This particular cooling and refreshing drink is a tart and sweet fruity mix of hibiscus and rose flowers and basil seeds. This easy and fuss-free recipes can be done in a few ticks and leaves you plenty of time to enjoy the warmer weather.
Hibiscus flowers
I never knew anything about hibiscus flowers or it’s recipes and nutritional values until I saw them in Dubai spice market. I bought a packet of dried hibiscus flowers to bring home and they ended up in the back of the cupboard.
Once I searched recipes for hibiscus flowers online and read about its health benefits, I had a great excuse to make this natural and refreshing drink.
I have planned to make this amazing refreshing Vegan Watermelon Carpaccio Salad with Tahini .
Once I thought of making hibiscus sharbat, I added basil seeds aka Takmaria/Tukmaria or Sabja as these tiny but mighty seeds offers a bucketful of benefits. They act as a coolant and have a cooling effect on our bodies.
I prepared a pitcher of this natural, delicious and good for you Sharbat to cool off in this sweltering heat
Have you ever tried using hibiscus in your recipes? If not, I urge you to make this summer. Just find fresh hibiscus flowers or dried and make this sharbat in no time. If you want to make this drink for a get-together, make a hibiscus flower concentrate in advance, store it in the refrigerator and use it whenever you require
Notes:- I have used the dried hibiscus flowers, but you can use fresh too. I have used the rose syrup to sweetened the sharbat, you can use normal sugar, honey, or maple syrup too. This sharbat can be made without basil seeds too.
Rose Sharbat
Ingredients
- ¼ cup hibiscus
- 4 tablespoon rose syrup
- 1 tablespoon basil seeds
- ice
- 3 cup water
- mint to garnish
Instructions
- Place hibiscus petals and water in a saucepan.
- Bring the mixture to boil until flowers turn white and water ruby red.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl soak the basil seeds in cold water.
- Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool.
- Strain the petals, add rose syrup to it and mix well.
- Now add bloomed basil seeds into the sharbat.
- In a serving glass pour the sharbat, top it up with ice and fresh mint.
Notes
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Rose Sharbat
Ingredients
- ¼ cup hibiscus
- 4 tablespoon rose syrup
- 1 tablespoon basil seeds
- ice
- 3 cup water
- mint to garnish
Instructions
- Place hibiscus petals and water in a saucepan.
- Bring the mixture to boil until flowers turn white and water ruby red.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl soak the basil seeds in cold water.
- Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool.
- Strain the petals, add rose syrup to it and mix well.
- Now add bloomed basil seeds into the sharbat.
- In a serving glass pour the sharbat, top it up with ice and fresh mint.
Notes
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
These eggless scones are so buttery, soft and crumbly with a hint of lavender. They’re flavoured with fragrant lavender for a delicious summertime treat. Lavender flavor eggless scones have an excellent floral aroma and would be a showstopper for a summer afternoon or cream tea.
There is nothing like a plate of lavender scones with their gorgeous crumbly texture smothered with clotted cream and strawberry preserve! To complete your afternoon tea, why not try something a little different and pair with Indian Masala Chai (spiced milk tea)
Included is an easy scone recipe for scones made in the air fryer
Eggless Lavender Scones
These floral lavender scones were baked in our kitchen just a few days ago. The kitchen was filled with the freshly baked aroma of lavender and took us back to Mayfield lavender fields where we enjoyed them first.
Although there are no eggs included here, this recipe makes light and well-risen scones. Scones turned out crumbly and feather-light, just how they should be.
These can be eaten at brunch and lavender adds an elegant touch to it and adds a delicate flavour. Scones should be crumbly and light and are best enjoyed with clotted cream (aka Devonshire cream) and Instant Pot Strawberry Jam .
Just don’t get into the debate whether the jam goes first or the cream! As we were baking the scones, I was reminiscing that the first-ever baking you do at secondary school in food tech is to learn to bake scones.
More eggless baking delicious recipes – Strawberry pastel tres de leche cake | Honey Cake | Mango and nuts Biscotti | Rosemary and black pepper oatcakes | Cream cheese chocolate brownies
What is afternoon tea?
Afternoon tea is quintessentially British. Even the Queen enjoys afternoon tea every day. Well, if it’s good enough for Her Majesty…
The term “high tea” and “afternoon tea” tend to be used interchangeably. However, there is a difference. High tea involves tea, bread, vegetables, cheese, and meats – usually eaten by the working class as an evening meal.
Afternoon tea was taken as a “mini-meal” in-between lunch and a late dinner by the upper class and consists of tea, pastries, cakes, scones, and sandwiches.
We went to Mayfield Lavender last year and first tried these Lavender scones with Lavender frappuccino and Lavender cupcakes. Since then, I’ve been waiting to bake these scones and recreate the magic! I think this recipe does these sweet scones justice.
Difference between British and American Scones
The difference between British and American scones recipes comes down to the fat content. The ratio of fat to flour in American scones is much higher as a larger quantity of butter is used. More sugar is also used. British recipes counteract this by spreading the scone with cream or butter and jam.
