Peaches and brown butter just belong together. This Brown Butter Peach Scone recipe is an idea I've had floating around in my mind for a very long time. I just knew it would be amazing - I mean, how could it be bad? Peach scones are already delicious on their own, but brown butter makes everything better, whether sweet or savory. It gives these scones and their glaze that unmistakable nutty, caramel flavor and fragrance that only brown butter can give. I don't add nuts to these scones, but you totally could to amp up that toasty, nutty flavor. Toasted, chopped pecans would be my choice. Well, let's make some brown butter peach scones, shall we?
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Recipe Background and Details
If you aren't familiar with scones, they are like a slightly sweet, moist and flaky American biscuit. These peach scones are just a variation of my vanilla bean scone recipe. I pretty much use that as my starting point for any new scone flavor because it is a delicious, reliable blank slate. The major difference is we will brown and chill the butter before making the scones so a little bit of forethought is required - not always my strength, but it's worth it for these scones. I also lessen the amount of liquid and sugar to account for the sweet juiciness of the peaches.
And rather than just a plain vanilla glaze, we will also use a big scoop of the toasty browned bits of butter in our glaze. Still patting myself on the back for this idea. Oh it is just so good. The day I made these, my son came home from his labor-intensive summer job, inhaled 3 of them, and said they were the best scones I've ever made. I'd have to agree with him. He asked "What is in that glaze??" This is the power of brown butter, my friends. It makes the glaze taste like caramel somehow. Just so darn good.
About that Brown Butter
Since you will need just a couple tablespoons for the glaze, go ahead and brown 2 ½ sticks. You may end up with a little extra, but some evaporation does happen during the browning. You'll reserve and chill a full cup (8 ounces) for the scones, then let the remainder sit at room temp so you can allow the browned milk solids to sink to the bottom. Then pour off the butter fat and scoop out those tasty bits for your glaze. Any leftover butter you can just use on toast, to fry your eggs, or in any way you'd normally use butter.
Instructions - How to Make Brown Butter Peach Scones
Your brown butter must be straight-from-the-fridge-cold for this, so make that the night before. I stored mine in an old jam jar which gave it some pretty neat geometric qualities.
Get your peaches peeled and diced, your brown butter roughly chopped, your dry ingredients measured into a large bowl, and your liquid ingredients mixed in a jar or small measuring cup. Having everything ready before you begin just makes the process so much nicer. You don't want to be running all over the kitchen with flour covered hands gathering ingredients, trust me.
Make sure to check out all of my scone recipes - I really love making them and I LOVE helping you all make them. Leave any questions on the comments below and please do let me know if you give these a try. xo - Anita
More Brown Butter Recipes?
My brown butter loving friend and amazing recipe creator, Sam, at Buttermilk By Sam has so many recipes featuring this magical ingredient. Make sure to check her out.
And a couple of mine:
- Brown Butter Skillet Peach Crisp
- Brown Butter Pecan Ice Cream (NO CHURN)
- Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls
- Brown Butter Shrimp Skewers
- Brown Butter & Pear Cheesecake
More Peach Recipes
If you love peaches as much as I do, be sure to check out these peachy recipes:
- Brown Sugar Skillet Peach Cobbler
- Brown Butter Skillet Peach Crisp
- Peach Muffins
- Peach Pecan Sticky Buns
Related - Scone Recipes
- Raspberry Almond Scones
- Cinnamon Streusel Einkorn Scones
- Layered Pumpkin Chocolate Scones
- Chocolate Scones
Brown Butter Peach Scones with Brown Butter Glaze
These Brown Butter Peach Scones are full of toasty, nutty brown butter and sweet, juicy peaches then topped with an irresistible brown butter glaze
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 16 scones
Ingredients
For the Brown Butter
- 2 ½ sticks (10 ounces) butter
For the Scones
wet:
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
dry:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
add-ins:
- 8 ounces brown butter, diced and very cold
- 1 ½ cups ripe, yellow peaches, peeled and diced (about 2-3 peaches) *see notes
For the Brown Butter Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons brown butter solids *see text above under "about that brown butter" heading
- ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 2-4 tablespoons milk, half and half, or water
Instructions
- First, prepare your brown butter by placing butter in a skillet over medium heat to melt. Then turn the heat up to medium high and watch closely, stirring often, until butter foams and sizzles and then the sizzling mostly stops. The pan will get very quiet. When you push away the foam you will see golden bits of butter. Turn the heat off at this stage. Stir well and measure out 8 ounces that will go in the refrigerator to cool completely. Leave the rest at room temp - you will use just the brown bits for the glaze later. Once your 8 ounces is completely cold, proceed with recipe.
