A peachy start to the month

I was awake entirely too early this morning. 6:20am, which is just wrong for a day when I don't have to go anywhere. But I decided to make the best of it and just get up.  At least it's nice and quiet at that time of day (and Gillian didn't make an appearance until about 7:15).  I sat in the recliner with my laptop, reading stuff online and trying to decide what to bake for breakfast.

I was pretty sure I wanted to make scones.  They're always a big hit around here.  But I'm a bit tired of my usual recipes, so wanted to find something new.  I didn't really want to get up to look through cookbooks.  I started by searching through my Google Reader, but nothing caught my eye.  My next stop was one of my favorite online baking resources, the King Arthur Flour website.  I typed "scones" into the search box, and waited to see what would come up.  I thought about making savory ones, like these scallion cheddar scones, but decided to save those for another day.  But a couple recipes down the page I hit pay dirt.  Peach Nutmeg Scones.  I love nutmeg.  I love peaches, and had some that I needed to use up.  I almost always have vanilla yogurt in the fridge--I buy the 32 oz container, and Brianna and Gillian often eat it with whatever fruit we have around.  I was set!

Like most scone recipes, these are easy to mix up.  First I whisked together the dry ingredients (AP flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, nutmeg) in a large bowl.  In a 2-cup measuring cup, I whisked together the eggs, vanilla yogurt and extracts.  The recipe calls for half a teaspoon of almond extract, but I don't like it that much, so I used a couple drops and made up the difference with vanilla extract.  Then I diced the peach into small pieces.  (I didn't bother to peel it, since I hate peeling peaches and avoid it whenever possible.)  I cut the cold butter into small pieces, then rubbed it into the flour mixture with my fingers.  I poured the liquid ingredients over the flour mixture and mixed everything together with a spatula.  Then I folded in the peach pieces.  I had a really hard time getting them mixed in, so next time I think I'll try mixing the peaches into the flour first, then adding the wet ingredients.  

Rather than mess with forming the dough into triangles, I just used my #16 disher (1/4 cup capacity) and scooped the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  I still got 10 scones.  I used wet fingers to flatten the dough a bit.  Since I knew I wanted to add glaze after baking (Gillian had asked if she could do the glaze), I skipped the melted butter and sugar on top.  I can't tell you exactly how long I baked them for, because I forgot to set the timer.  Fortunately, I realized it midway through baking, and just watched them closely, pulling them out when they were nicely browned on top.  I let the scones cool on the pan for about 5 minutes while I mixed up a glaze of powdered sugar, milk, and a bit of vanilla.  I transferred the scones to a rack and put the parchment paper from the baking sheet on the counter under the rack to catch drips.  Then Gillian and I took turns drizzling the glaze on top.

The verdict? Mmm, these are delicious!  B & G agreed.  I'll definitely be making these again.  While I pretty much stuck to the recipe this time, next time I'd like to try them with part white whole wheat flour (in which case I'd increase the amount of yogurt slightly).  If you'd like to try these for yourself, the recipe can be found here on the King Arthur Flour website.  And here's my ingredient list--I converted most of it to grams.  Enjoy!

Peach Nutmeg Scones

(full recipe from King Arthur Flour here)

250 g unbleached all-purpose flour (King Arthur, of course)

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

50 g vanilla sugar (because the container was sitting on the counter)

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I didn't measure, just grated until it looked like enough)

1 teaspoons baking powder

6 tablespoons (85 g) cold unsalted butter

2 large eggs

75 g whole milk vanilla yogurt (Brown Cow whole milk)

scant 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 drops almond extract

1 peach, cut into small dice (sorry, forgot to weigh it)