American style scones
Starbucks style Orange Cranberry Scones
Pumpkin Scones (2 ways)
What other flavours go well with Lavender scones
If you would like to add an additional flavour to your lavender scones, you easily can! Here are some of our favourite lavender pairings
- Lemon and Lavender – just add the grated rind of a lemon, a few drops of lemon essence or lemon juice to your scone mixture before baking
- Lemon, lavender and poppy seeds – same as above but add 2 tbsp poppy seeds to the mixture
- Blueberry and Lavender – add fresh sweet blueberries to the dough before baking to make blueberry scones
- Lavender and chocolate chip – add some chocolate chips. This one is great for the little ones
- Strawberry, lavender and white chocolate – white chocolate and strawberry is a match made in heaven! Create a gorgeous trio of flavours with the addition of lavender
- Lavender and thyme – for grown-up scones with earthy flavours, pair lavender with some thyme
What if I can’t find fresh lavender
If you struggle to source fresh lavender, then you can also use Lavender Extract – just add a few drops to the mixture
Ingredients for English Lavender Scones Recipe
Full recipe in the recipe card below:
You will need:
- self-raising flour – this is plain all purpose flour with baking powder added to it
- unsalted cold butter – the unsalted butter should be chilled and cut into cubes or grated (you can use a box grater)
- caster sugar – see notes for caster sugar below
- dried or fresh lavender flowers – make sure you choose culinary lavender otherwise the lavender may be treated and won’t be safe for culinary use. English lavender is the sweetest and the best to use in cooking
- whole milk – whole milk is better than semi-skimmed or skimmed as the fat from the milk makes the scones more melt-in-you-mouth
- salt – just a small pinch to taste
Optional:
- Add lemon zest to the dough to make lemon lavender scones
- Add a few drops of vanilla extract to provide a warm sweet aroma
- Fold in white chocolate chips
How to make your own homemade caster sugar
This is a basic recipe for powdered sugar. Simply grind white granulated sugar until it resembles a fine powder – this is a great way of making caster sugar when you have realised far too late that you didn’t pick any up from the supermarket!
How to make Eggless Lavender Scones
You can either use a large mixing bowl or a food processor / stand mixer that has a pastry blender attachment to make the dough.
In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: add sifted flour, lavender, sugar and salt.
Next, you need to add the wet ingredients.
Add chilled butter or grated butter to the flour mixture and using your fingertips rub butter into the flour until you see coarse crumbs.
Add milk until mixture forms a soft dough.
On a lightly floured surface, pat the scone dough into a 2cm thick square and cut out the scones using a pastry cutter or cookie cutter. English scones are round but if you want to make American scones, you can pat the dough into a circle then cut the dough into equal wedges using a sharp knife.
Place scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Brush top of the scones with very little milk.
Bake until lightly golden and well risen.
Serve at room temperature.
Air fryer Scones (eggless)
You can easily make buttery scones in your air fryer.
Prepare the scones as per the recipe
Preheat the air fryer to 180 C
Place scones into the air fryer basket
Air fry for 5 minutes on 180C
Reduce the heat to 160C and air fryer for another 2-3 minutes or until the top of the scones are lightly golden.
Serving Suggestion
English scones are best enjoyed with a quintessential cup of tea. I like to slather clotted cream and jam in my scones but you can always whip up heavy cream and use that instead of clotted cream.
Serve for afternoon tea, summer picnics, baby showers, mother’s day or simply as an afternoon snack!
Lavender Scones Recipe (easy, eggless)
Equipment
- 1 Bowl
- 1 seive
- 1 oven or air fryer
- 1 Baking tray
Ingredients
- 225 gram self-raising flour sifted + extra for dusting
- 50 gram unsalted butter chilled and cubed
- Big pinch salt
- 50 gram caster sugar super fine sugar
- 1 tablespoon lavender flowers dried or fresh
- 110 millilitre whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 7 or 200C.
- In a mixing bowl add 225 gram self-raising flour , 50 gram caster sugar , 1 tablespoon lavender flowers and add Big pinch salt . Mix well.
- Add chilled 50 gram unsalted butter and using your fingertips rub butter into flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add 110 millilitre whole milk mix with the spatula until mixture forms a soft dough.
- Sprinkle some flour on the work surface and knead the dough only for few times.
- Don’t try to knead too much else scones will be too tough and won’t rise high.
- Pat the dough with your fingertips into around 2cm thick.
- Dust the baking tray with the flour.
- Using a 5-7cm round cookie cutter ( I used ridge side) cut out the scones.
- Press the dough together again cut out some more scones.
- Place scones on the prepared flat baking tray.
- Brush top of the scones with very little milk.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes ( check the scones after 15 minutes ) or until lightly golden and well risen.
- Once done immediately transfer them on a wire rack to cool slightly.
- Serve warm with clotted cream and fruit preserve.
Notes
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
