Green Tea Scones



As mentioned in this month’s Daring Baker’s post, I made Green Tea scones. 

Green tea scones?! Whaatt ?

Anyway this was the perfect excuse to finally get on with it as this recipe has been on my mind for months. My sheer laziness is the reason why I never got around to actually baking it!
I also have to be honest, as the end product initially got some strange reactions with someone even proclaiming that it looked mouldy. You may ask, why wreak a perfectly delicious scone. My answer would be because I have an insatiable addiction to green tea. Also in my defense, green tea seems to be everywhere these days, in cakes, mousses, ice-creams; so why not incorporate it into a traditionally British scone and see what happens.

Once again, my green tea addiction has been justified. These scone came out perfectly delicious, soft and light. The crumb texture was pretty much spot on and the earthy flavor of green tea powder was subtle but definitely distinctive. It’s not a sweet scone but pairs well with citrus jams or curds as well as sinful yet luscious clotted cream.
So go on, give this fusion scone a try today and be blown away.


Green Tea Scones


Adapted from BBC Good Food

Makes 7 scones

Ingredients

220g self raising flour
2 tsp green tea powder (matcha powder)
¼ tsp salt
50g salted butter, chopped into small pieces and chilled
50g caster sugar
125ml buttermilk
Jams/curd/clotted cream to serve

NB: To make buttermilk, add 1 tbsp of lemon juice to 1 cup of milk and set aside for 10 minutes.

Method 
  1. Pre-heat oven to 200C and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Measure flour, green tea powder and salt. Sieve 3 times into a large bowl.
  2. Add the chopped butter and rub it into the flour using your fingers to create a medium sized crumb texture. When rubbing the butter into flour, lift it to aerate the mixture. Do not over-mix.
  3. Stir in the sugar.
  4. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture with a butter knife and pour in ¾ of the buttermilk. Using the knife, mix the flour with the buttermilk until it starts to form a soft, slightly sticky dough. Add more buttermilk if necessary.
  5. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead the mixture 3-4 times until the cracks have disappeared.
  6. Pat the dough gently to a thickness of 2-2.5cm. Dip the cutter into a bowl of flour, to prevent sticking. To cut the scones, press the cutter down firmly and quickly into dough. Don’t twist the cutter. As you press the cutter down, you will hear the dough giving a big sigh.
  7. Gather trimmings and repeat step no.6.
  8. Brush tops of scones with milk/remaining buttermilk.
  9. Bake for 10-12 minutes until risen and golden.
  10. Serve immediately with jam, curd or clotted cream. Or all together!