Earl Grey Scones

Three years ago, I started the project that saved my life. I can never give this blog enough credit for the positive changes in my life. This journey to a better life has been hard and grueling, but I know I made the best decision for myself.

In honor of my blog’s third anniversary, I am sharing my favorite recipe I’ve written. That is my quarantine creation of earl grey scones. These are tea flavored scones with a lavender glaze. Heavy cream makes scones wonderfully tender.

These scones are best eaten within a day or two of baking. Baked scones will freeze well. Just let sit at room temperature for a couple hours before eating or pop them into a 350 oven for a few minutes to eat warm. Leftover glaze will also freeze well. Defrost the glaze in the fridge a day prior to using and let sit at room temperature before glazing baked scones.

INGREDIENTS

Earl Grey Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 heaping tablespoons loose leaf earl grey tea, ground up in mortar and pestle, spice grinder, or blender/food processor
1vanilla bean pod, seeds removed (pod reserved for later)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, frozen
1 cup heavy cream, plus more as needed
1 large egg

Earl grey lavender glaze

1 cup whole milk
3 heaping tablespoons culinary lavender, plus more for decorating scones
1 heaping tablespoon loose leaf earl grey tea
Reserved vanilla bean pod
2 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar, plus more as needed

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, kosher salt, ground tea, and vanilla bean in a medium mixing bowl. Grate the stick of butter into the dry ingredients. (Wearing plastic gloves will help keep the butter cold). Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, work the butter into the flour until there are pea-sized butter pieces in the flour.

Whisk eggs in a small bowl. Pour the beaten eggs and heavy cream into the bowl with the butter/flour mixture. Using a spatula, mix all ingredients until all of the liquid ingredients are absorbed and form a dough. If the flour is not picking up in the dough, sprinkle a little more heavy cream to moisten the flour so it sticks. Be careful to not overwork the dough.

Once the dough has formed, dump it onto a lightly floured surface. Gently press the dough into a square or rectangle that is about a half inch thick. Using a metal bench scraper or chef ’s knife cut the dough in half horizontally. Then make diagonal cuts across each half to create triangle-shaped scones. Gently lift each scone onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put the baking sheet in the fridge to chill while making the glaze.

For the glaze, put the lavender, tea leaves, and reserved vanilla pod in a heavy-bottomed pan with the milk. Gently heat the milk until it comes to a boil, then turn off the heat and let the ingredients steep for five minutes. Strain the steeped milk and discard the tea leaves/lavender/vanilla pod.

While the milk is cooling, set the oven at 400 degrees. Once the milk reaches room temperature, whisk in the confectioner’s sugar. If you want a thicker glaze, add more sugar.

Place the chilled sheet of scones into the oven and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. Transfer to a wire rack and allow scones to cool.