumber Tea Sandwiches Recipe
20
iwashyoudry.com
Turkey Cranberry Pinwheels
Mix it up with these Turkey Cranberry Pinwheels… "It doesn't get any easier than this 5 ingredient pinwheel! Chive and Onion cream cheese, deli turkey meat, spinach, a few dried cranberries and a large tortilla!"
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21
delish.com
Cranberry Brie Bites
A quick and easy finger food for afternoon tea. It comes together in seconds and always a favorite.
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22
teatimemagazine.com
Pork and Mushroom Puff Pastry Swirls
"Ground pork, mushrooms, and a honey-mustard sauce combine to make Pork and Mushroom Puff Pastry Swirls a delicious teatime savory."
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23
teatimemagazine.com
Salmon-Cucumber Canapes with Wasabi Aioli
"These scrumptious salmon canapés are perfect any time of day."
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24
teatimemagazine.com
Apple-Chicken Sausage Crostini with Apple-Kale Slaw
"Crisp apples, chicken, sausage, kale, and tangy vinaigrette slaw combine to make savory teatime crostini bites."
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25
teatimemagazine.com
Heirloom Tomato Crostini
"This Heirloom-Tomato Crostini is a flavorful bite of Campari tomato, fresh basil, and Boursin cheese."
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26
teatimemagazine.com
Bacon Dip and Sweet Potato Canapes
"Make your own sweet potato chips in the microwave for these Bacon Dip and Sweet Potato Canapés… or a bag of store-bought chips works too!"
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27
teatimemagazine.com
Pumpkin-Leek Tarts
Prosciutto, leeks, and fresh thyme add a savory flavor to pumpkin in these Pumpkin-Leek Tarts.
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28
Simple Pecan Tassies Recipe
Tiny, bite-size Pecan Tassies are a delicious, chewy, and decadent pecan-filled pastry with a cookie-like crust. This southern-inspired treat is an all-time favorite, and incredibly simple to make for the holidays, or anytime you're craving pecan pie.
Pecan Tassies Recipe
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Mini Bakewell Tarts Recipe
These Mini Bakewell Tarts are a delightful twist on the classic British dessert, made with buttery shortcrust pastry, raspberry jam, and almond frangipane filling. Perfect for afternoon tea or anytime you want a charming, bite-sized treat.
Mini Bakewell Tarts Recipe
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Rose Zucchini Tartlets
These tartlets are easy and elegant teatime savories. They are simple to make with a handful of ingredients, such as puff pastry, zucchini, summer squash, olive oil, and herbs. These bite-size appetizers are a delicious way to celebrate the season!
Rose Zucchini Tartlets Recipe
31
victoriamag.com
Roasted Butternut Squash Tart with Cinnamon-Molasses Crust
"Culminate the celebration with Roasted Butternut Squash Tart, where a thick cinnamon-molasses crust is crowned with a whipped cream-cheese filling, slices of the vibrant gourd, and walnuts."
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32
Sweet Potato Soup Recipe
This Sweet Potato Soup is an incredibly delicious vegetable soup that's naturally vegan, velvety in texture, and fragrant with herbs and spices. And quick to make in 30 minutes or less.
Sweet Potato Soup Recipe
33
victoriamag.com
Butternut SquashPear Soup
"Butternut Squash-Pear Soup - Delight in the complexity of our Butternut Squash-Pear Soup. The popular harvest gourd-roasted with garlic until tender-joins the succulent Bartlett variety in a velvety purée that includes onion, shallot, and chicken broth. Rosemary and ginger lend woodsy, Asian flair, and shaved Parmesan crowns the flavorful bisque."
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34
teatimemagazine.com
Curried Squash Soup
"A bowl of velvety Curried Squash Soup is a perfect addition to any fall tea."
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35
Carrot Apple Soup
A creamy, pureed, fall-inspired soup with seasonal apples is a delicious and warming accompaniment to autumn tea.
Carrot Apple Soup Recipe
36
Sweet Potato Scones with Maple Glaze
When autumn leaves fall to the ground and burnt orange, rust, and crimson trails are left on tree-lined streets, you know it's time to bake a batch of Sweet Potato Scones. Deliciously flaky yet soft, these teatime scones taste like fall in every bite, with familiar flavors you won't soon forget.
Sweet Potato Scones
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Royal Currant Scones Recipe
A Royal Currant Scones Recipe, from the archives of Queen Elizabeth, to serve with afternoon tea, or anytime you're craving an authentic British style scone.
Royal Currant Scones Recipe
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teatimemagazine.com
Parmesan-Rosemary Scones
Fresh rosemary adds a taste of fall to these Parmesan-Rosemary Scones.
