Peach Cobbler Biscuits

I love brunch on the weekends. I actually feel a little lost and let down if my Saturday and Sunday are both too busy in the mornings, if I don't have time for a leisurely pastry or pancake and a cup of coffee. It doesn't matter to me if it's 1pm by the time I have breakfast, so long as it's my first meal of the day.

I recently bought a box of peaches, so on Sunday I decided to finally make the Peach Cobbler Scones recipe I came across a few weeks ago. Those scones looked delicious. I took a second look at the ingredient list and decided that 12 tablespoons of butter or shortening was way too much for me to put into something I'd only get 8 servings of. So I reduced the dough by a third to make it seems a little more reasonable for me - and so I could eat two scones for my Sunday breakfast, instead of just one.

Peach Cobbler Scones or Biscuits (adapted from Joy the Baker)

2 cups flour (I tried ½ cup whole wheat in here, but I don't recommend it; it becomes a little bitter)
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
⅜ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening (or stick butter if you prefer)
1 egg
½ cup buttermilk (or 1 ½ teaspoons vinegar + enough almond milk to reach ½ cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 peach, sliced thin (I needed more than this; plums work fine too!)
2 tablespoons buttermilk or almond milk, to brush
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon cinnamon

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut in shortening. Separately, combine egg, buttermilk, and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 15 times. Roll out to a 12x10 inch rectangle. Brush half of the rectangle with half the milk.  Arrange peaches on brushed dough. Combine cinnamon and sugar, and sprinkle half the mixture over the peaches. Fold the dough over onto the peaches and pat down. Brush with remaining milk, and top with remaining cinnamon sugar. Cut into 8 pieces and arrange on a large lined baking sheet; I got all of mine on one. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up the dough. Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes (mine went 12), until biscuits are golden brown. Serve warm.

Honestly, I feel that these were more biscuits than scones - not that I minded one bit! The biscuits were tasty. The texture was great; they were fluffy and flaky. The fruit inside became soft and velvety, and I really enjoyed the cinnamon sugar on top. I felt like the biscuits didn't puff up as much as I had hoped, but I won't hold that against them. I'm really glad that I cut back on the dough, because I had enough bites that didn't have fruit. I think the amount of dough the recipe originally called for would have been overwhelming to me. I would recommend not putting whole wheat flour in this recipe; I substituted in ½ cup of whole wheat flour, which made the biscuits a little bitter in bites without fruit.

I'm pretty happy with the adjustments I made to this recipe. I think it would work with plums as well. I froze most of these biscuits, and regret it - only because I keep thinking about pulling them out of the freezer and eating them! I'm pretty sure I'll end up making these biscuits again.