Cherry-Peach Scones
I love all baked goods, but sometimes I find myself really jonesing for a scone. Something about the golden, crunchy outside, contrasted with the softer center – not to mention all the butter – just really speaks to me. I wanted to include a little summer flavor in these, so I added some fresh cherries and a hint of peach, which also alleviate a little bit of the guilt I feel when eating a couple to start my day!
Making scones from scratch always seemed daunting to me, but it turns out they're really not so hard! You don't need many ingredients, and the most difficult aspect of the preparation can be made easier with a bit of cheating. Instead of dicing your butter and cutting it into the dough, you can grate it instead, giving you small pieces that can be easily distributed evenly. It's still not the easiest thing to do, but it's leaps and bounds better than cutting butter into flour without a pastry cutter (which I refuse to buy because I do not need any more gadgets in my kitchen)!
I started with a source recipe for these, but I made some changes to it to incorporate the ingredients I wanted. Specifically, the peach was the challenge. I knew I wanted to mash it to be sure the hint of peach flavor was spread throughout the dough (moreso than it would have been had I just diced it), and adding extra wet ingredients can be a little risky. Luckily it worked out beautifully in this case, and I think the peach may actually help the scones avoid drying out!
The original recipe is just a standard scone recipe, but that means that it can be used with whatever dry add-ins you'd like to use, like nuts, chocolate chips, or dried fruit. You can expect to see more scones on the blog soon, because I'll definitely be trying some different variations of this! I see chocolate chips in the near future...
CHERRY-PEACH SCONES
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Bake Time: 16-18 minutes
Makes 12 small scones
Ingredients
2¾ cups flour 1 T baking powder 8 T salted butter, cold/frozen ⅓ cup sugar ½ cup milk
½ cup fresh peach, mashed or pureed
~15 sweet cherries, pitted and chopped into small pieces
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425F. Prepare a board with flour, and grease a large cookie sheet. If you haven't already prepared your fruit, mash your fresh peach, and pit and chop your cherries.
Grate your cold or frozen butter to ensure it's in small pieces, which will make it easier to incorporate into the dry ingredients.
In a large bowl, mix the flour and baking powder (note: that's a tablespoon of baking powder, not a teaspoon!). Then add the grated butter, and stir until the mixture is combined. Stir in the sugar, milk, peach, and cherries, mixing until the dough is as thoroughly combined as possible. It will be thick! Then remove the dough, place it on your floured board, and knead for a minute, ensuring that the dough has all come together.
Separate the dough into two even halves. Place each half on either end of the large greased cookie sheet, and flatten into two circles about 1½ inches thick. Cut each circle into six wedges, and separate them slightly, with about ½ - 1 inch in between each wedge. Place in the oven and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until the tops and edges are golden brown.
Serve warm, and if you want some extra decadence, with a pat of butter!
Happy Eating,
Natalie