Chicken Apple Salad Tea Sandwiches

My friend Debbie and are planning to host a tea later this year, so we ordered several sample-size packages of tea from Tea Embassy in Austin, Texas . 

We're looking, in particular, for dessert teas, which is why so many in the picture are fruity.

Of course, one can't simply sip tea after tea without something to eat, so we put together our own little informal tea party.

Tea for two, if you will.

Debbie brought some delicious cream scones.

Trust me, I'll be hounding her for the recipe for these babies.

Since we're thinking fall for our tea, I made some miniature spice cake cupcakes.

With cream cheese frosting, of course.

But we needed a savory. Something, preferably with apples and maybe a hint of spice. So I grabbed an apple, pulled a leftover grilled chicken breast out of the fridge and set to work.

When you're talking miniature food, these big ol slices of chicken just won't do, so I chopped them up fairly fine.

Then I tossed the chicken into a bowl and set to work on the apple, chopping it into tiny pieces, also.

I added the apple to the chicken, along with about a half teaspoon of cinnamon (because cinnamon goes very well with apples), and stirred everything together.

Next, I chopped up some toasted pecans and added those, along with approximately three tablespoons of mayonnaise. You're welcome to add more if you like, I just didn't want the mayo to overpower all of the other flavors.

Now for the sandwiches. But what if there was something we could do in leu of sandwiches. Something small and fun. I had some frozen phyllo cups, so I filled four of those. But since I still had plenty of chicken salad left over, I decided to do a few sandwiches for comparison purposes. One might taste better than the other.

They were both delicious, but Debbie and I agreed that the phyllo cups were just a tad better. Maybe because they were out of the ordinary.

Over the next two hours, Debbie and I ate, sipped tea and talked until our jaws hurt. Some of the teas were hits, others not so much. This is why the small packages are so nice. And we set a date for our tea. The next mission--come up with a menu. You know that'll be fun.

Have you ever hosted a tea? What are some of your favorite bite-sized morsels?

Three time Carol Award finalist Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more a mindyobenhaus.com.