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The perfect morning sometimes is waking up feeling rested, before Mei or Patella, cuddling with Patella when she realizes I’m up for the day, then taking care of Meo and feeding her so we can all head down to Patella out to potty and make breakfast. Patella likes to have us watch her eat breakfast in the kitchen or at the very least, know that we are around while she is eating – then she supervises my breakfast making. Today, it was a cranberry, raisin, white and milk chocolate scone and a cup of Earl Grey with milk. I made the scones yesterday just before making the chocolate zucchini cake and they have been teasing me with their sweet smell of cinnamon ever since! One bite of the delicious, light, chocolately warmth topped off the perfect morning!

If only someone would bring me this tea service in bed every morning...

I feel it my responsibility to learn to make decent scones, while living in England – and I came across a recipe that uses yogurt – meaning that, if handled correctly, each scone will be light and airy and rise just so, and I can put in any kind of filling I want and make it wonderful and special! My husband’s first scone was a raisin and milk chocolate and baked for him by his friend and neighbor – and it sealed the deal! It was the perfect on-the-way to work “meal” – since he rarely eats breakfast to begin with, it made both of us happy and was a great combination with his morning pot of coffee.

Seasonality is something that I consider when cooking or baking, and I try to be as seasonal as I can, especially when it comes to something so versatile! With a friend and her mother that visited us just recently, we bought (twice), the most plump and juicy blueberries I have had since living here and we made the best blueberry scones I have ever had!

the London skyline on oven mitts, how appropriate!

When I think of England, London Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, tea and scones come to mind. Scones were something I was determined to try every type I could find, and so was the tea. Somehow, the tea was easier. I figured, the best place to find scones would be at an afternoon tea! During the period after Christmas until just after New Years, a visiting friend from Italy and I were determined to find a good place to go and have afternoon tea. I have personally wanted to try the one at Harrod’s – though expensive, it was the most grand of them all and not too expensive, but I was pregnant and didn’t feel comfortable going to London or too far from home, anyways. So we found a place in Cambridge that was weird; and the bartender sat and stared at us the whole time, and generally, we confused my husband – who we drug along, with the size of tea sandwiches and the overall 12 pound cost of this meager “tea.”

After she left, of course I found the BEST PLACE EVER!!! It was a tea house, run by a man and his wife, who spent their years traveling for work, and during their travels, collected tea from around the world to one day run a teahouse. One of the owners, George, wears any color of cords you can imagine and wildly bizarre button down shirts, and is someone who I enjoy visiting with when I go for tea. We have been going almost twice a month since Mei was three weeks old, and we absolutely love it! The atmosphere is something akin to being in someone’s grandmother’s house, with many knick knacks, mis-matched tea sets, bread knifes, storage tins and other things adorning the walls. The hired help is warm and friendly, helping you to find something on the menu that you will enjoy and a pot of tea that will “hit the spot.” It is my ambition to try each and every one of their over 70 teas that they offer. Of their list, I have tried…. well… count them! (they are bolded…)

