These one-bowl hibiscus scones are served with a dairy-free strawberry cream cheese, my childhood favourite!

Did you know the hibiscus is Malaysia’s national flower? That was a fun fact I learned when I was exploring Kuala Lumpur with my Malaysian twin, Tien Cin, last month. When asked what my favourite part of my grad trip was, I say Malaysia. Even though I was only in the city for a short 4 days, I had such a great time being immersed in a brand new culture, having a local friend be my tour guide, and of course, eating all the amazingly delicious food! This hibiscus scone recipe is to commemorate the few days I got to spend in Malaysia.

I call Tien my Malaysian twin because we are so similar in the hobbies we have, foods we like, way we think, and stage of life that it’s scary. Scary but absolutely wonderful to have someone who understands me 100%. We met in university but she moved back to her home country a few months ago, so I was really excited to hang out with her again.

On my first morning in Kuala Lumpur, Tien had to work so I took myself on a little photography adventure to Batu Caves. I learned that a 35mm lens is too close-up for travelling and that trying to get decent photos of yourself is a challenge because most strangers don’t understand what you exactly want to capture nor know how to operate a DSLR. The funniest thing that happened while I was there was that while I was standing under the shade of the souvenir store figuring out my ride hailing app, an Indian family, dressed in beautiful traditional attire, came up to me and asked for a photo. I thought they wanted me to help them take a photo, but they wanted a photo with me. I was flabbergasted and couldn’t utter a word before they situated themselves next to me and snapped some photos. They said thank you and left before I could comprehend what just happened or ask them why they wanted of photo of me. It wasn’t like where we were standing was a scenic spot. Was it my very North American outfit? Did they think I was a Malaysian local? I will likely never find out why they requested for a photo nor where the photo of my shocked and awkward face ended up. This happening will leave me perplexed for the rest of my life. When I told Tien over lunch about my time at Batu Caves, she howled with laughter and called it my ‘celebrity moment’. It was far from that, but definitely an amusing travel story to tell.

One of the things I requested to do in Malaysia was to try the craziest exotic fruits. We wandered into every grocery store we passed in search of ripened cepedak, ciku, mangosteen, red dragonfruit, and of course, durian. (Here is a photo of our final spread). Tien is a personal fitness trainer and a yoga teacher, so after a morning workout circuit where she kicked my butt and turned my arms into noodles, we feasted on our collection of fruit and my signature granola for brunch. I was both excited and hesitant to try durian for the first time; the world’s stinkiest fruit has an incredibly split reputation. Some people can’t get enough while some people can’t spit it out fast enough. My thoughts? It smells worse than it tastes. But since taste and smell are intricately intertwined, I understand why some people despise durian. I quite like the creamy, almost soft service ice cream-like, texture of frozen durian (the way it should be served) but the flavour still needs to grow on me. One piece was satisfying enough for me. I will save the remaining durian for those that truly enjoy it.

My tummy was so pleased with the vegetarian versions of Malaysia’s iconic foods: nasi lemak, lei cha, laksa, apam balik, roti canai, chendol, and kaya. Not even ashamed to say that we hit up six food spots in a single afternoon, and after a full lunch. Clearly there are more foods than I could possibly try in four days. I definitely miss the nasi lemak and lei cha the most; even the thought of those dishes makes me salivate. The nasi lemak’s kabocha curry with the coconut rice and roasted peanuts is to die for, so is the lei cha’s herbaceous soup. I would fly back to Malaysia just for those two dishes tbh. And Tien, of course (love ya!)

Besides eating nonstop, we explored several botanical gardens to incorporate some ‘forest bathing’ into our day. We were the only people crazy enough to be strolling outside in the middle of the afternoon (or the only people not working) when it was extremely humid and well over 30 degrees. Upon arriving to the botanical garden, our first item of importance was to visit the hibiscus grove. Unfortunately the info centre was closed that day but the gift shop staff gave us some pointers on how to navigate the botanical garden. We walked in the direction he pointed us towards, and asked the gate guards for their directions just to confirm. Except that they told us to go left, while the gift store guy to us to go right. We went left and saw a few measly hibiscus trees and kept walking uphill, hoping to find more. It didn’t look like it was leading anywhere so we asked some park keepers where they thought the hibiscus grove was; they told us to go back downhill. So we did, found a sign that supposedly pointed towards the hibiscus grove, followed that, and ended up at an amphitheater. We tried a third time by following the road and still couldn’t find it. Tien and I debated for the remainder of the afternoon whether those measly bushes was the hibiscus ‘grove’ or if we were just terrible with navigation. Nevertheless, we found other beautiful plants, a bamboo playhouse, and a native vegetable garden during our time there.

Tien took me to a cultural centre to learn traditional batik painting, which is like textile watercolour. I chose a hibiscus stencil for my batik painting; it seemed quintessentially Malaysian and would remind me of the time we never found the hibiscus grove. The staff at the studio made getting the perfect ombré look a lot easier than it was. It took me several attempts to get my red to evenly gradient into my yellow, or my blue into purple. Neither of us are particularly talented in the area of fine art so we laughed at our splotches of brown (i.e. failed ombré). Ultimately, we had a lot of fun completing our batik paintings and left feeling relaxed, as if we just finished one of those stress-relieving colouring books.

Ok so about these scones. I really have to thank Kimmy for the idea of using hibiscus and berries in these scones. It’s an unexpected but lovely pairing for summer berries, particularly strawberries and raspberries. Hibiscus tea is tart and balances out the sweetness of berries and the heaviness of full fat coconut milk. These hibiscus scones are truly one of the best scones I’ve ever made because the exterior gets sooooo crunchy in the oven! Not only is the texture comparable to Purebread Bakery’s epic scones, but they’re made using the ‘lazy girl’ method (i.e. no need to cut in the fat)! One bowl greatness right here. I couldn’t help be devour an entire scone before snapping photos. Thankfully I didn’t need the entire batch for photos.

Of course you can eat the scones as is, but smearing a dollop of this strawberry tofu cream cheese onto each bite makes them truly special. The idea comes from serving scones with devonshire cream, but this recipe is way tastier and healthier. Strawberry cream cheese was my favourite kind of cream cheese as a kid, so I’m ecstatic to share this natural and dairy-free homemade version! It’s so good I could eat it on its own by the spoonful; it’s kind of like strawberry mousse. Next time I’m going to try using it to frost brownies and cakes.

Prefer savoury cream cheese? Try Chew’s garlic & herb tofu cream cheese!