Lavender and Lemon Scones

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Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links to Simple Loose Leaf products. ZezooCooks may receive a commission if purchases are made via these links (at no additional cost to you)!

You can use my discount code AMRUTA10 to get 10% off a one-time purchase on @simplelooseleaf teas via links in my post!

Buy this delicious tea here! To browse many other Spring and Summer teas, check out the Simple Loose Leaf website!

I bake scones and biscuits quite often, and all year round. Scones make beautiful centerpieces for breakfasts, brunches and tea parties, easy to make ahead, freeze and bake just when needed, ready to shine on their own or play second fiddle to fancy jams and spreads just the same. Their southern, savory cousin, the biscuit, is equally praise worthy, brilliant with scrambled eggs and crumbled bacon, or humble supporters of winter stew, studded with bits of goat cheese.

None of these recipes are written on the blog, and in an attempt to remedy that, here we have some Lavender and Lemon Cream Scones with a Lavender and Lemon glaze! These scones are also an answer to another question – what would go really well with the oh-so-divine Blue Lady Grey tea in my next Simple Loose Leaf box! For the past few weeks, I paired 4 of their select black teas with 4 new recipes. We are on to the next box, so watch this space for more tea pairings!

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Cinnamon Sugar and Chai Spice Khari (puff pastry twists)

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Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links to Simple Loose Leaf products. ZezooCooks may receive a commission if purchases are made via these links (at no additional cost to you)!

You can use my discount code AMRUTA10 to get 10% off a one-time purchase on @simplelooseleaf teas via links in my post!

To get this delicious tea, and to browse many other Fall and Winter teas, check out the Simple Loose Leaf website!

I ramble about tea, or something tea related, in most of my posts. Many of the things I make are tea accompaniments – this is simply because “teatime” is sacred around here. And it is sacred in many other parts of the world – something we’ve learned and experienced in our travels.

One of the most classic teatime accompaniments back home in India is “Khari”. In essence these are baked puff pastry rectangles, sometimes flavored with roasted cumin or caraway seeds. But the best kind of Khari is plain, buttery and delicious. Dipped into hot and spicy milk tea, it is one of the highest callings for butter and flour pounded together.

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Bhadang (savory rice snack)

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Please welcome Bhadang, the puffed up cousin of the Pohyacha Chivda! The process for both these “chivda” recipes is similar – toast the puffed or paper-thin flattened rice, fry up some salty goodies, make a tempering, toss everything together – but they have distinct flavor profiles. You might say that Pohyacha Chivda is the milder, well-behaved, buttoned-up cousin with a great balance of flavors, and Bhadang is wilder, spicier (uses red chili powder instead of chopped green chillies), bolder (fried garlic!) and more rustic.

The version shown here is mild, since I am making it for a crowd, but back in India I have seen Bhadang that is fiery red and irresistable!

Bhadang employs puffed rice, or murmura, or churmura, as opposed to the flattened rice flakes used in Pohyacha Chivda. Murmura is typically the base in Bhel Puri, a popular Indian street food item! This recipe also calls for Metkut, a very special, Maharashtrian roasted-lentil and spice mixture, which may be difficult to track down in the US, and in the worst case, can be skipped. Please do not substitute with Garam masala or Chaat masala, though!

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Pohyacha Chivda (savory rice snack)

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Pohyacha Chivda, or, Chivda (savory mixture) made of Pohé (flattened rice), is a popular snack item in India. Light, customizable and a perfect accompaniment to a cup of steaming hot chai, it is the perfect “in between” to hold you over until dinner time. It is also heavily featured in Diwali “faraaL” (feast) along with other savory and sweet goodies. It is easy to make, keeps for weeks, and at least in our neck of the woods, we don’t wait for Diwali to whip some up!

It’s important to source the right ingredients for this recipe, most important of all being the Pohé. There are many kinds of flattened rice flakes available in Indian grocery stores, so be sure to choose the “thin”, “ultra thin” or “nylon” variety for this recipe! You could use thick Pohé but that’s a different recipe (mainly you would have to deep-fry the Pohé instead of just dry roasting them). The ingredient list may seem overwhelming but ingredients should be easily available, and you can also leave a couple things out if you can’t find them!

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Beckoning Spring + Rainbow Chard Crepes!

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A few weeks ago, we drove up couple hours north of San Francisco to check out some new places, early-Spring scenery and eat some oysters. We came back inspired, relaxed, and rejuvenated, already drawing up the schedule for a summer visit.

We went all the way north up to Cazadero and drove our way back south, visiting Tomales Bay, Inverness, Pierce Point (hello Elks!), Point Reyes, Bolinas and Stinson Beach, taking in the beautiful pastures, crisp air and grazing cows, as Northern California showed itself off preparing for an early Spring.

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Pretties from the Inverness, Point Reyes Station and Bolinas areas

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