The Word Is Teatime--With Lemon Scones

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

The word is in. Kids are quite influential when it comes to where the grocery money goes. According to a recent Just Kid Inc.’s FUNdamentals study, “most kids between the ages of two and 12 want to eat food with their fingers or be able to dip or scoop it.” They also report that kids like to add things like sprinkles, sauces or toppings, and most children prefer products with filling or frosting, not to mention fun shapes and cool colors. But that’s probably no surprise to you, right?

And while it may seem that doesn’t leave a lot of options for variety or nutrition beyond granola bars and pop tarts, I think it’s another super reason to invite your kids into the kitchen. They may have some ideas for ways to make your traditional stand-bys more finger and carry-along friendly. Every time you get your kids mixing and measuring, you’ll help to kick-start an interest in healthier eating choices, maybe even a love of cooking—not to mention a more inventive appetite.

At our house, it all happened one day after I was glancing through some suggested activities in Learning Through History magazine. I read the ideas out loud and my daughter jumped on one immediately: A tea party! After all, what better way to celebrate the Boston Tea Party than to make buttery scones with tea?! The perfect finger food. She enthusiastically dug right in and had a ball mixing and measuring by hand—she even made miniature scones for each of our pets, 3 cats and 2 fish.

Teatime is something that carries fond memories for my daughter. We first tried teatime as a suggestion from Julie Bogart, creator and owner of Brave Writer Online Writing Services. In her classes and books, Julie supports parents and kids by encouraging their natural interests and finding satisfying ways to help them capture their thoughts and words to promote accurate, honest communication.

To inspire even more teatimes together, I recently pulled together some poetry books on a shelf in the kitchen–-now when we have tea together we can each choose one. It helps to have something by Jack Prelutsky or Shel Silverstein (gotta love their sense of humor!) to keep my older son (14) in the loop too. Our family definitely goes for light and humorous—not the heavy or sickeningly sweet.

I have had the honor and privilege of joining the staff at Brave Writer this year to instruct the Kids Write Basic Course. That’s given me even more opportunities to learn how listening to my kids (and the occasional teatime!) is the perfect way to encourage some hands-on kitchen time and even tuck some quiet, meaningful moments into your day together.

If you or your kids are ever struggling (or even hating) writing, I encourage you to take a look at what Brave Writer offers at www.bravewriter.com. Combined with these lemon scones, you’ve got a winning combination to write, mix and munch together. Definitely some finger food for thought.

Serves/Makes: 16

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons grated lemon peel
• 1/2 cup butter (cut into 1/2-inch pieces)
• 2 eggs, beaten to blend
• 2/3 cup milk or buttermilk