Tea Infused Scones for Afternoon Tea Week
You can’t beat the classic scone with strawberry jam and clotted cream for Afternoon Tea, but sometimes we need to venture out of our comfort zone and try something a little bit different. Why not try one of these five tea infused scone recipes? You never know, it may turn out to be your new favourite.
Earl Grey Scones with Blueberry and Lemon Compote
The subtle flavour of bergamot from the Earl Grey tea infused in this recipe goes perfectly with fruity blueberry and lemon. Classic scones with a difference!
Serves 12
Ingredients:
For the scones:
- 150ml milk
- 3 tsps of Royal Earl Grey
- 375g plain flour
- 20g baking powder
- 75g cold butter, cut into small cubes
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 eggs, plus extra for glazing
For the blueberry compote:
- 500g blueberries
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 150ml Greek yogurt
Method:
- Heat the milk to boiling point in a saucepan, then add the tea and remove from the heat. Leave to infuse until the milk has cooled to room temperature, then strain the tea leaves.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas mark 7. Put the flour and baking powder in a large bowl and add the butter. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir through the sugar.
- Whisk the eggs with the cooled milk, then add this to the flour. Mix until it comes together to form a soft dough. The mixture should feel quite sticky and wet – if it’s too dry, add a splash more milk. Lightly flour your work surface and tip the dough on to the surface. Knead the dough gently by folding it in half, turning 90° and then folding again, repeating this process a couple of times until the dough feels smooth. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 3cm and cut out your scones using a scone cutter, reworking the offcuts together again to ensure you use all the dough.
- Place the scones on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, making sure they have enough space around them to rise. Leave for approximately 30-45 minutes at room temperature. Glaze the tops with beaten egg and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown.
- Put the blueberries in a pan with the lemon zest and juice. Heat over a medium heat and cook for 8 minutes, until the blueberries have started to break down. Mix the cornflour with a splash of water and mix to a paste. Add to the blueberries and continue to cook for a further couple of minutes, until thick and jammy. Leave to cool, then serve the scones with the compote and yogurt.
Honey and Black Tea Infused Scones
The black tea is subtle, giving them just the right amount of tea infused flavour. As tea is used over cream, they are incredibly light, airy and fluffy.
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
- 500g of flour
- 100g of sugar
- 5 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- 180g of butter, cubed
- 1 egg
- 1 cup black tea, room temperature
- 3 Tbsp. honey
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, baking powder and salt.
- Add in butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- In a bowl, combine egg, black tea and honey until well mixed. Drizzle the mixture in with the food processor on low, allowing it to come together.
- Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it out to about ½ thick.
- Use a square-shaped cookie cutter to cut as many scones as possible from the dough. Lay them on the parchment, about 1 inch apart. Repeat with the remaining dough until you have used it all.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until just golden. Cool on a baking rack.
Lemon and English Breakfast Tea Infused Scones
The English Breakfast flavour combined with lemon gives these light and delicious scones just the right balance of tea and citrus, made even more tasty when used with clotted cream, a smidgen of lemon curd, and a cup of tea.
Makes 8 Scones
Ingredients:
Tea Infusion:
- 175ml whole milk
- 2tbsp of English Breakfast Loose Leaf
Scones:
- 350g self-raising flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1tsp baking powder
- 85g chopped cold unsalted butter
- 2 heaped tbsp caster sugar
- 1 1/2 lemons, zested
- 1 egg
Method:
- Preheat your fan oven to 200C degrees.
- Put 2 tbsp of loose leaf English Breakfast into a pan with the milk. Bring it to a boil then immediately turn it down and simmer for 5 minutes. After it’s simmered, place the lid on your pan and leave it to cool.
- Once it’s cooled, strain the leaves from the milk. Squeeze a small amount of lemon juice into your milk and give it a quick stir.
- Next sieve in all of the flour, salt, baking powder and caster sugar into a mixing bowl.
- Add the butter into the mixing bowl. Top tip: make sure it’s chopped into small chunks so it’s easier to mix in. Rub the ingredients together with cold fingertips until you have a fine bread crumb consistency.
- Grate in your lemon zest and gently mix it into the ‘bread crumb’ mixture.
- Make a well in the middle of your bowl of crumbs and pour the infused milk into the middle of the hole. Use a fork to start bringing your mixture together.
- Once your mixture starts to come together, cast aside your fork and get in there with your hands to bring it all together into a dough.
- Dust your surface and rolling pin, then put your dough in the middle. Sprinkle a small dusting of flour on the top of the dough – not too much.
- Roll out your dough to around 4cm thick and use a cookie cutter to chop out the scone shapes.
- Put your scones onto a baking tray that’s been lined with baking paper and brush the tops with your egg.
- Bake! They’ll need 10-15 minutes – look for a golden-brown colour.
- Serve warm with clotted cream, lemon curd, and a cup of English Breakfast.
Matcha Tea Infused Scones
Add a delicious Japanese twist to your Afternoon Tea. The matcha green tea gives these scones a refreshing, leafy flavour. Chocolate chunks provide a layer of sweetness that offsets any bitterness from the matcha.
Serves 4 people
Ingredients:
- 100g flour
- 5g baking powder
- 25g sugar
- 10g matcha powder
- 20ml oil
- 45ml milk
- 60g white chocolate
Instructions:
- Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, baking powder, sugar and matcha powder).
- Add the oil to the bowl and stir.
- Break the chocolate into small pieces. Add the chocolate to the bowl and mix.
- Gradually pour the milk into the mixture. When it starts to develop a dough-like consistency, place and knead on a floured surface.
- Roll it until it is about 1 inch thick. Cut the dough in round shapes.
- Place them on a baking tray and brush the tops of the scones with a bit of milk.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven (170 degrees Celsius) for about 15-20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes. Serve with your choice of tea, cream and jam.
Camomile and Lavender Tea Scones
Makes 6-8 scones
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp plus 1/4 tsp dried lavender tea
- 1 tbsp plus 1/4 tsp Camomile tea
- 250g of flour, plus more for rolling out
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 100g of sugar
- 5 tbsp cold butter, cut into small cubes
- 240ml of thick cream
- 100g of icing sugar
- 3-4 tbsps of whole milk
- 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste (vanilla extract is fine, you just won’t get the specks of vanilla bean)
Method:
- Place a baking rack at the centre of the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Grind the lavender and camomile tea to a fine powder. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the lavender, camomile, flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
- Add the butter, tossing the cubes with the flour mixture and flattening the small cubes with your fingers, rubbing some of the butter into the flour.
- Add cream and stir with a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula until a dough forms. Place the dough onto a floured surface. Form the dough into a circle and roll the top flat, about 3/4 of an inch thick.
- For round scones, use a biscuit cutter or a water glass to cut circles from the dough. Place the circles onto the baking sheet, and baking for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden.
- As the scones cool, mix powdered sugar with the honey and warm milk, splashing the milk into the mixture until a mixture which you can stir forms. Allow the glaze to set before serving.