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I sometimes have problems with my iron levels so my mother-in-law Lorraine suggested I make her tea biscuits and have them with molasses which are high in iron. Well you know what is also high in iron? Blueberries! So I compromised and made her fantastic tea biscuits but added some tiny wild blueberries to them. Lorraine said she was happy for me to share this special recipe with all my foodie friends, aren’t you lucky?!
Preheat oven to 400F. Sift 2 1/4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, 2 tbsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of salt together. Cut in 1/2 cup of cold margarine (I used butter). I used a pastry blender to blend it together until the butter was the size of peas.
Break an egg into a 1 cup measuring cup and then fill with milk until it measures one cup. Beat together. (Oops! I forgot.) Make a well in the middle of the flour and butter mixture and add the egg and milk. Stir to combine. For once my dough was too wet so I added some flour to bring it together with my hands.
I washed and cleaned approximately 1/2 a cup of wild blueberries and added about 1 tbsp of flour to them to coat them so they would be distributed evenly in the dough.
Very carefully fold them in to the dough, try not to burst them. Make this recipe with wild blueberries, they are much smaller than regular blueberries which will probably just break and give you purple dough!
On a floured surface carefully flatten dough with your hands so it is around 1″ thick. Use a small glass to make the small biscuits.
Lorraine suggested using a cake pan but I used a baking sheet. However you decide to bake them, just make sure the bottom of the pan is lined with parchment paper or a silpat and that the biscuits are snuggled up against each other. Mine should probably have been closer together.
Bake at 400F for around 20 minutes or until golden. These are a little dark for me but still very good!
Teapot compliments of my Auntie Laima, teacup and saucer are compliments of my mom and modern white plate compliments of my dear friend Michelle, thank you everyone!
Served with my Nova Scotia Wild Blueberry Freezer Jam, a very pretty and lovely way to get some iron into my diet. I love watching the jam ooze out of the tea biscuit!
Ooooo, love that final shot, Suzie — it looks like high tea at the Empress!
Thank you so much Debra! All those dishes come from my family and my friend Michelle so it was a group effort in a way! Oh I always wants to do high tea at The Empress! When I move back home that is going to be one of the first things I do. In fact we always stay at The Empress, it is so haunted! Can not believe I never had high tea there, there is no excuse!
I did not know about the iron in the blueberries and molasses. I will have to start using them to feed me and the kiddos. -Tien
Looks absolutely delicious! I may have to give this recipe a go.
I need a day to sit on your site and copy recipes. Those look so good
I adore tea biscuits and these look great!
I loved Lorraine’s Choc.Chip cookies so I know these will be awesome as well. Going to have to make some soon. And lucky you to have all that delicious homemade jam oozing outta there.
I checked out The Empress online, and all I can say is please take me with you for tea, what an absolutely stunning and spooky sounding place, just looks like a beautiful castle.
Oh, you MUST have high tea at the Empress some day. And here’s a tip — if you go in the off-season, it’s priced “two for one” which makes it a much more affordable indulgence. I must tell you this as well, Suzie, you’ll love it — when my Rare One and I had high tea there, it was towards the end of October. We sat looking out the huge windows towards the harbour marina. And what came down the street but Victoria’s annual Zombie Walk! A gazillion zombies all staggering down the street towards the BC legislature! It was freakin’ unreal!
Lorraine’s recipes are super special, it’s true Ava. They are all written in her fabulous handwriting and I keep them in a special folder, a true treasure.
If you would like to come with me for high tea, you are invited! Debra, that is good to know about the prices being lowered off season. It’s the main reason why I did not go. I can just imagine going in the autumn, it would be so beautiful. Oh I love that marina. My heart is so homesick, Victoria is such a beautiful city.
OMG, the Zombie Walk??!!! That would have totally made my day! Zombies and high tea, two of my favourite things. I love when the spooky and foodie worlds meet. That is joy, thank you for sharing that story, I LOVED it!!!!
scrumptious! I always wanted to ‘do’ high tea at the Empress – Zombie walk sounds like a HOOT! A couple of times when we visited Vanc. Island we stayed with a couple on the N end & I remember he served tea (he was a Britt) in his grandma’s china – the cups cost > $50 each, so tho ‘guests’ become ‘family’ & help with wash up after the first 24 hours, I declined to wash those!! Yikes –
On Iron – Yellow Dock (try tincture) is great in boosting levels – doesn’t have much itself, but helps absorb it – there’s a recipe in Susun Weed’s ‘herbs for the childbearing year’ since anemia is often assoc. with pregnancy – & here’s a brief ‘scoop’ on dock by the herb queen http://www.susunweed.com/Article_Polygonaceae-family.htm
Hey Suzie, made the Biscuits this morning for breakfast, used currants in them instead. They were a huge hit, so delicious warm out of the oven OMG! I only wish I had some of that yummy homemade jam to put on them. I did use margarine as well and they were just fabulous in both taste and texture. I’ll email a photo soon. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
BTW, Zombies and tea?? It really doesn’t get any better than that LOL.
These went down a treat with the BF at weekend breakfast, and a friend who came over for dinner 🙂
We are on a low-sugar diet and I realized that this recipe could be adapted to have just 1-2 TBSP sugar total, which works to little sugar in each biscuit. Still quite sweet with the berries, and yummy topped with nut butter!
Thanks for sharing, we will be making these again and using various fruits/spices in the dough.
Outstanding!
Keri
http://www.samwich365.com
My, don’t these look marvelous! I love your photography.
I’m organizing an English tea party and I hope that someone brings these 🙂
-www.PictureBritain.com
This is the easiest tea biscuit recipe I have ever made!! Three times this summer and they turned out beautifully each time – thanks for this recipe.
I will let Lorraine know Pamela, she will be thrilled!