This weekend when I went to my beach house after a couple of weeks, I didn’t have any fresh stuff in my fridge… no milk, eggs or bread. So early Saturday morning, what to have for breakfast was a bigger dilemma than usual. A thorough look in the pantry revealed a whole lot of ingredients that made me get into an early morning baking session. Since cheddar and kale scones got a big high five from my kids I decided to try another twist on my basic scone recipe.
I had this big box of dates in the pantry and decided to use those in the scones along with my chai latte spice blend. I didn’t have any fresh milk in the fridge either, so I decided to use the evaporated milk for the scones. Since scones are pretty quick to cook, they were ready by the time everybody finished up their morning chores. The dates went really well with the chai spices and my kids absolutely loved the scones…
Ingredients:
For the Scones
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter very cold
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup pitted and chopped dates
1/4 cup walnuts
1 tbsp chai spice
For Chai Spice
12 green cardamom
1 star anise
1″ piece of cinnamon bark
1/3 nutmeg grated
12 cloves
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp fennel seeds
Preparation:
Grind all the chai spice spices in the spice grinder or coffee mill to a fine powder.
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Add flour, baking powder, salt , sugar and chai spices in a bowl and whisk to mix well.
Grate the butter in the dry ingredients and mix with your fingers, till the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
Add the dates and nuts to the flour mixture and mix it up.
Whisk the egg gently and add it above mixture.
Slowly add the milk and mix just until combined.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a 1/2” thick circle.
Don’t worry about getting smooth edges, there is a rustic charm in uneven edges 😊
Take a sharp knife and cut into roughly even sized wedges.
Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and pop them in the oven.
Bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes or till they are just about golden.
Sprinkle with a light dusting of powdered sugar and cinnamon and enjoy with a cup Chai.
Meri Rasoi Se 
