Where to Buy: Sticky Fingers Bakeries
Product Description:
A lightly sweet scone bursting with fragrant spices like cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. Perfect with tea.
Taster’s Review:
It’s been a little while since I’ve reviewed a scones mix, and the reason why is that it’s been a while since I’ve made scones! And it really should not have been so long since I’ve made scones! My daughter loves them, I love them … it’s a perfect treat for the both of us.
Sticky Fingers Bakeries makes some of my favorite scones mix, and I really enjoyed this Vanilla Chai flavored scones mix! As I’ve said before, what I love so much about this scones mix is that it’s so easy to prepare! Just add water and mix, and then either roll out and cut into wedges, or just drop by large, rounded tablespoons onto the baking sheet. It really is that simple.
Instead of using water when I prepared this mix, I used milk. I find that the flavor is just a little bit richer, and I like that. It’s still really delicious prepared with water, but the milk just adds a little more richness to the scones.
The scones come out fluffy and a little moist. They aren’t overly dry or too dense. The scones made with this vanilla chai mix were really yummy. The spice level was delicious – I could taste notes of ginger, cinnamon and I could even taste a hint of tea in the flavor. I didn’t get a whole lot of vanilla flavor though.
The spices were on the mild side, though, this didn’t taste like a spice cookie or gingerbread. It tasted like a biscuit with spice accents. Definitely enjoyable. Really good with honey butter. I just softened some butter and mixed in some honey. Most honey butter recipes that I’ve seen also call for some orange zest, but, I didn’t have an orange on hand, so I just grabbed some honey and some room temperature butter, and it came out delicious. Add the honey gradually and taste it as you add it … you can always add a little more honey but you can’t take it out once it’s in there!
A tasty tea time treat!
Buttered Cranberry Orange Scone from 52Teas
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
I don’t know why I never thought to combine cranberry and honeybush before, but this blend is (imagine Charlie Sheen here) WINNING! Had a glass of this iced last night, and it was like something you wanted to let slowly melt in your mouth. slightly buttery-, bakey- goodness sweetened with hints of juicy orange and ripe cranberries. This was absolutely like drinking a cranberry orange scone with creamy butter on it. This is a caffeine-free, guilt-free, 100% vegan-friendly blend of African honeybush, orange peel, freeze-dried cranberries, freeze-dried orange sections and natural flavors.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh, goodness! This is yummy!
The honeybush is the perfect base for this blend, it has a slightly nutty, honey-sweet taste that translates very well into the concept of a scone. And together with the buttery flavoring that 52Teas does so well, this becomes a deliciously decadent tea-time treat all on its own.
The fruit flavors evoke thoughts of autumn (and since I love autumn, I don’t mind that a bit). The orange is sweet and tastes just like the fruit: fresh and juicy! The cranberry adds a tart note to the cup, and while tart/sour tastes are not always my thing, I think that the tartness is needed here, because it provides some wonderful contrast to the cup.
I like the way the flavors play together here. With one sip, I taste a little more orange, and then the next, I taste more cranberry. Sometimes the two fruit flavors are evenly matched and it’s the buttery taste that I notice. It’s very much like it might be if I were eating an actual cranberry orange scone – with my first bite, I might bite into a cranberry, with the next, I might taste more orange, and then in the next, I taste the rich, baked goodness of the scone.
Another delicious flavor adventure – courtesy of 52Teas!
Strawberry Orange Scone from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Our newest tea of the week was suggested by one of our long-time customers. Here’s our premium black teas blended with freeze-dried strawberries and orange peel. In addition to the sweet strawberry and tangy orange, we’ve infused this blend with the flavor of warm, freshly baked scones. I have a feeling this one is not going to last long.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I had my doubts about this one. Strawberry and orange? Sure, I like them separately, but I wasn’t too sure how I felt about them together, and then combined with scone flavors. If I saw a strawberry and orange scone at a bakery, I’d probably pass on it in favor of a lemon scone or my favorite, a cranberry white chocolate scone.
But it only took one taste of this tea to fall in love with the idea of a strawberry and orange scone. The orange flavor is prominent, and it lends a sunny sweet yet tangy note to the cup. There is also some of that bitter orange rind flavor to this – the pith of the orange – something that I probably wouldn’t appreciate in most cases but somehow it works with these other flavors, lending an interesting dimension to the overall cup.
The strawberry comes in just underneath the orange, and it tastes sweet. It is in the aftertaste where the strawberry becomes more pronounced, offering a sweet yet tart berry flavor that tickles the tongue.
The scone flavor is there too. It tastes very pastry-like, like a fluffy biscuit. I think one thing that I find myself missing – and one thing that Frank from 52Teas is quite famous for – is more of a buttery flavor. The pastry flavor possesses a hint of the buttery element, but when I eat a scone, I usually spread some clotted cream on the scone. If I happen to be out of clotted cream, I top the scone with butter. So, I find myself missing that additional element to this scone-inclusive tea. However, this is easily remedied with a splash of milk, and this gives it that clotted cream element that the overall cup is missing – ties it all together, so to speak.
Another spectacular tea from 52Teas – I should not be surprised that I love this as much as I do. Sadly, this tea has sold out, but who knows, perhaps Frank will re-blend it. This is one you should watch for in the re-blend updates!