Peach Scones

     The local grocery store in my town sells crates of peaches every year. People like to snatch them up as a way to get some bulk canning out of the way and stored for the winter. They were $30 a crate this year with about 4 dozen peaches in a crate, so in my opinion that's a fantastic deal! I finally broke down and bought one this year for the first time. Boy oh boy did I underestimate just how many peaches I would now have to figure out how to use! I managed to can 3 quarts of peaches and quickly ran out of cans so I baked as much as I could that week and cut up and froze the rest. One of my favorite recipes while I was panic baking as many peaches as possible was peach scones. I will admit it didn't use up peaches in a huge quantity like other recipes but man the scones were amazing!! Now that all of my peaches are canned or frozen, I haven't stopped making my peach scones for a splash of summer flavor through the winter months. 

    To make my scones, I start by popping my butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes and preheating my oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Once my butter is quite cold but not frozen I take it out and dice it up. If I am using my stand mixer, I cut my butter into smaller chunks but if I am using my food processor or blender I don't worry about cutting  my butter super small. I put my butter into my mixer with the flour, sugar and baking powder and let that mix until the butter is about pea-sized. Once that is done, I slowly add in my buttermilk, vanilla, and egg and mix it until everything starts to stick together. I make sure there are still some dry streaks when I add in my peaches and mix just until they are evenly distributed.

    To shape my scones, I dump them out onto my clean floured counter, and shape it into an inch and a half to two inch disk. I then use my bench scraper or a knife to divide the disk into 8-12 "slices". I then take my shaped scones and place them on a baking sheet at least a half of an inch apart. Before I bake them for 20-25 minutes, I like to sprinkle granulated sugar on top of each scone for a sweet and crunchy crust. 

    Once my scones are slightly golden on top, I pull them out of the oven and let them cool. While they are cooling, you can mix together one cup of powdered sugar with one to two tablespoons of water to make a glaze to drizzle over your scones once they are cool, or you can just leave them as they are. With the sugar crusts on top, the glaze is unnecessary but delicious if you decide to make it. 

    Once the scones are cooled, you can eat them with whipped cream, a cup of coffee, or all by themselves as a sweet treat or a special breakfast. Enjoy!

    What did you think of this recipe? Use the comment section below!