I’ve always liked the Fall more than any other season and with it comes pumpkins. If it has pumpkins in it, I’ll eat it. Excluding until very recently, pumpkin pie for reasons I still do not entirely understand. So, in this vein, I happened upon a recipe for pumpkin scones (and who doesn’t like a good scone?) from one of my favorite cooking blogs (yes, I read cooking blogs) http://www.PinchMySalt.com. Seriously, go there. It is amazing and every dish looks incredible.
I’ve made these particular scones before but I haven’t made them in a long time so I thought I’d try my hand at them again. I still need to tweak them a bit because I like them a little wetter than the recipe calls for and a bit spicier too.
While they are not perfect, here are the results of my cooking adventure.
I gathered all my ingredients together, partly for a photo and partly because well, that’s what you do when you cook. I followed the recipe pretty vigorously and these directions are verbatim what was written at http://pinchmysalt.com/2007/10/18/pumpkin-spice-scone-recipe/.
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1 C. all purpose flour
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1 C. cake flour
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1 1/2 t. baking powder
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1/2 t. salt
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1/2 t. ground cinnamon
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1/2 t. ground nutmeg
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1/4 t. ground allspice
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1/4 t. ground ginger
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6 T. unsalted butter
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1/2 C. raisins (optional)
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1/3 C. pumpkin puree
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1/3 C. heavy cream
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6 T. brown sugar
- 1 t. vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Get out a baking sheet and line with parchment paper (not required but makes cleanup easy!). Cut the butter into small pieces, put it in a small bowl and put it back in the refrigerator. In a medium bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, salt, and all spices. Whisk together well. Place bowl in freezer (refrigerator is fine if you have no room in freezer).
It doesn’t say to sift, but I think my mother would kill me if I didn’t, so to protect my life, I sift. You should too.
I added a bit more spice than the recipe called for, but you can do it either way.
2. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, heavy cream, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together well. Put this bowl in freezer (or refrigerator) and take the other bowl back out. Get the butter pieces out of the fridge and dump them into the bowl with the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the raisins if you are using them.
I add a bit more pumpkin, but be careful because if you add too much, the scones will be too wet and they won’t have that nice scone texture.
3. Get the liquid mixture out of the freezer and pour into the flour mixture all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is just moistened. The dough will be very crumbly, this is the way it should be. Turn the mixture out onto the counter and push the pile together with your hands. It should stick together fairly well. Knead it just a couple of times until everything is together. Don’t knead it too much or the dough will get too sticky.
Wet meets dry.
4. Pat the dough out into a rough circle, 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut it like a pie into 8 pieces. Place pieces on the baking sheet so that they are not touching. Bake scones for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. They should be light brown on the bottom, the tops will darken as they cool.
I put the rasins in at the end, just pressing them into the top, because only one person likes them. I didn’t want to mix them in with the batter, but I’m betting they’d be better that way. These are pre-oven, by the way.
She recommends two separate icings, but I’d suggest the Cinnamon one either way. I’ve made both and I think it is better for the plain scones. I’ve never tried the raisin scones myself, but my mother seemed pleased with the results.
For cinnamon icing, mix together 1 C. powdered sugar, 2 T. milk, 1/4 – 1/2 t. cinnamon (to taste). Again, adjust amounts to change consistency. Icing can be brushed on or drizzled.
The results?
And unfortunately…
ACK.
omg.
send to me.
with my magazine.
mmkthanks.