Better World Scones

Enjoying a cup of tea has always been a great comfort and joy to Linda O'Brien Hanley. Having a scone with her tea is an additional treat. When she decided to try to live her life by participating in as little exploitation as possible, she was determined not to give up this cherished experienced. She had to learn a new way to continue her love of baking and how to continue to enjoy the tea experience. This experience motivated her write this book and share what she learned with those whose share the same joys.





This book is for those who love tea and scones and also want to make every choice count toward a better world; comfort with hope. It is written to show how very small choices can make a difference. It does this by including recipes for scones made without dairy or eggs and using fair trade and organic ingredients. This books includes recipes for fifty scones, tips for making the perfect scones and tips for baking without dairy or eggs. A history of tea as well as tips on how to brew tea is also included. Resources for obtaining fair trade and organic ingredients are provided in the back.

Cranberry - Blood Orange Scones

A new twist on classic cranberry orange scones.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 cup powdered sugar
1 sample size canister loose blood orange herbal tea

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Boil water, and pour 1/2 cup boiling water over the sample canister of loose tea. Let sit.
Mix together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Strain liquid from the tea solids, set aside the liquid tea for later. Keep the solids (blood orange rind, berries, hibiscus etc.) (You may want to chop solids from tea lightly to give a more consistant texture - this is optional)
Stir cranberries and the solids from the brewed tea into the dry mixture.
In a small bowl, mix buttermilk and egg; add to dry ingredients all at once, stirring until mixture is just moistened.
Form into a patty on an ungreased cookie sheet or pizza stone
Bake at 400 degrees F. After 10 minutes, remove and cut into 8 wedges with a knife but do not seperate the slices.
Return the scones to the oven for an additional 5-15 minutes or until light golden brown.
Mix together powdered sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of the brewed tea (kept from earlier) into a glaze; drizzle over scones.
Separate scones and serve warm.

Thatched Roof Scones

Submitted by: Phyllis A. England

This was a hit with my 5 testers. They are pleasing to both the eye and the taste buds.

Ingredients:
3 Cups of All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Tablespoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Creamy Peanut Butter
1 Large Egg
2 Cups of Heavy Cream
1 Cup Chai tea
3 Tablespoons milk
Enough Sugar to sprinkle tops lightly.

Directions:
Sift first 4 ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Using impeccably clean hands or rubber catering gloves, rub the Peanut Butter into the flour mixture.
Next, make an indentation in the flour.
In a sparate bowl, blend the Egg and Cream with a wisk or a fork.
Pour this into the flour mixture.
Beat with a fork until totally blended.
Carefully fold in the Chai tea using a fork until completly blended.
Cut wax paper to cover a large cookie sheet or large cutting board.
Lightly flour the paper and turn mixture onto it.
Pat out and lightly flour top.
Cover with another sheet of wax paper and roll to about 1/2'.
With a 2' or 2 1/2' cookie cutter or a small glass dipped in flour, cut out rounds and place 1' apart on one or two pan sprayed cookie sheets.
Brush tops with milk and sprinkle very lightly with sugar.
Bake 20 to 30 mins or until very lightly browned on top.
Cool on rack and serve warm or room temperature with Butter, Devonshire Cream, Lemon Curd and Marmalade.

Rooibos Cranberry Scones

Submitted by: Christina Adcock-Azbill

Delightful cranberries surrounded by a golden Rooibos infused dough. Perfect for a fall day and with a warm cup of tea.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 teaspoons Rooibos tea
2/3 cup milk (lowfat and soy-ok)
1 egg
3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter softened (margarine-ok)
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sugar (may be adjusted for taste)

Directions:
Begin by heating milk to boil.
Remove milk from heat, place teabagged Rooibos in the milk.
Steep for 7 minutes.
The milk will turn a lovely pumpkiny orangey red.
As the tea steeps, begin preheating the oven to 375 F.
While waiting for the oven and tea, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in to a mixing bowl.
Cut in the softened butter into the flour mixture. Continue to blend until the butter in corporated and no large chunks remain. It will look kind of like crumbs.
Pour in the cranberries and toss to coat in the flour/butter mixture.
Stir in the sugar.
By now the tea should be steeped and ready to go.
You will need to mix the egg in with the milk tea.
I have found that you will most likey need to temper the egg before fully mixing with the milk tea.
Stir the milk into the dry ingredients.
When the dough begins to incorporate, turn out on a floured surface and knead 5-7 times to finish incorporation.
Pat the doughball into a approximate 10 inch circle.
Cut into 8 or 16 pieces, place on baking sheet, and bake for approximately 20-25 mintues (or until golden brown).
Devour wildly with tea!

Assam tea scones

Submitted by: Adam Gibbs

Ground tea adds the perfect touch to these subtly spiced scones.

Prep Time:15 minutes

Cook: 12-15 minutes

Serving Size: Serves 2 for breakfast, 4 for tea

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp Assam tea leaves
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 dashes cardamom
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp cream
cinnamon sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425.

Grind the tea leaves to a fine dust.

Shake them through a sieve to filter out the larger pieces.

Volume of ground tea leaves should be roughly 1/4 that of the unground (i.e. 1 tsp).

Combine first eight ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.

Make a well in the center, add cream, and stir until just combined. (Don't wash the measuring cup you used for the cream just yet, you'll want the residue later.)

Turn out on to a lightly floured work-surface and gently kneed until dough coheres and is smooth, about one minute.

Turn over from time to time to prevent dough from sticking to surface.

Pat dough out into a round 1/3 of an inch thick.

Using a biscuit cutter of any shape (mine was a 2 inch diameter circle) cut out scones and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Gather up scraps, pat out, and cut again.

Brush the tops of the scones with the cream residue left in the measuring cup.

If there isn't enough to lightly cover all the scones, pour in a bit more.

Dust with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes.

Makes 10-12 scones 2 inches in diameter.