Easy Tea Biscuits With Cream

Light, flaky and golden, this recipe is a keeper! Make amazing tea biscuits even if you're a beginner baker with this hard-to-fail recipe.

I love how easy this recipe is.

I have a love affair with butter, but I hate to use it cold when making baked goods. It can be so frustrating! And you have to work super fast so you don't end up with tough, dense tea biscuits.

There's no butter here: all the fat comes from the heavy cream, an easy-to-mix ingredient that makes flaky and light afternoon treats.

So if you're looking for tall and rich biscuits, baked to golden perfection and easy to do, you need to try my go to tea biscuit recipe.

Ingredients

All-Purpose Flour. Don't use cake, bread or whole wheat flour for this recipe. All-purpose is the one that will give you the perfect texture.

Heavy Cream. You can use heavy cream or whipping cream. Make sure is cold.

Sugar. It helps these biscuits to get that beautiful golden color through caramelization.

Salt. Use fine sea salt for this recipe.

Baking Powder. It's what makes these biscuits rise in the oven. Always check the expiration date of this ingredient.

How to know if baking powder has expired?

If your baking powder is open for more than 6 months, the ingredient might have lost its efficacy. Check if it's good before using it:

• Add ½ teaspoon of baking powder into a bowl;
• Pour boiling water;
• Baking powder is good if the mixture bubbles.

How to make them

Start by preheating the oven. It needs to be in the right temperature as soon as you finish cutting the dough.

1. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, stirring to combine.
   
2. Add COLD heavy cream and mix to incorporate. Knead just until dough has formed. I usually add ¾ of the total amount of heavy cream, and if the dough is too crumbly, I add the rest.
   
3. In a clean surface, open the dough, gently flattening it with your fingers. No need for a rolling pin. If the dough is sticking to the surface, flour it.
   
4. Using a round cutter or glass, cut the opened dough. Watch the video to see how thick I open the dough. Gather the scraps and open the dough again, cutting more biscuits. Repeat until no dough is left. You'll have about 10 biscuits.
   
5. Place shaped biscuits into a lined baking sheet, and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
   
6. Remove tea biscuits from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Tips for getting the best tea biscuits

• Use COLD heavy/whipping cream. That's super important for you to get flaky and light biscuits.

• Preheat the oven before gathering the ingredients. It's essential to have it hot enough for the biscuits to properly rise.

• If you don't have anything round to use as a cutter, pat the dough open and use a knife to cut it into squares. They will be as good as the round ones.

• Cutting open dough with a knife might be easier is you're a beginner. That way you avoid overworking the dough.

Storing and freezing

Store these tea biscuits in an airtight container or bag, at room temperature. They're good for about 3 days.

You can also freeze baked tea biscuits after they cooled. Use a freezer safe bag for it: place biscuits into bag, seal it and store inside the freezer. They're good for 1 month.

To reheat, microwave them or place into preheated oven until warm.

What do you eat with tea biscuits

Caponata with no tomatoes
Caramelized onion chutney with brie
Blackberry jam
Blueberry compote