Rustic Pumpkin Scones with Maple Syrup and Cream

Rustic Pumpkin Scones with Maple Syrup and Cream
Home Cooking



I had some left over pumpkin puree from making the pumpkin risotto for lunch. What to do with pumpkin puree? I thought the answer was obvious: whip up some scones. To give my appetite some chance of recovery, I waited till a few hours after lunch and made myself a nice afternoon tea.


About my scone making + tips:

There are a few scone posts on this blog but I'm not really happy with any of the recipes I've submitted so far (the most recent attempt, I didn't even submit a recipe because that batch was a dud). The thing with scones is that I actually make them quite frequently but it's hard for me to post because I don't measure exact quantities - I sort of just feel and go.

The same thing applies to this recipe. The quantities are 'more or less' what they appear on this page. Things to remember are that: I used pumpkin puree that already had butter whizzed through it. That means adding less butter in the actual scone mixture. Rather than ordinary milk, I always use a mix of yogurt and milk (more often than not, this will be soy milk). I've given up carefully assessing the ratio of yogurt to milk - it's basically a dollop of 2 of yogurt into the measuring cup and make up the rest of whatever I need with soy milk.

I always omit egg from my scone recipes. I just don't see the point of having it there. Even with egg omitted, my dough is usually really sticky anyway.

I have NEVER mixed up a scone dough that is solid enough to cut with a scone cutter. It's always wet and sticky. Today, it was again, wet and sticky so I added more and more flour until it was just sticky (still slightly wet). It was solid enough to form into a flattened circle shape but that's about it. If I put a scone cutter into my dough, the cutter would have stuck inside.

The other thing with my scone method is that I mix minimally and barely knead. I try to combine the ingredients gently. And I also never, ever glaze.

Usually I put blobs of scone dough onto some baking paper in a tray and hope they rise up in a round shape. Today, I made that flattened disk, let it rise like a free-form cake and cut the scone into wedges to serve. I've seen them done like that before - I didn't invent it. It looks very nice when done.

Rustic Pumpkin Scones with Maple Syrup and Cream
Makes 4

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (from here)
• 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup of yogurt/milk mixture (use roughly a 50:50 ratio but it doesn't matter too much)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• approx 1 cup of self raising flour

To serve

• maple syrup
• 1 tsp butter, melted
• dollop cream

Procedure:

1. Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius.
2. Mix together the pumpkin, butter, sugar and yogurt/milk till smooth.3. Add the flour gradually until it begins to form a dough. Stir the flour in gently, trying not to overwork the mixture.
4. When you get the right consistency so that the dough is solid enough to be formed into a flattened circle (see above re: scone making tips), flour the surfaces and place on baking paper.
5. Pop this on a tray in the oven and bake for around 25-30min. After the crust turns golden, you may have to turn the heat down to 180 degrees Celsius to prevent the crust from burning.
6. The scone is done when an inserted knife comes out clean and not covered in sticky dough (insert the knife right through the center because that will be the last area to cook through and also because you'll be cutting through there anyway).
7. When the scone is baked through, plop it onto a plate and cut into 4 wedges.8. Mix together the maple syrup and molten butter and drizzle this over the top of the scones. Serve with the dollop cream and some extra maple syrup.


This was such a heavenly afternoon treat. I thought 'yeh pumpkin scones - they'll be alright' but they were amazingly good. I normally like to have maple syrup with bacon and not much else but in this case, it really elevated the pumpkin scones. Cream brought everything together and made this snack rich and decadent. You almost think you're having a fancy dessert rather than a 'rustic' scone made from left over pumpkin.

The scones themselves were lovely. Everyone has their own preference in scone texture. I favor the dense, sticky and buttery texture that still manages to be soft. I find that shop-bought scones can never achieve the same softness as home-baked versions. Shop scones tend to be more floury and cakey. These pumpkin scones were perfect for my preference. In particular, they had a wonderful crust which I've never achieved on any other scone.


Halfway through trying to eat like a lady, I ditched my knife and fork and clawed the scones apart, dragging the pieces through the cream and dunking in syrup. Like I say, rustic scones - and that's how they're meant to be eaten.