In Our Peach Scones
“The first matador got the horn through his sword hand and the crowd hooted him. The second matador slipped and the bull caught him through the belly and he hung on to the horn with one hand and held the other tight against the place, and the bull rammed him wham against the wall and the horn came out, and he lay in the sand, and then got up like a crazy drunk and tried to slug the men carrying him away and yelled for his sword but he fainted.”
In Our Time is a collection of short stories, all centered around a man named Nick Adams. We follow him through his life, beginning when he was a child watching his father perform an emergency C-section on a woman in "Indian Camp." We stay with him as he goes to war (World War I, just like Hemingway himself (Hemingway was involved in a few other wars as well)) and watch him live in the aftermath.
Like most of Hemingway's work, we see characters traveling to escape their regular lives. We see cafés in Europe and bullfighting in Spain. We see a lot of alcohol and fishing. We see characters that are hurting and trying their hardest to forget it.
When people think of Hemingway, they think of short, simple, dry sentences. So, when I was starting to build this recipe, I knew immediately that I had to make scones. They aren't dry, though, and really, neither is Hemingway.
I wanted to include the South somehow, too. So many of Hemingway's characters are Southern, and the fifth story takes place on an orchard. "The rain stopped as Nick turned into the road that went up through the orchard. The fruit had been picked and the fall wind blew through the bare trees" (39).
An orchard usually invokes thoughts of apples, but it makes me think about peaches, too. Since peaches are such a Southern staple, I decided to add them to the scones.
I was going to stop there. Peach scones are simple and plain, just like Hemingway's writing. But his characters live such lavish lives after the war.
It needed something that screamed "kind of unnecessary, but worth it." It needed fresh whipped cream.
And I kept going back to the bullfights. I couldn't stop thinking about them. So I decided to add something to represent them. But what?
Dulce de Leche was originally created in Spain, and is a type of caramel that pairs well with peaches and cream. It's sweet, rich, and delicious, and definitely fits in with an abundant lifestyle.
Peach Scones
-2 c + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
-1/3 c light brown sugar, packed
-1 tbsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 c unsalted butter, cubed and cold
-1 egg
-1/4 c heavy cream
-1/4 c sour cream
-2 tsp vanilla extract
-2 c fresh peaches, diced
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together.
Using your fingers, work the cold butter into the dry ingredients. There will be little chunks of dough, which is fine, but there shouldn't be any chunks of butter left. Essentially, it should look like the picture above.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing until it’s completely combined.
Add the diced peaches to the bowl. You should be able to form a ball with the dough, but it shouldn't be sticking to your fingers. If it is, add more flour.
Place the dough on a floured surface.
Roll it out into a square that's 1/2 inch thick.
Cut the square in half, then cut the two halves in half t form four small squares.
Cut the four squares diagonally to get your eight triangles.
Move the scones to a cookie sheet that's been prepared with either parchment paper or a silicone mat. Leave a little space between each scone, since it will get bigger, but don't worry about leaving too much space, since they get taller more than they get wide.
Brush them with a little more heavy cream to make sure they stay nice and moist. I also sprinkled mine with some brown sugar, but that didn't seem to do anything.
Bake the scones at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes, then let them cool.
Homemade Whipped Cream
-1 1/2 c heavy cream, cold
-3 tbsp confectioner's sugar
Whisk the confectioner's sugar and heavy cream in a medium bowl (you want the bowl to be cold too, so a metal one works best), until stiff peaks begin to form.
Usually, I would just make my own dulce de leche, but with all of the characters in the book being such lushes and spending all of their money all of the time, I decided to buy it instead.
I'm such a big spender.
Once the scones are cool enough to handle, drizzle them with the dulce de leche (which I also warmed up, though you don't have to). After that, you can cover them with the fresh whipped cream and start eating. Take the moment to enjoy the little bit of peace that comes with each bite, and try to enjoy the little riches in life a bit more often.