1 Peacocks Breakfast Tea – A bright, fragrant flavoursome cuppa: a blend of Assam & Ceylon teas
2 Ordinary Tea – A stronger tea that brews quickly: Assam, Ceylon and Kenya teas blended
3 Builders Tea – Stronger yet: with an extra spoonful for the pot: how our painter likes it
4 Decaff. Tea – A rich smooth Ceylon tea with all the flavour but no caffeine
5 Ceylon – A refreshing oaky medium-strong blend of tea from Sri Lanka
6.TaylorsYorkshire – A strongish blend mixed to console and cheer Hull City fans and other tykes
7 Russian Caravan – A tasty, slightly smoky blend, harking back to the days of camel caravans
8 Earl Grey – The famous English blend, flavoured with bergamot orange from Calabria       
9 Decaff. Earl Grey   – Ceylon tea, bergamot oil, but none of the caffeine; refreshing and delicate
10 Blue Lady – Better than Lady Grey, we think; a subtle mix with bergamot and lemon
11 Grapefruit EarlGrey – Deliciously refreshing variation on Earl Grey; our favourite Earl Grey
12 Lapsang Souchong – A smoky Chinese speciality; like Marmite you love it or hate it
13 Sherlock Holmes  – Earl Grey with Lapsang Souchong; our own mix: its elementary & good
14 Doctor Watson  – Our blend of Keemun, Darjeeling & Lapsang Souchong;: good with food
15 Moriarty  – Black Chai with delicious spices: star anise, pepper, cinnamon, fennel etc
16 Rose Congou – Sweetly fragrant rose-scented tea, ideal in the garden
17 Spring Tea     – China tea with raspberry & elderberry flavours juniper heather & more
18 Norfolk Lavender – China tea with lavender flowers from Heacham Mill; the scent of summer
19 Violet – China tea with violets: what better to accompany a Devon Cream Tea?
20 Lemon –  Flavoured with lemon and served with lemon slices: a tea to restore zest
21 Liquorice – For fans of Pomfret Cakes and Liquorice Allsorts, or just for a change
22 Vanilla – Gentle & exotic, an old favourite of ours to soothe the nerves at any time
23 Sweet Orange – A simple mix of black tea with the peel and essential oil of sweet oranges
24 Apple & Cinnamon – A warming blend with the aroma of apple pie
25 Arabic Tea – A simple favourite from the Middle East, spiced with cardamom and clove
26 Bengal Tiger – Flavoured with ginger, tasty tea with a bite: if you like ginger, you’ll love it
27 Cardamom  – Our recreation of a warm spicy blend we first came across in Mauritius
28 Keemun Best – Fragrant China tea from Anhui  a rich copper brew & slightly sweet taste
29 Yunnan – From the south-west China, it brews a rich, slightly earthy, malty flavour
30 Java    – A rich, golden-coloured brew from Indonesia, light and full of flavour
31 Darjeeling – A fragrant lighter Indian tea, from the foot hills of the Himalayas
32 Singbulli  – Early-picked, single-estate Darjeeling; a good breakfast tea
33 Ilam Valley – From Nepal with flowery tips for a delicate golden brew; well worth trying
34 Assam Special – Strong rich malty brew from north-east India; perfect in the morning
35 Nilgiri – From the Blue Mountains of south-west India: golden, brisk and fragrant
36 Lovers Leap – A famous, delicate, golden Ceylon tea, from Nuwara Eliya in the highlands
37 Kenya         – Specially made large leaf African tea with a smooth flavour
38 Kwazulu – A bright & rare South African tea, perfect to celebrate the 2010 World Cup
39 Margarets Hope – A light Darjeeling from a great tea garden; good without milk or lemon
40 Gorgie Best- From Georgia, via Paris; and a tribute to the worlds greatest player
41Tregothnan Classic – Real English tea  grown in Cornwall & blended with Assam & China tea
42 Autumn Blend  – China & Ceylon tea flavoured with fruits: quince fig grape hazelnut raisin
43 Kashmiri – Our first and best Chai: a rich blend of Indian spices, orange peel and more
44 Black Witch –  Dark spicy blend from Berlin including star anise, ginger, apple & cinnamon
45 ChocolateImperial- Chocolate and burnt caramel; rich, tempting and delicious; great with milk
46 Marco Polo – A real classic from Paris; with fruit & flowers of China & Tibet
47 Pleine Lune- Our favourite French tea; almonds, vanilla, honey etc; OTT & wonderful.
48 Billy Tea – From Queensland, mixed with Eucalyptus leaf & a bit of Lapsang Souchong

49 Moon Palace- Fine China Chun Mee; a smooth, sweetish yellow liquor with a hint of plum
50 Young Hyson- A historic China tea; picked in the early spring for a light fresh flavour
51GunpowderGreen – Rolled into small pellets; the amber liquor has a gentle herbal flavour.
52 Jasmine Blossom – Beautiful, fragrant tea, flavoured and decorated with jasmine flowers
53 Moroccan Mint- Green China Tea combined with spearmint for a refreshing N African tea
54Genmai Cha- Traditional Japanese blend of Bancha green tea and roasted brown rice
55Green Earl Grey- A delicate mix of China green tea with the citrus taste of bergamot
56 Blue River- A  Parisian blend of Green tea with fruit and flowers
57 Cerisier – A delightful cherry-blossom scented Japanese sencha tea: perfectly relaxing
58 Marengo- With a fruity North German flavour of sanddorn (sea buckthorn): delicious
59 Grapefruit Moon- Stunning citrussy blend: lemon grapefruit blood-orange bergamot cardamon

60 Formosa Peach – A light liquor with a slightly peachy aftertaste from large ragged leaves of tea
61 Orange Blossom Special – A fine Formosa oolong gently flavoured with orange blossom
62 Pai Mu Tan  White Peony Tiny new silvery-green leaves, giving a pale yellow liquor with a hint of nuttiness
63 Pu Erh – A dark China tea, specially stored after drying, for an unmistakable earthy taste
64 Vietnam Imperial An oolong with a great woody bouquet from First Class Teas; strongly recommended

65 Ginseng Oolong – Wonderful, smooth and balanced; rolled leaves coated in powdered ginseng
66 Charleston Tea – Black tea grown in the USAs only tea plantation on Wadmalaw Island SC.
67 Flor de Oro – Traditionally-made black tea, from Misiones province, Argentina; full flavoured
68 Cloud Forest – From Guatemala, organic black tea grown on the slopes of the Atitln volcano
69 Cha Gorreana – Azores Orange Pekoe – Black tea grown mid-Atlantic, at the very edge of Europe
70 Cochabamba – A rare, rich and distinctive Bolivian organic black tea grown high in the Andes
71 Golden Hook – An exotic black tea from China, with a colour, smell & taste all its own
72 Old Gentlemans Tea – An unusual black tea from Georgia; handmade by the grower, Yuri
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Does the list exhaust you? their teas are always an adventure and they also do something else that astounded me at first and now? I make a regular habit of! So what is it??? Their full monty tea service comes with a pot of tea, two scones, a slice of cake and a selection of tea sandwiches…. the sandwiches are made between two types of bread, a multi-grain brown bread and a white! A complete culinary revolution (for me, anyways…)!! Why not bind your sandwich between two slices of different breads??? It added a depth to a simple egg and cress (which btw, cress in an egg salad is AMAZING… something I would have attributed to health freaks in the States, but is almost a rule here! I might even grow my own cress for the occasion!) or cucumber and cream cheese! Something I encourage all you readers out there to try!

