Ginger-Peach Scones with Ginger-Peach Browned Butter Spread

I now live less than 5 minutes away from a local gem called Jungle Jim's. This place is a foodie's paradise, with literally acres of foods from around the world. Things have been busy lately and I haven't done much baking (hence the lack of blog posts). I have been wanting to do some summer baking and was needing inspiration. Walking around Jungle Jim's I came across a jar of ginger jam. It was just the inspiration I needed.



I toyed around with the idea of making ginger-peach-tea cupcakes, but settled on making scones for an early morning lab meeting. The base for the scones is just the "basic scone" recipe from King Arthur flour with my add-ins.

Ginger-Peach Scones (adapted from King Arthur Flour)

• 2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
• 1.5 peaches, pealed, cut into small cubes (1cm-ish)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 inch of grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup  half and half or milk
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Using your hands, smush in the butter just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly. Add in the pieces of peach.
• In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, ginger, and half and half or milk.
• Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened and holds together. My dough was still pretty sticky at this point, probably due to the juicy peaches and extra large eggs I used... so I just added some more flour.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment; if you don't have parchment, just use it without greasing it. Sprinkle a bit of flour atop the parchment or pan.

Divide the dough in half. Round each half into circle. The circles should be about 3/4" thick. Cut each circle into 8 pieces (or 6 if you want big scones, or 7 if you are into that sort of thing). Transfer to the lined baking sheet.

 For best texture and highest rise, place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 425°F. (I didn't believe them, and we didn't have room in the freezer, but I put them in the fridge for about 15 minutes, and these King Arthur folks know what they are talking about. Nice and fluffy scones!)

Bake the scones for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're golden brown.

Ginger-Peach Browned Butter Spread

1.5 peaches
1/4 cup ginger jam
1/4inch fresh grated ginger
1/2c powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons browned butter

Blend the peaches, ginger jam, fresh ginger, and powdered sugar in a blender or food processor. Brown the butter on the stove (we have a post somewhere that tells you how, or google it...). Pour the browned butter into the ginger-peach mixture and stir vigorously. Refrigerate so the mixture thickens up a bit. Then, slather your scone with buckets of this stuff. Or just eat a spoonful by yourself. No judgement here. Enjoy with a pipping hot mug of coffee or tea.