Ingredients
For the Brown Butter
- 2 1/2 sticks (10 ounces) butter
For the Scones
wet:
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
dry:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
add-ins:
- 8 ounces brown butter, diced and very cold
- 1 1/2 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
- 1/2 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