hay! there's peaches and bacon happening
truth be told, i'm so completely over/never really was into the bacon-in-everything trend.
is it cool and funky that there's bacon in this dessert? sure.
does the addition of bacon really enhance the dish and make it better than it was without it? probably not.
i've felt strongly enough about the bacon-in-dessert deal that i almost feel the need to defend myself here.
that said, A. it was father's day and B. a bacon biscuit is different. the bacon is a focal point.
it's savory and a little smokey and sweet. and it's so tasty that you would of course want to eat it all the time... savory or sweet, it doesn't matter, you want that biscuit.
so that's when it became shortcake.
and let me tell you, this shortcake was workin' it. workin' it real good.
sweet peaches and fresh cream and a warm maple bacon biscuit...i realize this is kind of a how-can-you-go-wrong situation..
- unless your biscuits are dry and dense because you didn't cut in the butter properly. So..
Maple Bacon Biscuit/Scone
adapted from Zoe Nathan
1 lb bacon, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
3 1/2 cups flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp maple syrup, divided
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp buttermilk
fleur de sel
cook bacon in a pan til cooked, but not super crispy. pour through strainer and reserve the bacon fat. scatter the bacon pieces on paper towels to absorb more of the fat. whisk the dries in a bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. scatter butter pieces over the dries and cut in with a pastry cutter or fork, (or do it on a cutting board/flat surface with a bench scraper.) once it's shaggy and the clumps are about the size of peas, stir in the bacon. then 1/4 cup + 2tbsp maple syrup, then the buttermilk . stir/fold until it just comes together into a shaggy biscuit dough. don't overwork!
press out to 1 1/2 inch thickness, cut using 2 inch round or square biscuit cutter (or cookie cutter) and freeze until thoroughly chilled, 10 minutes.
preheat the oven to 350 degreesF. take your bowl of reserved bacon fat and generously brush tops of each biscuit with the fat. sprinkle with fleur de sel and bake til they just begin to brown, about 25 minutes. remove from oven and quickly drizzle 1 tsp maple syrup on each biscuit, brush over so the syrup is distributed over the surface, and place back in the oven for 3 minutes.
let cool.
Peach Shortcake:
slice some peaches and/or nectarines. toss them in a bowl with a tbsp or two of sugar and a tiny squeeze of lemon
whip 1 cup of heavy cream with 1/4 - 1/3 cup powdered sugar (depending on how sweet you like it) and 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract - whip til soft peaks, i prefer really soft, loose cream.
to assemble: slice a still-warm biscuit in half, it should almost split apart "on the biscuit grain"-if you will -
place the biscuit bottom on a plate. top with a big dollop of cream, a handful of peaches and cap it off with the top biscuit.
voila.
