Pumpkin Scones

My friend Donna recently gave us a pumpkin she had grown in her garden. We put it to good use. Some of it was mashed into baby food, some of it was roasted for dinner, and some of it was made into pumpkin scones.

I searched online, and ended up choosing a recipe published on the Best Recipes website. It looked nice and simple, which was important because Grace was "helping" me cook them. We made a batch on Thursday, and they turned out so well I made another batch yesterday for an afternoon tea at Neil's aunt's place.

As usual, I ended up modifying the recipe a little bit. Here's my version ...

Pumpkin Scones

Ingredients:

55g margarine
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 cup steamed pumpkin, mashed
1 egg
1/2 cup reduced fat milk
3 cups self-raising flour

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
2. Mix the butter and sugar until combined.
3. Stir in the pumpkin and egg.
4. Add the milk and mix until smooth.
5. Slowly add the flour to form a dough.
6. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead lightly, then roll or press out to about 2 cm thick.
7. Use a small round cookie cutter dipped in flour to cut scones from the dough.
8. Place the scones on baking paper on a tray, and brush the tops with milk.
9. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until golden.
10. Turn out and wrap in a clean tea towel. Serve warm.

Tips:

• The original recipe called for 2 1/2 cups flour, but I found I needed 3 cups or a little more to make the dough the right consistency. I guess it depends how watery your pumpkin is. Just keep adding small amounts of flour until the dough is a consistency you can handle. It should be slightly sticky.
• It is important not to knead the scones too much, as it apparently makes them tough and heavy. I just mixed the dough with my hands until it felt smooth and was easy to shape.
• In my reading I discovered that twisting the cutter can prevent the scones from rising evenly. Unfortunately I read that after cooking them, but I'll know for next time!
• It is a good idea to place the scones side by side and almost touching each other. That helps to keep the sides straight and ensure they rise well.

How many scones you get obviously depends on how big your cutter is. Yesterday I used a small round cutter, and made about three dozen little scones.

These scones are very light and fluffy, and in my opinion taste best straight out of the oven, with a little bit of margarine and honey. Yum!