cookies made using KTeas Gingerbread Scone Mix

We'll admit we never thought of it, ourselves. Maria & Jeremy wrote to tell us that one day they were on a mission to make some cookies, no particular kind, for no particular reason, but by golly they were going to make cookies from scratch that day. As they pulled ingredients from the cupboard, they spotted the bag of Gingerbread Scone Mix. The idea was born. The result was "almost like Snickerdoodles but with white chocolate chips." They share their original recipe for other adventurous souls:

Ingredients:

• 2-1/4 cups Gingerbread Scone Mix
• 1 cup butter (2 sticks; may use margarine)
• 3/4 cup Sugar in the Raw
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 12oz package white chocolate chips (or 12oz chopped Dove Chocolate Discoveries White Chocolate)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  If desired, line baking sheets with parchment paper as when making scones.

Mix butter or margarine, both sugars, and vanilla.
Add eggs.
Slowly stir in scone mix.
Stir in white chocolate chips.
Place tablespoon-size balls of cookie dough onto baking sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 11-13 minutes (go by your own experience with your oven).
Makes appr. 4 dozen DELICIOUS cookies!

Have you done any experimenting with scone mixes? We'd love it if you'd share with us the way Maria & Jeremy did. We are so tickled that they shared their recipe, we're going to give them 5 KISS the Tea reward points!

Oh wait! We haven't told you about KISS the Tea, yet, have we?  Well, read on . . .

To express our gratitude for your repeat business on our website, we tried for a long time to come up with a unique rewards program. Nothing ever quite seemed to work, though. All too complicated, difficult to track. Then it occurred to us: As consumers, ourselves, what reward programs did we enjoy the most, whether in a brick-&-mortar establishment like a restaurant or a movie theater, or online? Quite simply, the ones that gave us points or credits for each dollar spent there, or simply tracked each retail $ spent. Usually this entails that when we reach some milestone, usually $100 spent, we receive our reward. Whether the reward is a gift certificate or a code to use on our next online purchase, it usually amounts to roughly 10% of that $100 we spent, or $10 credit or $10 off our next purchase.

  

Thus, we decided to Keep It Simple to Savor the Tea.  When you reach the point that you've purchased $100 retail value from KTeas, we will issue you a promotion code to use on your next purchase, within 6 months. When you next check-out, you will enter the promotional code and get $10 off your retail purchase.  It's that Simple to Savor the Tea!

If you've already purchased $100 retail value via the KTeas website, you will soon receive your K.I.S.S. the Tea code!  If you're close to reaching that $100 benchmark, we'll let you know.

As we just indicated regarding Maria & Jeremy sharing that cookie recipe using our Gingerbread Scone Mix, you can earn K.I.S.S. the Tea points in other ways, too.  Simple ways.  Share a recipe you came up with using a KTeas product, like Maria & Jeremy did for 5 points.  Share your experience (if "write a review" sounds too intimidating or formal, simply share your experience) of one of our products in any number of ways: write about it on the KTeas Facebook Page, either under Reviews or directly on our Wall = 5 points.  Tweet about it; use @KTeasOnline or perhaps make a trending topic of it such as #KTeas. That'll earn you 5 points.  Go to our website, to the product listing such as the Gingerbread Scones that Maria & Jeremy had such delicious fun with, click on Submit a Review, & share your experience directly on our website for 5 points!

We'll continue to come up with Simple ways to enhance your experience of Savoring the Tea -- At the Intersection of Life and Tea.

Single-Estate teas fresh from Glenburn Estates in India, with plantations in the Darjeeling region and Khongea in the Assam region.  Fresh Low Country Ceylon teas from Morawaka Estates in the Ruhuna region in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka.  100% Hawaii-grown single-estate teas from a collective of tea gardens in the Hawaiian Islands! 

Already, reviewers have reacted to these teas with remarks such as this about Glenburn's First Flush Darjeeling:  "It reminds me of living in California and walking past the orange groves when they're in bloom.  It smells so wonderful!" 

And about the Khongea Golden Tips Assam: "There is a very pleasing undercurrent of sweetness to this tea, it is caramel-y in flavor with a subtle burnt-sugar taste." And "Perfectly malty/smoky at 3 minutes." Furthermore, a reader made this comment on one of the Khongea Assam reviews "Idon't know this specific brand, but I drink Khongea Assam quite often and find your description to be exactly what I've found with tea from this region of Assam.  It's one of those teas I recommend to people who find Assams too bitter." 

There was a question about the Morawaka Ceylon FBOPF: what did the 2nd "F" in the Grading designate? We wondered that ourselves, because according to what we had learned about Grading, that placement of an "F" indicated the leaf size = Fannings, but the tea leaves looked too big to be Fannings, we thought.  We double-checked with the Morawaka folks---& it turns out those are Fannings on the Morawaka plantation! 

You have likely heard about, if you have not experienced it yourself, how wonderful Kona coffee is for having been grown in Hawaiian soil.  Well, imagine how wonderful tea grown in Hawaiian soil must be! No, wait, don't imagine it: taste it for yourself! ---We don't know if this is because of that Hawaiian soil, but you will see on the Hawaii-grown teas' packaging that you can re-steep the same leaves up to 4 infusions.  Trust us: you can.  We know you can usually put oolong leaves through multiple infusions and still get delicious tea, but black, green, & white tea leaves?  We tried it, and it's true!  For all of the Hawaii-grown teas, you can get at least 4 infusions without any loss of flavor!

Explore the indoor marketplace of The Shoppes At River's Edge!  Visit the KTeas space in a front window, to your right as you enter, restock on old favorites, purchase new teas to try, pick up teaware, accessories, and books as gifts for yourself or others.  Stay on the watch for special events at The Shoppes, like Ladies' Nite Out, and Tea Samplings.

Find what you need for your garden and lawn, and explore the many gift options in the Gift Shop at Young's Garden Center.  Don't forget to restock on your favorite KTeas products and pick up charming tea-oriented gifts while you're there!

Miss Libby's Tea Parties, found at Celebration Cottage on Ebenezer Rd. for the last two years, is relocating to join KTeas at The Shoppes At River's Edge! Celebration Cottage on Ebenezer Rd. is closing as of Aug. 31, but find Celebration Cottage for teens at  Palmetto Hills Paintball on Hwy 21 just past Catawba Baptist Church!