A little salty with a hint of sweet, these Rich Tea Biscuits are the perfect cake to serve with afternoon tea or as an after-dinner dessert. A rich tea biscuits recipe that's not quite crunchy and not quite soft with a unique consistency and subtle flavor that makes this rich tea cake perfect for dunking.
Hello hungry friends! Today I'm celebrating my British heritage with some tasty Rich Tea Biscuits. Rich Tea Biscuits are as essential to British culture as apple pie is to American culture. Best known for being the most dunkable biscuit around, their biscuit-like consistency and subtle flavor will entice even the most anti-dunker to dunk!
Frankly, I've never been much of a dunker of things in my tea or coffee. After all, who wants chunks of food floating around at the top of their cup? The sound of it even grosses me out. But I've tested these biscuits over the last week in my coffee and tea and amazingly, they can withstand the dunk without falling apart. In fact, I've dunked for as long as 20 seconds and they've remained intact. Now that's something to celebrate!
How to Make Rich Tea Biscuits
As you can see by the pictures, I''m a very messy cook. And anything with flour, forget it! You can bet my kitchen is going to look like a war-zone when I'm finished. But this rich tea biscuits recipe is easy to make and if you can contain your flour, you've got it made.
Step 1: Gather your Ingredients
If you're ready to bake, I invite you to gather your ingredients. Here's what you'll need for the recipe, which may already be in your panty:
- All purpose flour, sifted (I used King Arthur's)
- Vegan butter (keep it cold)
- Sugar in the raw
- Almond milk
- Baking powder
- Pinch of salt
I find preparing the ingredients before anything else by placing them in little containers makes the recipe faster and easier to complete as you can see in the Step 1 image below. Once you have everything measured out, you're going to whisk all the dry ingredients together into one bowl.
Step 2: Cut the Butter into the Flour
Keeping your butter cold until you're ready to bake makes this step easy-peasy. You're going to cut the butter in small slices and drop it into the flour. Then, with your hands, you're going to slowly work the flour into the butter until it's a crumbly consistency, as you can see below in the Step 2 image.
Step 3: Forming a Dough
Next pour the almond milk into the dry ingredients and again, using your well-floured hands, blend all the ingredients together until a dough forms. Once your dough ball is formed, put more flour on your hands and knead it for about 2 minutes.
Step 4: Rolling Dough and Cutting Out Biscuits
Flour whatever surface your going to roll your dough out on generously. And don't forget to flour your rolling pin. It may be easier to cut the dough in half and work from there, but I just used the entire ball. Roll out your dough as thin as you can possibly get it as you can see in Step 4 above. Remember: The thinner the dough, the more cracker-like your biscuit. The thicker the dough the more biscuit-like your biscuit. Next, using a cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out circles of dough as you can see in Step 4 above. Keep rolling out the dough and cutting out
Rich Tea Biscuits Steps 5 through 6
Step 5: Place on Baking Sheet & Bake for 10 Minutes
For baking just about anything, I use these Silicone Baking Mats. They are non-stick and make clean-up a breeze and using them is better for the environment than parchment paper or foil. Place each biscuit on the baking sheet and throw in the oven at 360 degrees Fahrenheit (176 Celsius).
Step 6: Allow to Cool on Cooling Rack
Once out of the oven, you can let them cool a little bit on the pan and then transfer them to a cooling rack. But, if you're like me, you'll have your tea ready to go as these golden mounds of heaven taste best straight out of the oven!
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📖 Recipe
Rich Tea Biscuits (Vegan, Refined Sugar-Free
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups 280 ml all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 4 teaspoon sugar in the raw or other vegan sugar
- 4.5 tablespoon 65 g vegan butter (cold, keep in fridge until ready to use)
- ⅔ cups almond milk or other nut milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 360F (176C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Combine dry ingredients into large bowl. Mix together well with fork or whisk.
- Cut the butter into the flour in small slices. Using your hands, gently work the flour into the butter until the mixture becomes crumbly like coarse bread crumbs.
- Pour in the milk, and still using your hands, work the mixture into a smooth dough ball. Once formed, knead the dough briefly for about 2 minutes.
- Roll out dough on a clean, well-floured working surface as thinly as possible. Using a cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out round circles of dough and place on baking sheets. Continue rolling out dough and cutting out biscuits until all the dough is used. Using a fork or pastry docker, gently prick the tops of the biscuits before they enter the oven.
- Place biscuits in the center rack of your oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, depending upon your oven, or until they begin to turn golden brown. Serve immediately with a nice cup of tea or place on cooling racks to cool. Store in an air-tight container for 3-5 days.
Notes
- To make it easier when rolling the dough, cut it in half and work with only half at a time.
Lucy Smith says
Sorry but this is NOT a rich tea biscuit (from an English person). It's more like a scone. Taste nice though.
Deborah says
Glad it tasted good. It may not be an exact replica, but it's my version. And it's a really old recipe so someday it will be updated and maybe change. Thanks for your comment.
Victoria says
This recipe looks so simple. I’m eager to make it! Just wanted to point out a discrepancy here. In the first instance it states oven temperature at 360 F but where the recipe is repeated below it states a temp of 410 F. I’m going with 360 because I’m sure 410 would result in burnt biscuits.
Deborah says
Thank you for pointing that out. I will fix immediately!
Kim says
These biscuits look yummy. I checked the label of my packet of Rich Tea Biscuits and they are made with vegetable oil and have Barley Malt Extract for flavor. Just wondering how the recipe would go with oil instead of vegan butter?
Deborah says
Kim, I did not try with oil, but I think it would be fine. Fat is fat, so to speak. I would say to add the oil in slowly so you don't get mushy dough. Please let me know how it turns out. Thank you for your comment!
Traci says
Oh my gosh these look so easy and so perfect to make with kids who love to bake. I'll be pinning this recipe and can't wait to make it with my neighbor kids! 🙂
Vegan Vigilante says
Awesome Traci, I baked them with my granddaughter. It was fun then we has a tea party! Thanks for your comment.
Ginny McMeans says
I have never made tea biscuits but these look like the perfect recipe to try. Thanks!
Vegan Vigilante says
Thank you Ginny, they are super good to try!
Diana says
Can I sweeten these tea biscuits with honey or maple syrup? I wonder if the dough will hold together. I love such simple and easy recipes.
Vegan Vigilante says
Oh yes, Diana, they will hold together we'll, better than a regular biscuit. You can even dunk these and they still hold together we'll. Thanks for your comment!
Renee Gardner says
What a wonderful story!! I have been thinking about doing one of those DNA tests, but I didn't realize that Ancestry.com's test could actually help you locate family. I wish you all the best in learning more about your birth family and finding your mother.
A note about those cracker-like biscuits: in England what they call biscuits is what we would consider a cracker. What we would call biscuits are closer to their scones, which I'm sure the Queen would welcome for afternoon tea. For more confusion: our chips are their crisps, their chips are our fries, and digestives are very similar to graham crackers. For being a common language I learn something new every time I visit with my British in-laws.
Vegan Vigilante says
Hi Renee,
Thanks so much for the tips on British food. And yes, ancestry links all your DNA matches to your profile. U open it up and all of a sudden u have tons of relatives. But I had to do some digging to find my birth family. It took me less than 2 days. Anyway, thanks again so very much.
Hannah Healy says
These look amazing! Perfect for a cuppa!
Vegan Vigilante says
Thanks so much Hannah!
Jillian says
I will love my next tea party with these sweet cookies!
Vegan Vigilante says
Haha, thanks Jillian. I hope you love them.