For a unique and memorable scone recipe, look no further than these flaky, buttery Earl Grey scones with a fragrant lavender glaze. Delicious on their own with a nice cup of hot tea, they’re not too sweet to spread with clotted cream or homemade lemon curd! You can make these start to finish in about 30 minutes.
In the bowl of a food processor, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and tea leaves. Pulse until blended.
Add cold butter cubes to the food processor and pulse until mixture has the texture of damp sand. There should still be some butter pieces up to about the size of a pea. If you don't have a food processor, you can use a handheld pastry blender or your fingertips (not palms) to cut in the butter.
Beat egg, cream, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup. Mix into flour mixture until just combined. Do not overwork the dough or your scones will be tough!
Pat mixture into a ball and shape into a 7 inch square on a lightly floured surface. Cut into a 9-square grid, then cut each square diagonally to make 18 triangle-shaped mini scones. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Brush the tops of the scones with a bit more heavy cream and sprinkle liberally with coarse sanding sugar.
Bake for 12-17 minutes, or until you can see golden brown around the bottoms of the scones.
For the glaze
While scones are baking, cover culinary lavender flowers with 2 tbsp boiling water. Let steep for 10 minutes. Strain.
Mix the strained lavender water with the rest of the glaze ingredients in a medium bowl until smooth. Adjust food coloring as desired.
While scones are still warm out of the oven, flip the scones top-side down and dip the tops into the icing. Let excess icing drip off before putting right-side up on a wire rack. For easier cleanup, put wire rack on top of a baking sheet to catch drips.
Let dry completely before storing in an airtight container. (if they are not completely cool and dry when you store them, the icing will be gooey instead of hard and shiny tomorrow!)
Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Notes
The tea leaves you use should be pretty finely ground. If your tea leaves are larger, add them to a small food processor or spice grinder. Whirl around tea until leaves are fine, more like powder. Then proceed with the recipe. You can also use a mortar and pestle to grind your tea leaves.To make rose glaze instead of lavender glaze, substitute 1 teaspoon of rose water for the steeped lavender water and use a couple drops of red food coloring only.Adapted from Cooking Classy.