Lavender & Citrus Tea Bread is our newest video and we’d love you to try it because it’s delicious!!  We infuse Lavender Earl Grey tea  https://www.calteas.com/product/lavender-earl-grey/  right into the batter!  If you want it even more lemony, use lemon juice only in the glaze.  If you want a delicious variation on Lemon Poppy Seed Bread, put in poppy seeds.  It’s versatile, delicious, and perfect with any tea, including Earl Grey!   The second day, it was just as scrumptious and we piled thick slices with macerated, sweetened strawberries and whipped cream for the perfect strawberry shortcake.

You can watch Diane make it in a few simple steps here: http://bit.ly/2ukIefj  Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. Lavender Earl Grey tea
3 TBS fresh lavender finely chopped (or 2 TBS dried lavender)
1 TBS orange zest
6 TBS softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Glaze:
1/3 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. water
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
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Preheat oven to 325F
Grease & flour loaf pan
Infuse warm milk with 1 tsp. loose Lavender Earl Grey for 3 minutes and remove leaves.
Add chopped lavender and orange zest to milk, bring to simmer and then remove from heat and cool.
In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth.
Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy.
Add vanilla extract
Combine dry ingredients and blend into creamed mixture with milk, alternately, until well blended.

Pour batter into baking pan and place in 325F oven 50 min.

Glaze:
Combine powdered sugar, lemon juice, water, and vanilla extract until smooth. Spread on hot cake.

The original recipe for this tea bread came from reluctantentertainer.com, and we changed it a bit.  We added orange zest and the Lavender Earl Grey tea into the milk infusion, and added freshly squeezed lemon juice into the glaze.  Next time, we’ll do nothing but lemon juice as the liquid in the glaze to make it even more lemon-y.  The prep time was listed as 10 minutes, but we’d say add another 5-10 to that.

This yummy tea bread comes out light, moist, with nuances of the infused tea, lavender and citrus.  Really delicious.  In fact, we shared half of our loaf with a neighbor as a little ‘tea gift’.  If you enjoy Earl Grey tea or Lavender Earl Grey tea with it, the notes are complimented.  But ice cold milk would work in a pinch. 🙂

Try this…so simple.  Enjoy!