Another “fetish,” if you will? There is a tea shop in a town, a little ways away, where I like to get a different type of tea every time I go. I can get almost 1500 grams of tea for no more than 10-13 pounds, which is a steal and it lasts me plenty of months – and plenty of mornings to start with an adventure in tea.

Even the “original” Girls Next Door, that’s Bridget, Kendra and Holly went to London and experienced clotted cream, scones and tea while on a River Thames (pronounced ‘tem,’ for all you Americans and non-Brits! : ) )! And while the tour guide got Kendra and Bridget to try a dollop of clotted cream, all on its own – which I attribute to eating straight butter, and got them to hate it – I adore clotted cream! It’s lighter, sweeter, and much smoother than butter can ever be, whipped or not, and it is a great pairing for whatever preserve you “fancy” (check out that British-ism!).  I imagine Bridget and especially Kendra would have preferred their clotted cream to be smothering a scone and possibly with some kind of preserve rather than eating a tablespoon of it on its own. And if they had, its possible that “Parliament” would not have confused Kendra and she wouldn’t have flashed Parliament in that blight of confusion! … or maybe she would have. She was fairly susceptible to flashing anything and anyone that confused her when she was younger and in the earlier years of GND…

So now, you must be wondering where that recipe is??Would you pay me in gold for it? It is SO versatile!! I plan to make whatever kind of scones are seasonally calling my name, although my personal favorite and standby, available through my pantry, all year-long is the cran-rasin-white & milk chocolate!!

Here it is!!

Ingredients:

  • 2 C unbleached, all-purpose flour
  • 1 TBSP baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon (omit for blueberry scones or any type where you don’t want the cinnamon in it)
  • 6 TBSP granulated sugar
  • 1/2 C (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 2 L eggs
  • 1/4 C yogurt
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • you want generally 2/3 C of the main ingredients, then a half cup each of nuts, chocolate or other fillings. so a total of 1 2/3 C of fillings

Heat the oven to 350F/180C.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon, set aside. Whisk in, until just combined (very important), sugar. Knead in butter with your fingers until it is well incorporated and forms pea size lumps or smaller.

the perfect texture of the flour mixture and butter... try to achieve just this...

Gently stir in the fillings until combined. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt and vanilla until silky and combined.

Patella gets to lick the spoon of eggs, vanilla and yogurt! One day, she will have competition over the spoon....

Sprinkle into the flour mixture gradually and toss with forks. At this stage, it is important to note that the less a scone mixture is handled, the fluffier and lighter it will be once it is baked – although there is a direct correlation between the height of the baked scone and the weight of the fillings, if you have too much filling to the amount of dough, the scone wont rise properly – which wont affect the flavor at all, just the consistency of the overall baked dough. A great way to tell is if the dough looks particularly “wet”… if it looks too wet, it will bake a little more dense than desired.

You can turn the shaggy dough onto a floured surface and gently pat and knead until it comes together on a dinner plate and flatten a bit, although the direct center should be a little higher than the rest of the mix. – or you can glob out bits of scone mix onto parchment paper and bake, the difference is only the shape. Of course, if you glob out bits with a spoon or the fork you used to toss the mixture, you handle the scone less and increase the chances that you will have a properly risen, light scone in the end. It was at this point that I had to stop and sing songs and play with Mei a bit to keep her content and let Patella smell the bowl of “goodness”…

getting a cheese bite for being such a helpful puppy! while Mei tries to sneak a bite!

If you choose to knead the dough on a dinner plate, cut it into triangles with a pizza cutter and gently move each triangular-shaped scone onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Whisk an additional egg and brush onto the surface of each scone to give it a truly golden color. Aesthetics are half of the battle with a scone… : ) Making a beautiful bite of airy dough.

oven ready!

Bake for 20-25 minutes and until golden. If you handled the scone mix properly, there should be a “fault line” somewhere on each scone, where the dough broke and rose. If it tastes and feels dense and is missing the “fault line” the dough was over-handled. It will be tasty though, so enjoy it with your cup of coffee or tea or however you would like to enjoy it! Sometimes, we enjoy ours slathered in clotted cream, since we are in England, or just plain butter and some kind of preserves! My personal favorite is apricot – although strawberry is always a great standby! Or you can be really British and find yourself some blackcurrant preserve!!