Anyone For High Tea?

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Dontcha just want to dip a finger...or hand...or face...into that creamy butter?

I have always had a fascination with anything originating in the U.K. I have a habit of talking in British and Scottish accents (don’t ask; I have no idea why and yes, I do it rather well actually 😛 ), I love royal weddings & yes, I watched the weddings of Charles and Diana, Andrew and Fergie and I loved watching William and Catherine get married (is it just me or are they totally adorable? I just want to hug them both and invite them over to play board games and eat junk food.).

I also have a fascination with many of the foods of the British isles. Mind you, you’re not going to find say, haggis, posted here anytime soon (ok never) but there are, contrary to popular belief, many good foods that come from that area of the world as well as many traditions surrounding the food. One of my favorites has always been the idea of Afternoon tea or High Tea as we Americans tend to think of it.

So from today through the rest of this weekend (Sunday) I am going to do dishes that would be perfect for an afternoon tea. Scones, muffins, a cupcake or twelve, tea sandwiches, sweet condiments to spread on them as well as a couple of coffee drinks and a flavored tea or two. If I gain ten pounds over the next few days, know that I have made this noble sacrifice all out of a deep love for all of you.

I’m just posting one today cause life is in the middle of intruding lol. But what a one it is. Tender orange Scones with a sweet orange butter to spread on them. Serve these with a nice hot cup of tea (ok, I supppoooseeeeee you coffee drinkers can have some coffee 😛 ) and make sure you stick your pinkie finger out and you must, you absolutely must, talk in a British accent. It’s the law. This is loosely adapted from a recipe I found years back on food.com when it was still recipezaar.com

ORANGE SCONES WITH ORANGE BUTTER

  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • zest from one large orange
  • 1/3 cup butter, cold
  • 1/2 cup mandarin orange segments, well drained
  • 1 6 ounce container regular (not sugar free/fat free) vanilla yogurt
  • 1 egg, slightly beaten
  • sugar to sprinkle on top
  • FOR THE ORANGE BUTTER-
  • 1/2 cup butter,softened
  • 1/4 cup orange marmalade
  • 1 tablespoon orange zest
  • 1 tablespoon orange juice
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and orange zest. Cut in the 1/3 cup cold butter with a pastry blender until the dough forms coarse crumbs. Add the orange segments, yogurt and egg. Stir with fork just until mixture forms a soft dough. This is a very soft very sticky dough so be ready for that. Don’t try and add a ton more flour to make a firm dense dough or you will end up with tough dense scones. Dump onto a board or counter lightly sprinkled with flour and knead about a dozen times. Now go wash your hands because you will have soft goopy dough all over them :-P.  Take the dough and put it on the greased cookie sheet. Using SLIGHTLY damp hands, pat into a circle. Sprinkle with sugar. Cut into 8 wedges and bake at 400 until golden brown and firm to the touch about 22 minutes. Please keep that “ovens are different and annoying” thing in mind when baking. MY oven took 22. Yours may take 25; it may take 19. Go by color and touch more than time.
  3. To make the butter, just beat the butter ingredients together.
  4. Get a scone… slather it with so much butter it drips down your chin. Please tell me it’s not only me that does that. I’ll really feel foolish. Ehhh, no I won’t. 😀
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34 thoughts on “Anyone For High Tea?”

  1. I have never made scones! I think I only ever had one and it was dry and crumbly and turned me off, but I see them EVERYWHERE on the blogosphere. I definitely definitely need to try my hand at making them sometime…

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  2. These are a far cry from the dry crumbly kind. They are very moist and tender which is one reason I mention to not add too much flour or they will be tough. I hate tough scones. let me know if you give them a try. I’m curious what you think 🙂

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  5. Love it! I, too, watched all the royal weddings! My daughter just moved to England…next year I’m visiting for a month! I can’t wait! While I’m not a huge fan of scones – these look good and the orange butter looks amazing!

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    • Hi there Ann! Oh, I’m jealous. I’ll be looking forward to reading whatever you post on your blog about the trip. I hope you have a wonderful time

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    • Hi Valerie! Thanks. The orange butter was pretty yummy 🙂 And I sure didn’t turn away from the scones either hehe

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  11. I love the flavors you used in your scones!! What a delicious idea! ORANGE. YUM! I too looove what Britain has to offer. I have a lot of family living in Britain and they have schooled me well in eating all their yummy pasties, fish and chips and sausage rolls. I also love the royal weddings and I cried when Will and Kate got married. You would think they were my family too. : ) Great Job on these scones and congrats on making TOP 9 on Foodbuzz (twice today). : )

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    • Heh. I was the same way when I watched William and Kates wedding so you weren’t alone.

      Thanks so much for the congrats on the top nine 🙂

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  12. Hokey smokes! I actually went to a British school for a few years and developed an awesome accent. Then I returned to the States and poof, it was gone. Now it’s all Chicago. Ah well.

    I’ve recently found scone-love and make every recipe for them that I come across. Needless to say, this one created instant lust. I must make these! To date my favorite has been a double-ginger scone, but I have a feeling that little gem is about to be replaced. Many thanks for the recipe. Cheerio!

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    • Ooo, double ginger sounds delicious. Please tell me you have that one posted on your blog? 😀

      As for the accent, you’re talking to a born and raised south side or Chicago girl here so I kinda like Chicago accents 🙂

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  13. These have to be some of the most delicious looking scones I’ve ever seen! Gorgeous and I love the idea of having the mandarin oranges in them. I would be content to have these for my afternoon tea!

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    • yeah, I think I’ll pass on the Haggis too… though I do love to SAY the word with the proper Scottish accent 😛

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  17. Don’t even know how I stumbled across the recipe for these scones but I have to say they were WONDERFUL. Even the butter. We are not citrus loving people so I’m always leary but these were just delicious. I did cheat and use zest from clementines instead of an orange as they are not so strong and I used a large real orange for the can of mandarins but awesome recipe and I’ll definitely be making them again. Even the butter was great. Thank you for sharing a keeper recipe.
    Darlene

    [WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.

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  18. I’ve been craving some scones lately. I see that your recipe uses yogurt instead of whole cream. Now that is music to my ears. I always veer on the healthy side of the road. Thanks for the recipe and a sincere congratulations for making Top 9 twice today. Wow, that’s an accomplishment.

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    • Cool! I’m glad it appeals to you for that, Michelle. I like them with cream too but I have a thing about using yogurt in cooking and do so when I can 🙂

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