After eating the delicious scones at afternoon tea almost every day on our last cruise with Princess Cruises, I knew that I needed to create a copycat recipe for those irresistibly warm and buttery high tea scones. I'm happy to say that this recipe that I came up with resembles those cruise ship favorites quite nicely!
Who else agrees that the best part about going on a cruise is afternoon tea time? 🙋🏻♀️ I think it's such a special way to spend part of your afternoon on board before getting ready for dinner! When we cruise as a family, my mom, my 2 brothers, and I try to make it to high tea on every sea day and even sometimes when we get back to the ship early on port days. The afternoon tea on Princess cruise ships is such a treat, the little tea sandwiches, cakes, cookies, and of course, the scones with cream and jam make for such a nice snack! It's always a little hard to get home after a cruise and not have afternoon tea available every day!
My brother absolutely adores the scones served with tea. I don't blame him, what's not to like about warm, buttery, tender scones fresh from the oven?! Oh, and don't forget the cream and jam served with tea scones! So delish! Usually, clotted cream is served with tea scones, but I think that the cream served at Princess afternoon tea more closely resembles sweetened whipped cream. That works for me! You don't have to go out of your way to find special clotted cream to top these scones - whipped cream works just fine! It is also completely fine to eat these tea scones on their own!
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does! Here are some more favorite recipes to try next:
- Creamy Instant Pot Rice Pudding
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Scones
- White Chocolate Cranberry Lemon Cookies
Tea Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup cold salted butter, cubed
- ½ cup dried currants (or raisins)
- ½ cup whipping cream
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- melted butter to brush before baking
- granulated sugar to sprinkle on top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400℉. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar. Add the cold butter and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture until the pieces are about the size of peas. Stir in the currants.
- Whisk the whipping cream, egg, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Add to the flour/butter mixture and stir until mostly combined. Turn the dough out onto a clean counter and knead a few times until a loose ball of dough is formed. Be careful not to over-knead.
- Roll the dough out to about ½-inch thickness. Cut the scones using a 2-inch cookie cutter or a glass about the same size. Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet, leaving space between each scone to rise.
- Brush each scone with melted butter and sprinkle with granulated sugar before baking for 14-16 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Serve warm with jam and lightly sweetened whipped cream or clotted cream. Enjoy!
Love and Cookies,
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I was feeling in need of something warm and slightly sweet this afternoon, and these scones hit. the. spot. I whipped them up in no time, and when they were fresh out of the oven, I could barely stop eating them. So, so good. I was out of both whipping cream and currants/raisins, but half-and-half and dried cranberries worked with no problem!
Such a good idea, I'm happy you loved this scone recipe, Taryn! Great substitutions, thank you for sharing!
Naomi
I made these today....big disappointment! I followed the recipe and the only thing I did different was I froze the butter and grated it into the dry ingredients and then used my pastry cutter to mix it in. They spread out and look like cookies! They taste delicious but are not thick like the ones in your picture. I want to make them again but I need to know what I did wrong.
Hi Luana, I'm sorry to hear you had trouble with this recipe. Perhaps the pieces of butter got a bit too small in the dough with that method and caused them to spread? Try cutting the butter cubes into the dry ingredients next time and making sure the mixture doesn't warm up too much, as this may be part of the problem. The butter pieces should be about the size of peas in the dough. And be careful not to overmix!
Hope this helps! Please let me know how the next batch turns out!
Naomi
I just printed the recipe and am going to make your scones tomorrow to serve to a friend who is dropping by in the afternoon. Hmmm, currants or raisins??? Currants mean a trip to the store. . . but it looks like that's what you used, and I like the look of the smaller fruit. Do you sweeten the cream you whip up for on top or serve it unsweetened?
Hi Mrs. J, just saw your comment, I hope this isn't too late! I use currants in mine, but raisin would be great as well! I used sweetened whipped cream, but the scones are quite sweet themselves, so you could get away with using unsweetened.
Thanks, Naomi
I ran out and got currents. The scones are delicious--I love the sweetness, and I totally forgot about the cream after eating the first one right out of the oven! 🙂
Thank you, Mrs. J! I'm so glad you all enjoyed them!
P.s. I updated the recipe. 😅
Naomi
Looks so yummy! Wish I was having a cup of tea and a scone with you right now!
Thank you, Mrs. Johnson! That would be so lovely! ♡