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39
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Scones
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Scones are an incredible, tender, delicious fall scone perfect for breakfast or brunch, with coffee, or for tea. Simple to make in minutes, they are addictively yummy!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Scones Recipe
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teatimemagazine.com
Vanilla Bean Scones
"These vanilla bean scones have just a hint of vanilla and taste even better served with a spiced pear compote."
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41
Apple Cinnamon Scones Recipe
These Apple Cinnamon Scones are flaky, tender, and utterly delicious. Topped with maple cinnamon glaze, they are easy and perfect for fall.
Apple Cinnamon Scones Recipe
42
themerchantbaker.com
43
inspiredtaste.net
Perfectly Spiced Pumpkin Scones
Inspired by Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Scones, these are packed with pumpkin and delicious fall spices.
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44
Scottish Oat Maple Scones
These Scottish Oat Maple Scones are crumbly and robust with that favorite maple flavor we all love. Perfect with a cup of tea and a dab of Irish butter.
Scottish Oat Maple Scones Recipe
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Honey Drizzled Scottish Oat Scones
These tender, flaky scones have delicate buttery layers, moistened with buttermilk, and sweetened with raisins. Truly, it's a hearty scone you won't soon forget.
Honey Drizzled Scottish Oat Scones
46
15-Minute Easy Pumpkin Scones
With 3 simple ingredients… and 15 minutes, these pumpkin scones are incredibly easy. Almost not a recipe at all.
15 Minute Pumpkin Scones
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victoriamag.com
Gingerbread-Pear Loaf
"Gingerbread-Pear Loaf holds a surprise: tart Bosc pears that reveal their shapely forms when the bread is sliced."
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48
Irish Barmbrack Tea Cake
Irish Barmbrack Tea Cake is an utterly delicious, speckled tea bread, much like Irish Freckle Bread, that's moist, tender, and perfect for teatime. It is an irresistible loaf that's quicker and lighter than Christmas bread and is often served in October.
Irish Barmbrack Tea Cake Recipe
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Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Maple Glaze
Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Maple Glaze is a healthier apple cake recipe made with yogurt and grated apple. Warm spices permeate this delicious and easy cake and an unforgettable brown sugar maple glaze is drizzled just before serving.
Apple Loaf Cake Recipe
50
Harvest Maple Sweet Potato Bread
Harvest Sweet Potato Bread, much like pumpkin bread, is a moist and delicious, richly spiced fall quick bread. A welcome addition to the Thanksgiving dessert table, or fall gatherings.
Harvest Sweet Potato Bread Recipe
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Apple Oatmeal Muffins
My favorite bake shop inspires these fall muffins! They're soft and tender, lightly sweetened naturally or with brown sugar, and are filled with irresistibly delicious warm autumn spices.
Apple Oatmeal Muffins Recipe
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Carrot Cake Muffins
These easy muffins are packed with sweet, natural carrot flavors and rich with warm spices in an easy-to-make recipe. They're delicious and perfect for the season!
Carrot Cake Muffins Recipe
53
Homemade Clotted Cream
This easy homemade clotted cream recipe takes just 5 minutes and 3 ingredients-a quick, creamy substitute for traditional clotted cream, perfect with scones and afternoon tea.
Homemade Clotted Cream Recipe
54
Refrigerator Spiced Peach Jam Recipe
Refrigerator Peach Jam is a late summer standby. It's a simple, sweet preserve with a hint of cinnamon. A small-batch, one jar at a time recipe I love.
Spiced Peach Jam Recipe
Whether it's a simple gathering around your table with tea and sweet treats, an afternoon tea with friends, or a heartier offering later in the day, the autumn season is a glorious time to celebrate friendships and delicious cups of fragrant warm tea.
To learn the differences between Afternoon Tea and High Tea, visit our British afternoon tea post.
Hosting an Autumn Tea.
Let's get inspired by these simple and easy yet beautiful ideas for hosting your own Autumn Tea.
1. Create An Autumn Afternoon Tea Menu
From the first warming cup of tea to the last, your guests will be delighted as they gather around your tea table.
The autumn menu should reflect the season's favorite flavors, with fall spices-like cinnamon, fragrant cloves, and crunchy peppercorns-or ingredients like pears, pumpkin, warming soups, and sweet treats like salted caramel.
2. Polish the Silver
Get a jumpstart on the season by polishing your silver and celebrating with an Autumn Tea Party. This set is a stunning sterling silver Gorham Strasbourg teapot.
3. Use Autumn Themed China
If you're fortunate to have autumn china, serve with seasonal elements and bite-size sweets.
I'm always searching at Replacements.com to augment my favorite fall china patterns. Amazon also offers some darling and beautiful fall-themed china patterns.
4. Serving Autumn Afternoon Tea Courses
Chloe Hemery, head pastry chef at London's Milestone Hotel, has served tea to Queen Elizabeth. She says, "There's the savoury course with tea sandwiches, the scones course served with clotted cream and jam, and, finally, the third course of sweet pastries."
