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Cranberry herbal tea scones


I have often enjoyed tea with a scone, but this week I asked myself what it might be like to have tea IN a scone. Could it be done? Would it be good? The answers are yes and you betcha!

The tea syrup I made earlier this week was sitting in a large mason jar in the fridge, so I got to thinking. Pondering. Scheming up a recipe to use it in. The deep ruby-coloured syrup with its floral and citrus flavours got me thinking of cranberries. And where could I bury nearly a whole bag of dried crans and slip in some tea as well? The high society, high tea, yet honestly humble scone.


Here's how I made them:

1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
3 tbsp tea syrup
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees (F). In a small bowl, I beat together the milk and the egg. One tablespoon of the mixture was set aside. The tea syrup was then stirred into the larger portion of the wet mixture (I totally thought the scones would end up pink until I beat the syrup with the bright orange egg yolks and came up with grey. Oh well! It's not perfect, it's food). In a large mixing bowl, I whisked together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a hand pastry blender, I added the butter until coarse. The wet mixture was added to the dry mixture and stirred with a wooden spoon just to combine. The cranberries were then stirred in last. I turned the dough out onto a floured work surface and shaped it into a large disk, about 1/2 an inch thick, using my hands. As though cutting a pizza, I cut the dough into 8 wedges. The wedges were placed, evenly spaced, onto a parchment lined baking sheet.


Using a pastry brush, I brushed each scone with the reserved egg/milk mixture and sprinkled them with sugar. They baked in the oven for 18 minutes until the bottoms were gorgeous and golden.


A cup of tea is a perfect companion to one of these, of course. But having tea IN your baked treat? Well, that's really killing two birds with one scone.

Are you a lover of the scone? Do you eat them plain or with the traditional clotted cream and jam? Which way is the right way to say scone anyway? Tell me all about your weekend baking plans!