Tea Room Recipe #37 - Magnolia & Ivy (Columbus, Ga. and Sandestin, Fla.)

This week's recipe is for a Fall Tea Spread which is easy, delicious, and something new in the way of fall tea sandwiches. Often, fall-themed tea sandwiches involve thin slices of apple and maybe some peanut butter edges dipped in pecans or walnuts. This spread, however, is those nutty and apple flavors combined in one quick whirl-in-the-food-processor step!

The recipe comes from the cookbook "Southern Teatime Made Easy" from Magnolia & Ivy, a beloved (and now gone) tea room I had the pleasure of visiting at both its Columbus, Ga. and Sandestin, Fla. locations.

The Fall Tea Spread was a real hit with my husband and me. We both ate the sandwiches and enjoyed them, and he said the spread would be great on a nice, fluffy biscuit. I was thinking it would be nice spread atop a thin, crisp cookie as well. However you try it, I think you'll agree that having a tea spread with the sweet tastes of fall is something different!

Fall Tea Spread

2 apples, peeled and chopped into chunks (I used Granny Smith)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup brown sugar

Combine all ingredients in food processor and pulse until mixture reaches desired consistency. (I judged mine by looking to make sure the raisins were all chopped.) Serve on honeywheat or wheat bread cut into shapes, such as those I made with my fall leaf cookie cutters. Yields 40 tea sandwiches. (Note: I halved the recipe since there were just two of us, and we quickly gobbled up every bit of it!)