Pumpkin Scones

Photo from Pinch My Salt

Need a winning recipe for the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving...when you are tuckered and want something quick, and easy, yet still crave the fallish thanksgivingy flavor? I have the perfect thing: Pumpkin Scones. I found the recipe at Pinch My Salt. I made the scone recipe exactly as is, and loved the mild, yet noticeable pumpkin flavor and moist dense texture. I did alter the frosting recipe....sort of combined both ideas into one cinnamon molasses frosting. Oh...it was delicious. It is perfect for a brunch alongside an herbal tea or spiced cider, and fried left-over mashed potato patties.

Pumpkin Spice Scones

         1 C. all purpose flour

         1 C. cake flour

         1 1/2 t. baking powder

         1/2 t. salt

         1/2 t. ground cinnamon

         1/2 t. ground nutmeg

         1/4 t. ground allspice

         1/4 t. ground ginger

         6 T. unsalted butter

         1/2 C. raisins (optional)

         1/3 C. pumpkin puree

         1/3 C. heavy cream

         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 refridgerator. 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).

         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.

         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.

         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.

Icing: For ginger molasses icing, stir together 1 T. molasses, 1-2 T. milk, and 1/4 – 1/2 t. ground ginger (to taste). Adjust the amount of sugar or milk to make the icing the consistency you want. It should be pretty thick. 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.

Another fish food to love. So savor!