Friday, September 4, 2009

Peach Scones With Peach Whipped Cream






Yes, these scones were very delicious. But that's besides the point. These are sad scones because their baker is sad. Half way through making these I realized that this is precisely the kind of thing Saeyoung would love. Peachy, barely sweet, moist, and kind of has the texture of a fat fat baby. If scones were the type of thing one could ship, I would do so, immediately. Unfortunately scones have a very limited shelf life. They should probably be eaten within the same day of being baked.

Really, what is the point of baking if not to fatten up the people around you? I certainly don't want all that butter around my hips. no no.

I think I'm in a bit of mourning from having my sister on the other side of the country. But on the up side, we've already started planning a trip to New York together in January, so there's something to look forward to.

Okay, mourning aside. These are very good scones, though perhaps not the most traditional. Most scone recipes call for very cold butter that it cut into the dough to make for a flaky crumb, but more often than not scones are dense and really very clumsy door stop like things. I softened my butter and used sour cream rather than heavy cream, making for a very light and delicate scone--golden and crusty on the outside and so soft on the inside that I wanted to stick my face in the center. I can't take credit for the sour cream/softened butter idea--that came from The Steamy Kitchen Blog where she wrote about a recipe for blueberry scones with lemon curd. I adapted the recipe a bit, adding a little bit more sugar and substituting the blueberries with peaches.

Also, the peach whipped cream was pretty key. I didn't sweeten my whipped cream at all. I just pureed some peaches and very gently folded it into the batter (fold vveeerrry gently into your whipped cream will just become soupy). And then I topped the whole thing with honey.

Peaches and cream and honey. I love breakfast.

Peach Scones With Peach Whipping Cream

Ingredients:

Scones:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
2 cups sour cream
1 large peach (or 1 1/3 small peaches), small dice with skin still on
4-5 tablespoons of granulated sugar
Optional: egg wash and sanding sugar for sprinkling

Peach Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup peach puree

1. preheat oven to 350
2. in a large mixing bowl sift together dry ingredients
3. cut in softened butter with a pastry cutter, or use hands to work the dough until it resembles the texture of coarse crumbs
4. mix the vanilla extract into the sour cream
5. fold in the sour cream and vanilla mixture into the dough very gently
6. fold in the peaches
7. use a 1/4 measuring cup or use a very large heaping ice cream scoop to measure out the dough onto a lined cookie sheet
8. bake for about 30 minutes
9. while the scones are baking use an electric mixer to beat the whipped cream until it peaks
10. fold in the peach puree
11. keep the whipped cream refrigerated

makes about 20-22 scones

1 comment:

Roxana Farahmand said...

I love how it "has the texture of a fat fat baby"
bahaha