Fruit Scones - Two Ways

 

As I mentioned before, it was my Grandad’s birthday recently, and he is seriously the hardest person to buy presents for! I mean, what do you buy someone who already has everything they need?! After a lot of thinking and fruitless shopping trips, I finally decided to make him up a hamper of fancy tea, posh jams, clotted cream and some homemade scones - an ‘Afternoon Tea’ Hamper if you will. I knew he loves fruit scones, but I couldn’t decide whether to make them with raisins or glacier cherries, so I ended up doing both. These are super easy to make, and the end result is very light scones, studded with lots of fruity goodness! I soaked the raisins in whiskey for an hour before adding them to the dough, for an added kick.

Earl Grey Biscuits

 

I made these for my friend’s birthday – a crazy cat lady, who is also an avid tea drinker. They’re great for dunking, and you can substitute the Earl Grey tea leaves for any other kind of loose leaf tea too – try using different fruit teas for a more summery taste, or ginger and cinnamon for a festive twist.

Ingredients:
150g unsalted butter
115g light muscovado sugar
2tbsp Earl Grey tea leaves
1 egg
200 plain flour
Demerara sugar for sprinkling

Pre-heat your oven to 180c and grease/line your baking tray(s).

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the tea leaves until well combined, then stir in the egg. Sift in the flour and fold into the mixture, first with a spoon, and then with your hands.
Bring the dough together into a ball and knead for a couple of minutes until everything is well combined.
Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out the dough to the thickness of a £1 coin.
Cut a cookie cutter to cut out your biscuits and transfer them to your prepared baking tray(s). Re-roll any off cuts and keep going until all the dough is used up.

Sprinkle over a little demerara sugar and bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.
Leave to cool on a wire rack, or enjoy warm from the oven.

I used a little dark chocolate to draw cat faces on these, but obviously this isn’t a necessity!