Sweet Lavender Scones and My Sisters Tea Party Baby Shower

Theres a lot of new people hanging around here lately. Do me a favor? Introduce yourselves in the comments, I'd love to meet some of you! If commenting is not your thing- no worries, just keep silent. But remember that your actions make me look like a blockhead for asking.

No pressure or anything.

My little sister is having a baby girl!! Paisley Sue Ayres is due October 17th, 2012 to my sister Kaylee and her Fiancee, Patrick.



Are they not the cutest?

Kaylee wanted a tea party theme, so on July 7th, we did it up with both hot and cold black tea, cream and sugar, tea sandwiches, crudite, scones, petit fours, and a Chinese chicken salad. I know, that last one is out of place isn't it?  I had to serve it you see, tea theme or not, because I had Chinese chicken salad at my first baby shower for Isabella and wanted to make it tradition.

Be a fly on the wall?











Kel and Danielle took lots of pictures for us!











This would be me posing like the Hostess Whisperer. Yep, I'm afraid I did.



And this is a random dog named Buckingham who lives down the street and decided to crash the party.



We might have illegally gambled at this baby shower. We placed our bets and smacked our name on the calendar on the date and time (am or pm) we thought Kaylee would actually have this kid.



I've got my fingers crossed for October 21st in the am. It would be great if I won because then I could keep the $20 Starbucks gift card all to myself.

Kaylee scored with the gifts and took a cool hour plus to open all of them. Slowest. Unwrapper. Eveeerrrr.



We served 4 kinds of scones at the shower- Dried cherry and almond, buttermilk, chocolate coconut, and sweet lavender.



I was most excited about the lavender, but loved all of them. Before you go off and bake these, make sure your lavender is food grade and not meant for soap. There are different kids. I got mine from the spice guy at a farmers market in Denver. You can also order it online.

These scones are buttery, lightly scented with lavender and lemon zest and go well with Devonshire cream, honey butter, or lemon curd. Eat them warm, fresh out of the oven while they are still slightly crunchy on the outside. If you let them sit for longer than two hours, scones start to lose their outer crust and become soft throughout and start to taste more floury. It might sound nice, but it's not. Trust me.



You can make scones ahead of time (including cutting and topping with turbinado sugar) and store in a Ziplock freezer bag in the fridge or freezer. Bake directly from either. Scones from the freezer will need about 5 minutes extra to bake.



Sweet Lavender Scones
adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine
makes 6 very large or 16 small

• 3 cups all purpose four
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 lemon, zested
• Pinch salt
• 1 1/2 sticks cold butter, cut into pea size pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried lavender buds
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing
• Turbinado Sugar, for garnishing

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

By hand: In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt. Add in the butter and rub with your fingers into the dry ingredients until a coarse meal forms. Add in the lavender buds. Add the heavy cream and vanilla extract and combine it into the butter flour mixture.

Food processor method: Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade and pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until butter is the size of peas. Add lavender with the heavy cream and vanilla and run the machine until the dough gathers into a ball. You'll have to knead it a couple times with your hands to get it to come together when you take it out of the machine. 

For larger scones (makes 6): Form the dough into a 1-inch thick disk and cut it into 6 wedges.

For smaller scones (makes 16): Pat out into a 10x6" rectangle. Halve dough lengthwise. Cut each half crosswise into 4 squares. Cut each square diagonally in half into 2 triangles. 

If making the scones right away, brush each scone with some heavy cream. If saving a baking later, skip the heavy cream and skip to the turbinado sugar. Sprinkle each scone generously with the turbinado sugar and press in lightly so it sticks. Sprinkle with a pinch of lavender buds, if desired. Transfer the wedges to a parchment-lined sheet pan and bake in the preheated oven for 17 to 18 minutes for large, and 13-15 minutes for small scones, turning the pan halfway through. Serve warm.