Tea Time with Brandy: Sparkling Cocktails & Matcha Peppermint Scones

Every year a few weeks before Christmas, Brandy hosts a Wrapping Party. It's a jolly old time with all of her friends; listening to Christmas carols, nibbling a few treats, and sipping a few drinks while progressively getting merrier while their paper cutting skills get worse and worse until inevitably, someone ends up wrapped in clear tape like a mummy. "I find that it's the best possible way to get motivated for the worst chore of the holiday season," she says, "Plus, it's usually an excuse for me to try some more experimental recipes before I give them their big debut."

To keep everyone feeling merry and bright, Brandy made sure she had plenty of cocktail making supplies on hand. One thing she had hit upon as a brilliant base for mixing simple cocktails quickly while ensuring they had great flavor was a new line of sparkling waters from Waterloo. Coming in 7 varieties, the sparkling waters are all calorie free, sugar free, and sodium free, meaning they add brilliant flavor and bubbles to a cocktail without adding anything else. Brandy particularly likes the Lime flavor, which she mixes with vodka and cranberry juice to create a Sparkling Christmas Cosmo. The Black Cherry flavor is also lovely with a splash of cranberry and some honey whiskey, making a lightly crisp version of a Manhattan. All of the flavors (which also include watermelon, coconut, lemon, and grapefruit) are also perfect for sipping on their own as a light and refreshing palate cleanser after consuming tons of sweet and salty snacks.

Speaking of which, this year, Brandy decided to go a little bit out of the gift box, so to speak, for her Wrapping Party provisions. "I like my food to be colorful this time of year," she explained, "But I don't want to overload things with dye and artificial hues." For that reason, she zeroed in on Matcha as a natural colorant as well as a spectacular winter flavor. The thought of tea put her in mind of her home land, and instantly she was craving scones with lashings of cream. "Hmmm... Matcha scones... now that's an idea!" she said to no one in particular. But the idea needed just a little something more to make it feel complete. "Of course! The cream!" she exclaimed. Thinking on flavors that might match well with the delicate Matcha, but also remind her guests of snowy winter days spent snuggled by the fire, she hit on the idea of a peppermint scented buttercream to fill her scones with. And as her cabinets are always stocked with wonderful extracts from Nielsen Massey, it was a sinch to make her scone and cream dreams a reality.

Matcha Scones with Peppermint Cream

2 cups of cake flour
4 teaspoons of baking powder
2 tablespoons of Matcha powder
a pinch of salt
2/3 cup of milk, plus one tablespoon
2 large eggs (one for egg wash)
1/4 cup of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of Nielsen Massey vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of softened butter
Nielsen Massey Vanilla Sugar for topping

For peppermint cream:

1/2 cup of softened butter
1/2 pound of confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoons plus more to taste of Nielsen Massey peppermint extract
about a tablespoon of milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with a silicon mat or parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder, matcha powder, and salt. In a second bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer. Add in one egg and the milk while continuing to mix. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and continue to mix until everything is well incorporated. Using either an oiled ice cream scoop or your flour dusted hands, form the dough into about a dozen small balls and line the baking sheet with them. Scramble the remaining egg with a tablespoon of milk, then use a pastry brush to apply the egg wash to the tops of the scones, then sprinkle on vanilla sugar. Bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes, or until the tops are slightly brown. Let cool completely.

In a medium bowl, cream together the softened butter, confectioner's sugar, and peppermint extract (start with two teaspoons and add more if desired). Add in milk a few drops at a time to loosen up the cream and give it more of a whipped texture rather than a hard icing texture. Cut the scones in half horizontally and spread a generous amount of peppermint cream on the bottom piece before adding the top back on.

The writers of this blog were sent products from the mentioned companies free of charge in order to facilitate the writing of this post.