Tea Blog

Did you know that you can bake with tea? Yes, you read that correctly! You can take your tea and add it to nearly anything you make! Usually, the recipe calls for the tea to be steeped in with hot milk or even cream, since it is the best way to bring out its flavor. Just don’t boil the milk too hot or else it will curdle! Other recipes will also ask for tea that was brewed in water, which is also a good idea, which can also be used to soak dried fruits like raisins or sultanas.

Here are two recipes from Typhoo Tea to help get you started:

Typhoo’s Tea Flavored Shortbread

• 125g/4oz butter
• 50g/2oz caster sugar (or superfine sugar)
• 175g/6oz plain flour
• 1 tbsp milk
• Extra strong teabag (or 1 regular teabag)

Preheat oven at 350°F/180°C/Gas Mark 4

Rub butter, caster sugar and flour together in a big bowl until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add it all to the food processor and pulse it.

Heat a small cup of milk and add the teabag and allow to steep.

Add a tablespoon of milk to your bread crumbs and knead for a minute or two until it forms a smooth ball of dough.  Cover with plastic wrap/clingfilm and put in the refrigerator for half an hour.

Turn onto a floured surface and roll out the dough until it’s 1cm thick.  Cut out biscuit shapes using a cookie cutter.

Reshape the scraps and cut more shapes. Place the biscuits on a baking tray and prick with a fork.

Bake for 15 minutes before placing on to a wire rack to cool.

You can store them in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Typhoo’s Coconut & Cinnamon Tea Loaf

• 300ml strong, hot Typhoo tea (made with 2 teabags)
• 280g raisins
• 300g self-raising flour
• 40g desiccated coconut (also known as shredded coconut)
• 55g dark brown muscovado sugar
• 60g caster sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/Fan 160°C/gas mark 4 and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin. Make the tea in a jug or bowl (leaving the teabags in) and add the raisins to it. Leave for 20 minutes.

In the meantime stir together the flour, coconut, sugars, and cinnamon until well distributed

If the brown sugar has any lumps be sure to squash these with the back of a spoon. Add the raisins and tea being careful to discard the teabags. Then add the egg. Use a spoon to combine, but beware of overmixing.

Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes – 1 hour until a skewer comes out of the centre of the cake clean.

Cool on a wire rack in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool completely on a wire rack.

Serve with a cup of Typhoo tea! Happy Baking!

-CD