Afternoon tea generally consists of three courses, although some teas may serve more or fewer courses. To browse more tea recipes, see these posts:
Afternoon Tea at 31Daily
More Teatime posts from recipes to seasonal teas, and more.
- Lemon Madeleines Recipe
- February Afternoon Tea: A Valentine's Day Celebration
- Easy Make Ahead Tea Sandwiches
- Classic British Bread and Butter Pudding (A Royal Favorite)
See more Afternoon Tea →
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Great recipes. Going to try a few this weekend at our quilters tea. Can't get much better: quilts,goodies,friends and a beautiful fall day. Thank you Patti
Hi Stephanie,
Just wondering if you have the recipe for the turkey apple goat cheese tea sandwiches image #24 on this site. When I click on the link the recipe does not load. Any ideas on where to find this recipe?
Hi Corrie-- I am so disappointed. This is a great recipe and I had it printed and in my autumn tea file but for some reason, it's gone missing. Thank you for letting me know. I can't find the recipe online anywhere. This recipe is close but not exact. For the herbed goat cheese, I would plan on rolling the log of goat cheese in about 1/3 cup of chopped fresh herbs like dill, rosemary, or parsley. I will remove the link tomorrow so If you want to save the image for inspiration-- If the recipe ever pops back up, I'll add it back. They are really good!
Stephanie,
Thank you so very much for your quick reply. Sorry to bother you so much I have been on all your tea sites this week planning for my festive tea and so appreciate your responses. I have tried to search for this as well. I did take a screen shot of the sandwich for reference and have looked at the other link you sent. So much content on your tea sites, can't make up my mind on what to actually make. Thank you again for your time and help. I am sure you will probably hear from me again. Have a super day.
Anytime! I love hearing from you, and planning teas. I'd love to hear what you decide on. Happy planning!
Hi Stephanie. I belong to an eight-member Tea Ladies group. We take turns hosting each month at our respective homes. I just hosted in June- my theme was “Cats in Teacups!” I host again in October- looking forward to trying some of the delicious sounding recipes you provided as I plan a fall menu. Our founding member (now in a different state) wrote about 18 plays/skits to be presented during each part of a tea. We have done several. I have the last one-“The Case of the Missing Quilt Caper.” So I will provide the ladies with the scripts! Decorations will be a combination of Fall and quilts! I’m the only quilter, but that doesn’t matter!
Hi Phyllis! We are kindred spirits-- tea and cozy mysteries! Your theme was darling and I'm sure all of your members loved it. I so wish we had a forum to upload photos of our teas as I would have loved to see yours. You're fortunate to be able to close out your season with a fall tea. Thank you for sharing and for reading the autumn tea post. I hope you find some inspiring ideas-- I'd love to hear how your fall tea turns out!
This afternoon fall tea looks amazing! My sister, daughter and nieces do tea frequently and this looks better than most we have attended. I will make recipes from this post. Now I can’t wait till fall (my favorite season) to get here! Thank you !!
Hi Barb! I absolutely love an autumn tea. I'm so glad you liked the post! Have fun with your tea! I'm already thinking about pumpkins too!
The autumn teapot and cups were beautiful! What is the name of the China?
Isn’t is gorgeous? It is Richard Ginori’s Siena-Rust. Here is a link to Replacements.com - https://www.replacements.com/webquote/ginsie.htm
And the second teapot is Indian Tree by Spode -- https://www.replacements.com/p/spode-indian-tree-orange-rustscallopred-trim-teapot-lid/sp-intor/59998011
Fabulous website, joyous & easy to read...I’m telling a bunch of my teatime lady friends. Thx!
Thank you, Jayne! There’s nothing more enjoyable than teatime and friends!
This post will be a resource for years to come. However, the link for the “15 Minute Pumpkin Scone” recipe is actually a duplicate of the “Apple Cinnamon Scone” recipe above it. I’d really like the Pumpkin Scone recipe, so if you update that, please let me know. Thanks.
Thank you so much, Karen! I hadn't caught that -- so appreciate you're bringing it to my attention. Have updated the link!
This post will be a resource for years to come! However, the link for the “15 Minute Pumpkin Scones” recipe is incorrect. It is actually a duplicate of the link for the “Apple Cinnamon Scone” recipe above it. Please let me know if you update to provide the correct link, as that pumpkin scone recipe is what I wanted most (although I am saving several others, too). Thank you.
Now THIS is a blog post! My goodness, I don't even know where to start. Beautiful pictures and delicious recipes. Lovely experience just reading this and I hope to actually make several of these recipes for a fall baby shower. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Donna! It was such a pleasure to write! Have fun with your baby shower. Those are special times!