Our kids’s school band has a massive fundraiser every year. As part of this they have a bake sale. I always try to come up with different ideas and unique things to bring so they don’t have 12 dozen chocolate chip cookies or 10 pans of brownies. Now, don’t get me wrong, those are tasty but only so many people will buy the same thing. I sent some of the Eggnog macrons and the Caramel Latte Macrons this year (which went great I was told!) I also decided to send some scones because I find them fun to make and they are usually quick as well. Last year I sent cinnamon rolls (packaged individually-as a grab and go treat). I knew that went over well, but wanted to be different this year. We have some people that volunteer for set up in the morning so I thought these might appeal to them as well, plus, it’s definitely still winter and cold here so a warm spice mix like Chai is welcome!
As normal I took a couple of different recipes and combined what I liked about them. I started with the recipes Vanilla Chai Scones (made with Bigelow Tea) and Vanilla Chai Scones. Both of these used a vanilla Chai (which I didn’t happen to have). I only had Stash Tea’s Chai Tea which I believe is a black tea. All of this means little to me as I don’t drink tea. but things I have made in the past with this tea have turned out well. Unfortunately, I guess I forgot to take pictures of these, sorry! If and when I make them again I will add those. 🙂 I am always afraid that the scones may be dry so I added the glaze to help keep them moist. I also still wanted a little vanilla flavor, so since my tea didn’t have that I simply added extract to the dough.
Still unsure about trying to make scones?? They are not NEAR as hard as I thought they’d be! Here is a great little video from SugarSpunRun which shows how using a food processor makes it easy!
Chai Tea Scones
A moist delicious scone made with the tastes of Chai Tea to warm you up on a cold winter morning
I made this using my food processor which made this easy!
Ingredients
-2/3 cup milk (near boiling)
-3 Bags of Stash Chai tea
-2 tsp Vanilla extract
-2 1/2 cups flour
-1 Tbsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/3 cup brown sugar
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
-1/8 tsp ground ginger
-8 Tbsp cold butter, cubed
Glaze
-1/4 cup milk (near boiling)
-tea bags from above
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-2 cups powdered sugar
Directions
1. For SCONES: Heat 2/3 cups milk to near boiling, steep the 3 bags of tea in this for approximately 10 minutes. Squeeze out the tea bags and cool (toss in the fridge to speed it up)
2. Once tea is cooled.
3. In food processor bowl add flour, baking powder, and spices in the bowl. Pulse a few times to mix ingredients.
4. Put cold cubes of butter in and pulse a few times until mixture looks like ‘small peas’ or very course crumbs.
5. Add Vanilla Extract to the tea/milk mixture. Drizzle over the mixture and pulse a few times until it starts to ‘clump’ together. Some ‘dry’ crumbly areas are OK!! You don’t want to over process. If you find you need more moisture, add a little more cold cream.
6. Dump the dough on the counter and kneed just enough to get the dough to form a disk.
7. Roll disk out into approximately an 8″ circle and cut into 8 wedges.
8. Place wedges on parchment lined baking pan and place in the freezer for approximately 30-60 minutes. (I have found that this makes a big difference in the scones rising!). Some people place theirs in a circle, I tend to place mine in 2 lines alternating directions of the wedges.
9. Heat oven to 400 °F. Bake scones directly out of freezer for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
10. While baking, make the glaze
GLAZE
1. Warm 1/4 cup milk to near boiling. Re-use the 3 teabags from the scones and steep for about 10 minutes.
2. Place the powdered sugar and vanilla in a wide bowl (wide enough to put the whole scone in). Pour the milk into the bowl and whisk till smooth.
3. Remove the scones from oven when lightly golden brown.
4. Cool for 5 minutes or so, then either dunk the scone in and place on a cooling rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!!
Redheaded baker 