A Cupper + A Cake: Strawberry Almond Scones

I love a good cup of tea. Earl Gray. Dejareeling. Ginger Peach. There's nothing like a good cupper on a rainy day to get the creative juices flowing. But sometimes a cupper just isn't enough, sometimes you need a great little companion to go with that steaming cup of your favorite blend: a fresh, homemade scone. One of my favorite summer time scones are fresh strawberry with a dollop of lemon curd on the side. Yum! This afternoon I tried a new recipe for strawberry almond scones, originally from Krissy's Creations, I found the recipe on Pinterest and wanted to give it a whirl.

Strawberry Almond Scones

2 c. All Purpose Flour

1 Tbsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp. Sugar

5 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter (cold)

3/4 c. Milk

1/4 c. Heavy Cream

3/4 c. Fresh Strawberries, Hulled and Chopped into small pieces

1/4 c. sliced almonds

2 Tbsp. Strawberry Preserves

1 tsp. lemon juice

**I didn't use preserves as I didn't want the batter to get too moist

**I add another tbsp of sugar to the mixture

**I added about 1/2 tsp almond flavoring + 1/2 tsp vanilla flavoring

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line 1 baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Cut the butter into 1/4-inch squares, and add it to the flour mixture. Using your hands, or a fork, break up the butter until the butter pieces are no bigger than small peas, the mixture is crumbly. 

Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the milk and heavy cream. Using a spatula, fold the mixture until the liquid is fully incorporated into the flour mixture.  Add the fresh strawberries, sliced almonds, strawberry jelly, and lemon juice.  Using your hands or a spatula, carefully fold the mixture to incorporate all of the ingredients into the dough.  I like to use my hands so I can be extra gentle with the mixture and to make sure all the strawberries aren’t squished.  Don’t worry if the strawberries slightly bleed into the dough, this is inevitable because of the strawberries juices.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface.  Lightly coat all sides of the dough with flour.  With your hands, carefully press the dough into a ¼-inch thick rectangle.  Try to press it out until it is about 10 by 5 inches.  Using a 2-inch round biscuit cutter, cut rounds of dough and then transfer each round to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake until the scones turn a light golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Transfer the scones to a cooling rack to cool until warm.  Serve and enjoy!

Tea in Stratford #tea #teatime #stratford #england #travel #studyabroad

Tea at Chatsworth Estate #tea #teatime #england #travel #afternoon

Trip to York

After the horrific and yet hilarious 4-hour bus ride to York, Bella and I finally made it! We literally hit the pavement running as we only had four or five short hours in York at this point, as we had already decided to catch a train back to Stoke because we couldn’t take another 4-hour bus ride with the crazy girl and the multitudes of Asians who didn’t speak English. We literally laughed for 10-minutes straight about the entire situation.

York was beautiful, picturesque, and just how I imagined it. The city walls wrapped around the historic center and once you walk through the small cobble archways it’s like you’re immediately transported back in time. The streets had cobblestone roads, buildings with exposed timbers and thatched roofs, old street lights that at one time gave an eerie glow to the town, and old mercury-glass windows. It was unbelievable. The buildings were so close and literally felt like they were closing in around you. 

After walking around the streets of historic York, we made our way to York Minister. Wow. It’s my first cathedral I’ve ever been to, so I can check that off my bucket list! It was magnificent; the Gothic architecture, the steeple, the immense carving work was just incredible to see and experience. We bought our tickets and toured the main floors of the Minister, including some of the graves which were eerie and romantic at the same time. We also bought a ticket to tour the tower, which honestly we had no idea what that was at the time! We had almost 2-hours before the tour started so we left the Minister and decided to go explore York some more.

The streets were bustling with people, violinists, a cover band of Mumford & Sons, and random street singers. There were people everywhere and there was the coolest juxtaposition between modernity and historic charm. We walked in so many shops and stores that were just way too cute. We wandered into this gorgeous park where it was complete with English roses and pigeons everywhere and old ruins from something way back when. We almost got attacked my pigeons flying because they fly so low!

While we were in the park we even saw a wedding party, the groom and groomsmen had  coattails and were chauffeured by a 1920’s cream car that was too adorable. The bride and bridal party’s carriage was a vintage red double-decker bus decorated in white flowers. It was an absolutely perfect day for a wedding, with beautiful weather and a beautiful backdrop.

We left the park to head back to York Minister for our tour and on the way we stopped at a carvery for a proper carved sandwich lunch! I honestly don’t even know what it was I ate but it was somewhat decent; the fact that I didn’t really know what it was kind of makes me queasy but I’m still alive so that’s fine!

The tour to the tower was incredible!! We really had no idea what the tower tour was, but it turned out to be that you climb to the very tipy-top of the cathedral. It was hundreds and hundreds of tiny narrow steps but it was worth every moment because the view from the top was absolutely incredible. I can’t even explain the feeling of standing on top of a historic and beautiful structure that is so steeped in stories, both religious and non-religious…it’s a very calming and serene experience; I literally felt like I was standing on top of the world. After spending time at the top, we had to return to earth and started descending the steep staircase. As Bella and I were walking down the steps, the most beautiful music started filling up the small space. It danced and swirled around us, the angelic voices of a choir and the booming and stately sounds of an organ. It was absolutely magical and some surreal. We sat down in the pews of York Minister and listened to the choir for about 30 minutes before we forced ourselves to leave and head for afternoon tea at Betty’s famous tea room.

Betty’s team room had a line out the door all day, so we figured it would be a good place to have tea. We didn’t have to wait too terribly long before we got a table, but we were so nackered (tired in British, ha) that we just wanted to sleep. Tea was fine, except for the fact that I accidentally sent the container of sugar cubes clattering to the grown which turned the entire tea room silent for a moment! The woman next to us rolled her eyes and said “Americans” under her breath!! If I wasn’t soo tired I probably would have death-glared her! Our tea was yummy, and with that we ended our day in York and caught a train back to Stoke-on-Trent!

It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Professors & a Pot of Tea

Classes have begun at Keele and it’s time to, unfortunately, get back into school-mode. The class structure here is really different than back in the States. Typically I’d have the same classes on Monday-Wednesday-Friday at the same time every day, for 50 minutes and then the same classes on Tuesday-Thursday. Here at Keele I only meet in my class once a week for an hour or two depending on the course. Also they’re called “lectures” and not “classes” like in the States; and then a few of my classes have seminars/tutorials later in the week which just sound like small-intimate classes with a ‘tutor’. Honestly, although we all speak English there aren’t many words that are the same between English and American-English :) I’m always looking for a translation from someone, but I absolutely love it! I hope to return to the States with a quite posh British accent. 

My professors are absolutely adorable as well. They’ve all worn button-up shirts and jackets and the British accent just makes them sound that more intelligent. Sometimes though, I completely zone out, I’m literally lulled by the sound of male British voices so I need to concentrate on focusing in class :) However, all my classes seem to be going well thus far, I already have lots of reading to do for my lectures so I need to get on top of that here soon. I’m sitting in “La Cafe” which is the coffee shop in one of my buildings because I have a 2-hour break in between my Tuesday classes, so I’m going to get a cupper and force myself to start reading my oh-so-interesting International Relations textbook (boo).