Moroccan Spice Scones and Divergent

Cooking!

In my latest Tea Infusion Adventures, I teamed up with my friend Akasha and her aunt at their tea selling and catering business Elegant Teas. They gave me some of their delicious tea blends to bake into some tasty sample pieces for Fremont Festival of the Arts earlier this month.

I used my Earl Grey Recipe to make some mini Earl Grey Cupcakes with their tea leaves. They were the perfect size for a little sample.





I also slightly adapted this recipe for my first foray into the world of scones. They turned out to be the perfect texture, moist and soft, but still firm.


Moroccan Spice Scones 
(makes 16 smallish scones)

To infuse the tea, heat in a saucepan:

1 2/3 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp Moroccan Spice (or Chai, or whatever) tea

Allow to steep for 5-10 minutes, but don't let it come to a boil or develop a skin. The owner of this recipe suggested letting the whole mixture sit in the fridge for one hour or even overnight. I settled for 2-3 hours and it was tasty and flavorful.


To prepare your dry ingredients, mix together:

2 2/3 cup flour
5 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

I've been learning a lot while reading Bakewise, by baker, cook, former chemist, and all around brilliant lady, Shirley Corriher. One of things I'm doing now, thanks to her, is taking care to mix my dry ingredients thoroughly, so the leavener (baking powder, in this case) is evenly distributed. I use a whisk, generally, thought giving it a good beat in the mixer is preferable. 

Finished scone, waiting to get eaten!

The next step is to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. You can do this by crossing two knives through the mixture for the next eight years, using a pastry whisk, squishing it with your fingers, or, by far the easiest, putting it through the food processor.

However you choose, cut into the dry mixture:

5 tbsp unsalted, cold butter

You butter doesn't have to be rock hard, but it should definitely not be room temperature. At the end of the process, you should have a bowl of crumbly little dough bits. Add to these:

2 tsp vanilla extract (you can use a vanilla bean instead, just add it to the whipping cream first)
1 1/3 of the heavy cream (as you will lose ~1/3 cup in the leaves, from infusing)

I find it easiest to fold these ingredients in with a spatula, and then with my hands as the dough gets more difficult to work with. At this point, I like to tip the whole thing on to a flour-dusted table, while I mold it into two circle shapes, about 3/4 inch thick.



Here you can bake the scone plain or garnish them. I took some of the tea leaves remaining from the infusion and rubbed them over the top of the scones, and then I sprinkled it with some coarse sugar and cinnamon pieces (Trader Joes has a nice Cinnamon Sugar Grinder that I just unscrewed). Finally, take  a sharp knife and mark out your scones. It should look like a pizza, with slices marked, but not separated. Bake the scones at 475 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges a slightly browned.

We gave away a bunch of sample to satisfied and intrigued vistors to our booth, and we sold several little packages of my sweets infused with their tea. It was so cool to see my baked goods packaged all serious-like. Akasha did a great job with adorable packaging and I'm super excited to work with her and her aunt again!







Reading!

Divergent by Veronica Roth

I am a big fan of Young Adult novels, particularly set in some futuristic dystopian-type society. So when Veronica Roth talked about her book on a panel at a Harry Potter convention I attended in July (hey, don't judge), I was intrigued, to say the least. I picked it up at the convention, managed to hold off on it until I finished my summer classes, and promptly devoured it.

Divergent takes place in the indeterminate future, but technology does not play a huge role, as it often does. Instead, Roth examines how society is different. Human have split into five factions, based on the different qualities they think are the most important to keep people peaceful and good. Abnegation cultivates selflessness, Candor adheres to honesty, Dauntless values bravery, Erudite seeks knowledge, and Amity holds peacefulness highest. At the age of sixteen, everyone takes a tes to suggest which faction they fit most in, but the ultimate choice is left to them. Most teens choose the faction they were born into. Some, however, choose to leave and seek their fortunes in another faction, leaving behind their family, friends, and the life they've known.

Tris Prior is one of these, switching from Abnegation to Dauntless. The story follows her as she makes this difficult decision and moves through her competitive, violent, dangerous training to become a true member the Dauntless faction. Per the YA standard, there is a lot of stress from her crisis of identity, difficulties with friendships, romances, and loyalties, family troubles and betrayal, and a lot, lot, lot of violent descriptions (someone loses an eye!).

I loved the premise of this book the most. It's what drew me in and kept me there. The characters are enjoyable enough, and Tris is reasonably sympathetic, but none of the character captured my heart and imagination in the way I need them to for a book to be truly great. However, YA books tend to run on plot power, and this one is no exception. Even when I was a bit exasperated with the characters, the book was hard to put down because I just had to know what was going to happen next. The plot was fast-paced, interesting, and difficult to predict.

Though it's no second Hunger Games (my secret hope when I got it!), I do still recommend Divergent and am excited to check out the second in the trilogy, Insurgent.