Chai Scones: A Spicy Twist for a Tea Party

This Friday, Foodbuzz and Electrolux are partnering to sponsor a Tea Party Top 9 Takeover.  Foodbuzz Featured Publishers (like me!) are submitting tea party themed posts.  The best part?  Foodbuzz is donating $50 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund for every recipe created by a Featured Publisher!  Who could resist?  Even better, all of you, dear readers, can participate.  Visit Kelly Confidential where you can join Kelly's virtual tea party for a cause. When you do, Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

So, jolly good fun.  But the question remained: what to make?  Well, I'm no history buff, but I've always enjoyed seeing the various ways British and Indian cultures have influenced each other.  I decided to apply this concept to a tea party, namely scones.  (I am a baker after all.)  And thus was born the Literate Baker's Chai Spice Scones.

Chai Spice Scones

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon chai spice powder
1/3 cup crystallized ginger, chopped
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into cubes
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For top:
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon raw sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients and crystallized ginger in a large bowl.  Add butter and blend until the butter is the size of small peas.  Meanwhile, combine wet ingredients in a measuring cup or small bowl and beat with a fork to combine.  Add to the dry ingredients and blend just until a soft dough forms.

Dump dough on a floured surface and knead a couple of times.  Pat or lightly roll to 1/2-inch thickness.

Cut with your favorite 2 or 3-inch cutter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake 18-20 minutes until golden brown.
Makes 14-16 scones.

To turn these scones into an full-fledged tea party, add some little sandwiches (egg salad spiked with a touch of curry, perhaps?) and a pot of your favorite full leaf.  Chai, of course, would be lovely, as would a nice Earl Grey, of you're into that sort of thing.

Of course, scones don't need a reason.  Neither does a party dress.  But throw put them together and throw in a few friends, and you've got yourself a tea party.  And there's little lovelier that that.  That said, if it's a Tuesday and you find yourself at the office, this will do just fine.

Either way, always make time for good food and good company and always...

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