Peanut Butter and Nutella Swirled Scones

This is the first blogging event that I actually felt compelled to participate in. Not that I mind, though, since it was my post that inspired the event. Barbara, of Winos and Foodies, noticed that the cupcakes were quite popular among bloggers and spread around my appreciation (and others’ appreciation) for the talented Donna Hay. The premise of the event is simple: make a batch of these Nutella Self-Frosting Cupcakes. Barbara is even giving out a prize for the best looking bunch!
The cupcakes are one of my most popular recipes, based on a recipe for peanut butter frosted cupcakes by Donna Hay. But since I don’t think I can improve on my original cupcake swirls, I decided to take my swirl to a whole new medium. I swirled scones.
These scones are very moist and fluffy. I added a bit more sugar than I ordinarily would to balance out the sticky, rich flavors of peanut butter and nutella. I used natural peanut butter, unsalted, with peanut chunks. Yum! They’re a bit more unusual than plain scones and a much more socially acceptable option than cupcakes during breakfast. Or while reading Barbara’s roundup.

Peanut Butter and Nutella Swirled Scones

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup butter, chilled, cut into small pieces

5-6 tbsp light cream (half and half or milk is fine)

Peanut butter

Nutella

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium or large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add butter and toss to coat. Using your finger tips, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles very coarse sand. A few large bits, about pea sized, are fine.
Add 5 tablespoons of cream and stir with a fork until dough comes together. If the mixture does not form a ball, add remaining tablespoon of cream. Divide dough in 6 pieces and roll each into a ball. Gently flatten onto the baking sheet. Dip your fork in nutella and poke a shallow swirl into the top of 3 of the scones. Repeat with peanut butter and remaining scones. Most of the peanut butter and nutella should be on the surface of the scones, but using the fork to create some small holes will prevent anything from running off the scone.
Bake for 15 minutes, until scones are a light gold color.
Makes 6 small scones.