Fresh Peaches With Ginger Biscuits

Total Time: 32 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients

• 6 large ripe peaches (or nectarines. you will need enough to make 6 cups, sliced)
• 2 tablespoons maple sugar (i used organic dark brown sugar) or 2 tablespoons raw sugar (i used organic dark brown sugar)
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 8 tablespoons cold butter, cut up into small chunks
• 1/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped into pea-size chunks (i cut up the ginger into even smaller pieces using a very sharp knife)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (plus 1-2 tablespoons if needed )
• 1 cup cold heavy cream (aka whipping cream and *not* cool whip!)
• 1 tablespoon sugar, to taste (unbleached, raw, maple, etc.)
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Recipe

• 1 peel peaches (or nectarines). <<<note: i skipped peeling the peaches. slice into wedges about 1 inch wide. sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar (i used raw sugar), cover, and refrigerate.
• 2 preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• 3 stir together remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, both flours, ground cardamom, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
• 4 add butter and using a pastry blender to break up the butter into pea-size chunks. stir in crystallized ginger.
• 5 beat egg with vanilla and ½ cup buttermilk. add to dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until moistened. if it seems too dry, add 1–2 tablespoons additional buttermilk. texture will be shaggy and barely moist.
• 6 turn dough out onto a counter lightly dusted with flour (i floured my hands, too.). knead a few times; then roll or pat dough into a circle about ¾-inch thick.
• 7 using a glass or biscuit cutter, cut out six 2-inch circles; gather remains, shape into a disk, and cut out remaining biscuits. place close together on a baking sheet and bake until golden, 12–18 minutes. <<<--the biscuits baked a total of 12 minutes in our oven.
• 8 remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes.
• 9 whip cream until it holds soft peaks. add sweetener to taste and stir in almond extract.
• 10 to serve, cut biscuits. <<-- if you try to slice the biscuits in half too soon after removing them from the oven the biscuits will fall apart.
• 11 spoon fruit and juices (if any) over bottom half, add a dollop of cream, and cover with top biscuit.
• 12 i garnished the dessert with a light sprinkle of raw sugar for presentation.
• 13 yield is estimated.