- Mix wet ingredients thoroughly in a small bowl or liquid measuring cup. Set aside.
- Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine.
- Chop brown butter into small pieces and add to flour mixture. With your fingers, a pastry cutter, or a fork, work the butter into the dry ingredients until you have a crumbly mixture with small, pea-sized bits of brown butter throughout.
- Add wet ingredients to the flour/butter mixture. Stir gently with a fork until you have a moist but not wet dough mixture. Make sure to stir all the way to the bottom - the dry bits like to hide down there.
- Next, add your diced peaches and stir to evenly distribute.
- Dump dough onto a lightly floured surface and softly squish together to form a loose rectangle.
- Next, divide this rectangle in 2 even pieces, stack one on top of the other, and squish it back into a rectangle. Use flour as needed to prevent stickiness as the peaches can make these a bit sticky to work with. Repeat this one more time. This is my signature method for creating nice flaky layers in scones and biscuits.
- Press dough to a 1 inch thickness and if you want round scones: using a biscuit cutter (*see notes), cut out as many scones as you can get. You can reshape the scraps and continue cutting. I was able to get 15 using a 2 inch biscuit cutter. The scones you reshape and cut will not be as beautiful and fluffy but they will be just as delicious. If you want triangular scones: cut the rectangle into 12 squares/rectangles. Next, cut each square/rectangle in half diagonally, to form two triangles. I have step-by-step photos of this in my Vanilla Bean Scone post.
- Place your unbaked scones on a parchment lined sheet leaving some space in between and stash in the freezer for 30 minutes. Take this time to preheat the oven to 375 and clean up the mess you've just made.
- After 30 minutes, bake scones in a preheated oven on the center rack for 25 minutes, tenting with foil after 15 minutes if they are browning too much on top. This will depend on your oven, but I do like to tent mine so they have a chance to bake through without getting too dark on top.
- Remove from oven and let cool at room temp while you make the glaze.
For the glaze:
- Sift powdered sugar into a medium bowl (I don't always sift but if your powdered sugar has been sitting around for awhile it's a good idea)
- Add 2 tablespoons of the brown butter bits (a little more won't hurt), vanilla, and 2 tablespoons liquid of choice. Stir to combine, adding more liquid if needed to create a thick, pourable consistency.
- Drizzle over cooled scones with wild abandon. You won't believe how delicious this glaze is. Or these scones. I hope you love them!
Notes
Feel free to just cut squares or triangles if you prefer not to use a biscuit cutter. I did round and triangle - both delicious! See my vanilla bean scone post for triangle cutting directions.
You want ripe peaches for this but not too ripe. If they are too juicy you will have a messy dough, beware.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- chilling: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: breakfast, dessert, brunch, snack
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Claire says
Can I make the scones a couple days in advance then bake the day of? Would I leave them out for a while if they’re frozen for longer? Thanks!
anita | wild thistle kitchen says
Hi Claire! Yes, scones bake beautifully from frozen - no need to thaw. 🙂 Just make sure they are covered well in the freezer so they don't dry out. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks! - Anita
Raven says
These look amazing! Have you tried making them with frozen peaches in the off-season? Just curious how well it may work.
anita | wild thistle kitchen says
Hi Raven! Thank you! They really are so good and that glaze is out of this world! I have not, but I'd say if you use frozen peaches, let them thaw and dry them off really, really well before incorporating into the scone dough. Let me know if you ever give them a try! - Anita
jess says
Do you suggest putting the cold pan out of the freezer directly into the oven, or the scones go onto a different, room-temp pan into the oven? Thanks!
anita | wild thistle kitchen says
Hi Jess - Yes, I do. I use a metal sheet pan though. If you were using a glass or ceramic dish to freeze the scones, I would make sure to transfer them to something else to avoid potentially cracking the dish.