Earl Grey Scones

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Tea lovers will delight in these Earl Grey Scones. Light and flaky scones are delicately flavored with Earl Grey tea for a tea time treat you can’t resist.

You might not know this, but I am a tea fanatic. At any given time I have probably about 30 varieties of tea in my cupboard. I drink it hot. I drink it cold. Most days I have at least 3 cups/glasses of tea. I’ve been wanting to make a recipe with Earl Grey tea for the longest time and scones seemed like the perfect choice of baked good to start with!

Do you know what gives Earl Grey tea it’s distinctive flavor?

It’s bergamot oil. The bergamot is actually a kind of ugly variety of green orange that’s grown in different areas across the world, but is often associated with the Calabria region in Italy. 

What you will need to make earl grey scones: 

• Earl Grey tea, loose leaf or tea bags
• boiling water
• all purpose flour
• cake flour
• light brown sugar
• baking powder
• baking soda
• salt
• unsalted butter
• egg
• heavy cream
• vanilla 
• sugar

Can I use any variety of Earl Grey tea? 

Yes! I purposely kept the rest of the ingredients in this recipe mellow so that it will work well with any variety of Earl Grey tea. Lady Grey, Earl Grey Green, Lavender Earl Grey, Double Bergamot Earl Grey, etc. they will all work well in this recipe! 

A note on substituting out the cream. I get lots of questions about substituting milk for the cream in scones. Can you do it? Yes. Will it be as good? No. It will change the texture of the scones and they will be a bit more spongy. But in a pinch it will do.

How to make Earl Grey Scones

To make these scones, the first thing you will do is brew your tea. We’re brewing just a small amount, only a 1/4 cup of tea goes into the recipe. So the tea needs to be as strong as you can get it! 

Let it cool completely before you do anything else with the tea. This is so important for scones because the temperature of the ingredients makes a big difference the finished product. Light and flaky scones come from cold butter and cream! 

Next you’ll mix together your dry ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. We’ll also be adding tea leaves to the flour mixture. You might be wondering if it’s safe to eat tea leaves. The answer is yes, it’s perfectly safe. I love the flecked appearance it gives the scone dough too!

Cut in the butter into the dry ingredients. You can use a fork, a pastry blender or even your fingers to do this. You’ll cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse and sand-like. 

Whisk together the cooled tea with the other wet ingredients and then stir it into the flour mixture until the dough just comes together.

You’ll turn out the dough onto a floured surface and give it a few quick kneads. But remember to only handle the dough as much as you need to for it to all really stick together. Overworking the dough will make your scones tough and chewy. 

Pat the dough into a circle that’s a little over an inch thick. Cut it into 8 wedges and place them on your prepared baking sheet. Give them a nice little wash of cream and sprinkle of sugar before you pop them into the oven and there you have it! What posh bakers we are!

Love scones? Me too! Here are my favorite tried and true scone recipes:

• Instant Oatmeal Scones

• Strawberry Lemon Scones

• Blackberry Cream Cheese Scones

• Lemon Sugar Scones

• Eggnog Scones

• Cranberry Orange Scones 

• Whole Grain Scones

• Caramel Apple Scones

• Sweet Potato and Sage Scones

• Banoffee  Drop Scones

Banoffee Drop Scones

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Earl Grey Scones

Yield: 8 scones

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Light and flaky scones are delicately flavored with Earl Grey tea for a tea time treat you can't resist. 

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Ingredients

• 3 bags Earl Grey tea (or 3 teaspoons loose Earl Grey tea)
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter,cold and cut into cubes
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon cream
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a small bowl or 2 cup liquid measuring cup, add 2 teabags or 2 teaspoons of the Earl Grey tea to ⅓ cup boiling water. Allow to steep for 3-5 minutes. Remove the tea bags or loose leaf tea and measure out exactly ¼ cup of brewed tea. Let cool. 

Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl, add the remaining teaspoon of tea. If you are using bagged tea, just cut the tea bag open and pour the leaves into the bowl. Add the flour, cake flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Lightly mix the dry ingredients using a fork or your fingers. 

Cut the butter into the flour mixture, using a fork, a pastry blender, or your fingers until the mixture is coarse like sand. 

Add the egg, cream and vanilla to the cooled Earl Grey tea. Whisk to combine them. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir just until the dough is combined. 

Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into a disk that is approximately 1 ½ inches thick. Cut into wedges and place on the prepared baking sheet with the wedges slightly separated. Brush with cream and sprinkle liberally with sugar. 

Bake at 425 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until the scones are golden brown. 

Notes

Scones are best when served the same day they are baked. But they can also be kept in an airtight container for several days.

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