taking time for tea

I am always hungry in the afternoon.  It never fails, never, that I'm going to be hungry when 4pm rolls around--and it's that awkward time when it's a little too early for dinner, but a piece of fruit isn't quite enough.  I tend to overeat because of this tendency because I get hangry (especially during marathon training) and inhale all the things.

Yesterday, I ate my watermelon for my afternoon snack...and found myself starving at 5.  I forced L to to go eat dinner early, but it didn't really suit either of us.  We tend to prefer to eat later.  So today, I got a little substantial nibble (a piece of morning glory bread and a coffee) when I was at the library working, and I felt fine.  So...I have decided to establish a tea time for L and I, complete with a healthy baked treat.  This will give a chance to do a bit of weekly baking, give me an outlet for a little sweet treat (without overdoing it!), and hopefully solve my hungry problems.

Culturally, tea time is a moment to take a break from work, pause and savor a little tea, a cookie or a scone or a slice of bread.  It's a moment to take a breath before going back to work for a bit longer.  I like this idea a lot.

Tea time this week will be accompanied by these ginger peach scones and probably some chai tea I have in my office:

I found the base recipe in Joy the Baker's cookbook, Joy the Baker Cookbook.  I love her blog, and her cookbook is pretty awesome too.  I had a little nibble as they came out of the oven--crunchy, lovely, delicious.  This will do quite nicely as my first tea time snack.

Oatmeal Ginger Peach Scones
(makes 18 scones)
adapted from Joy the Baker Cookbook's Oatmeal Raspberry Ginger Scones

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup cold buttermilk
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (I suspect some whole wheat would be good too)
• 1 1/3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
• 3 small/medium peaches, peeled and chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger

 Combine egg and butter milk and set aside.

Combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and ground ginger in a large bowl. Cut in cold butter (or throw it all in the food processor and pulse until the butter is pea-sized).  Mix in buttermilk/egg mixture with a fork or dough whisk until dough comes together.  I ended up using my hands to get it together after I stirred it with the dough whisk, but try not to handle it too much--the secret to a good scone (or a good biscuit) is keeping the butter cold.  Mix in the peaches/fresh ginger.

Using your handy 1/4 cup scoop (which is also fantastic for cupcakes), scoop out the dough onto your cookie sheet (or baking stone, which works fabulously).  I did this because rolling out the dough and cutting it is for suckers (and you then handle it less).

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on the edges and top.  Delicious.