Pumpkin Scones Part 2

These scones are based on the recipe from the Joy of Baking site, but I ramped up the pumpkin for a deeper pumpkin flavor, took out the raisins and pecans and added nutmeg, because pumpkin simply cries out for a bit of nutmeg. These scones have more of a flakey biscuit texture than a cakey texture, because I simply prefer the flakiness. They are slightly sweet, but get flavor much more from the pumpkin and spices. They make an excellent breakfast treat without the resulting sugar coma you get from other overly sweet baked goods.

Pumpkin Scones

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour (or 2 cups all purpose)

1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ cup (one stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 cup fresh or canned pure pumpkin

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Roasted, salted pumpkin seeds to top (optional)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or pulse in food processor. The mixture should have different sized pieces of butter – small and large.

In a separate bowl mix together the buttermilk, pumpkin puree and vanilla and then add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough. You may had to toss in more flour if dough is too sticky – just add a sprinkle or two at a time until you have the right consistency.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches round and about 11/2 inches thick. Use 2-inch biscuit cutter for small, round pastries. Squish scraps together and pat down to use all dough, trying not to overwork the dough.

Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with buttermilk (or an egg wash) and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds if desired. Bake round scones for 12 to 15 minutes until lightly browned on top.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Yield: About a dozen small scones.

Pumpkin Scones

I've been obsessed with pumpkin scones ever since Whole Foods started selling them in the fall several years ago. I bought one every chance I got and tried to make them at home, but they were never the same as the marvelous ones at Whole Foods. Once the holiday season ended and spring was in the air, the pumpkin scones would disappear and I would pine for them for the rest of the year. (If anyone thinks I am kidding, just ask Drew.)

Then the worst happened. Whole Foods changed the recipe and added raisins. I HATE raisins. I hate raisins on par with my hatred of tomatoes. It is a horrible thing to do to a grape. They ruin everything. The worst is when you have this marvelous, meaty savory dish and bite into a raisin and it's icky, bitter, raisiny nastiness just ruins the dish. But I digress.

So ever since the raisin disaster, I've been trying doubly hard to find a good pumpkin scone recipe. I thought I may have found one on the Joy of Baking site http://www.joyofbaking.com/index.html. It is run by this woman who just loves to bake. Then she posts her recipes for everyone to try.

I found the pumpkin scone recipe this week and thought I would try it this morning. I assembled all the ingredients. I even had some roasted pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top, thinking the salt would be a nice touch with the subtle sweetness of the scones. Then I proceeded to leave out the sugar. When you leave the sugar out of a scone recipe, you get biscuits. They actually taste pretty good, but it certainly wasn't what I had in mind.

You can't really taste the ginger nor the vanilla, which is good, because that would have been really weird. But you can't taste the pumpkin, either. I don't know if I need to use freshly roasted and pureed pumpkin rather than the stuff in the can or if the pumpkin just needs to be increased. I'm going to keep trying and experimenting and if I come up with a good recipe, I will post it here. Of course, I will try this one again with the sugar this time to see if that brings out the pumpkin flavor.

I've decided these would be good with maple syrup and bacon, or maybe that maple cured bacon and perhaps just not on top, but cooked, diced and baked in. Everything is better with bacon, after all. My neighbor is going to put citrus butter on the ones I gave to her.