Matcha White Chocolate Scones

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200 °C for 15 min and line a tray with baking paper. Matcha turns brownish at high heat, so these bake a little cooler than plain scones.

   oven

2. Sift the flour, matcha and baking powder together into a bowl, then stir in the sugar and salt. Matcha clumps easily, so sifting is what gives an even green with no specks. Cut the cold butter into 1 cm cubes and rub it in with your fingertips for 3 min, until it looks like fine breadcrumbs.

   Add in this stepPlain flour 135 gMatcha powder 1.6 tspBaking powder 2 tspCaster sugar 22 gSalt 1 pinchCold unsalted butter 40 g

3. Stir in the chopped white chocolate, pour in the cream (the rest is for brushing) and cut through the mixture with a spatula until no dry flour is left, then stop. The fat in cream makes a softer, moister scone than milk.

   Add in this stepWhite chocolate, roughly chopped 40 gCold double cream 86 ml

4. Turn the dough onto a floured worktop and press it with your hands into a disc 14 cm across and about 2.5 cm thick. With a floured knife, cut it like a pizza into wedges, 2 per serving.

5. Set the wedges 2 cm apart on the tray, brush the tops with the remaining cream and bake in the oven at 200 °C for 14 min, until the sides spring back when pressed and the bases are lightly browned. If the tops start to brown, lay a sheet of foil loosely over them to keep the green colour.

   Add in this stepCold double cream 9.5 ml

   oven

6. Cool on a rack for 10 min. Sift the icing sugar with the remaining matcha, add the milk a little at a time to make a thick icing and drizzle it over the scones in zigzags with a spoon. Serve once the icing has set.

   Add in this stepIcing sugar 30 gMatcha powder 0.4 tspMilk (for the icing) 2 tsp