Blackberry Scones and Chai Tea Latte at the Cafe

Scene:
Melissa takes the final bite of her blackberry scone and swallows hard. “Really, would you have done that?”

“No way. Sign of the times, I guess,” Gina says as she glances at the last few creamy drops of her chai tea latte.

“I would have expected at least a phone call. At least. Is that too much to ask?” She looks around the near empty café. Crumbs from the now forgotten scone speckle the small table, which is slowly transforming into a confessional.

“I mean really, just because we met online doesn’t mean he needs to dump me online.”

“But you didn’t even really like him,” Gina says. “You’ve really got to put this behind you. Don’t you think you have better things to worry about, like next weekend?”

“Whatever. I need a scone.”



BLACKBERRY SCONES (from the internet somewhere)
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbls baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup butter, chilled
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk/cream/whole milk (I used evaporated milk)
8 oz. blackberries/halved (or a few more)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together. Cut in the butter until it is all well combined. Whisk milk with egg. Incorporate liquids into dry ingredients (do not overmix!) until well combined. Lightly coat berries in a little flour, so they won't sink to the bottom when you bake the scones. Fold in blackberries. Drop heaping tablespoons (mine were bigger) onto a very lightly buttered cookie sheet about one to two inches apart. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Makes 6 very large scones, more if you make them smaller

---Lesson learned. These are not your standard English-style, dense, dry (in a good way) scones. These are almost like very airy muffin tops. Yummy, but not traditional.


CHAI TEA LATTE from 2basnob.com
1 1/2 cups of water
1 1/2 inch stick of cinnamon
cardamom pods
1/4 inch fresh ginger root (sliced thin)
2/3 cup of milk
6 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons of Darjeeling Tea leaves

Place water, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger in a pot and bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat to low setting and simmer for 10 minutes. Add milk and sugar and again bring to simmer. Next, add the tea leaves, remove from heat and cover. Let steep for 3 minutes and strain. Enjoy!

--- Really? That seems like a lot of work. If you don’t have that kind of time or those ingredients, Oregon Chai is a delicious chai tea concentrate that you can pick up at just about any major grocery store. Make 6 or 7 chai tea lattes for what it cost for you to buy one at that fancy coffee store. If you want to brew your own tea, just look for Chai tea bags, then you can add milk and fake sugar to cut out a lot of the calories.