It’s All Maya!

I’m always in the mood to bake around the holidays and when Mia and I were talking about Cream Tea while she was in London, well, of course, baking scones came to mind.  No surprise then, with pumpkins in season at the moment, pumpkin scones just seem to fit in perfectly for the holidays!  Trying to buy or make clotted cream, however, if you live outside of the U.K. may be harder to find or make at home.  I found a recipe on the internet, but finding unpasteurized milk (unless you live on a dairy farm) in many places may not be easy to come by.  If you’re tempted to try the scones, here’s the recipe!

Pumpkin Scones

1 Cup all purpose flour
1 Cup cake flour*
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 Cup walnuts or raisins (optional)
1/3 Cup pumpkin puree
1/3 Cup heavy cream
6 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

(*If you dont have Cake Flour you can always substitute 2 Tbsp. of cornstarch in a 1-cup measuring cup and fill the rest with all-purpose flour; or you can make the recipe with 2 cups all-purpose flour.)
 
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).
 
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 walnuts or 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.

If you’re not making Cream Tea with the clotted cream and jam, here are a few icings and glazed toppings that can be used with the scones instead.

Icings:

Ginger Molasses Icing:  Stir together 1 Tablespoon molasses, 1-2 Tablespoon milk, and 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (to taste). Adjust the amount of sugar or milk to make the icing the consistency you want. It should be pretty thick.

Cinnamon Icing:  Mix together 1 Cup powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoon milk, 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (to taste). Again, adjust amounts to change consistency. Icing can be brushed on or drizzled.

Powderered Sugar Glaze:  Combine 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, and 2 tablespoons whole milk.

Spiced Glaze:  Mix together 1 cup powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons whole milk, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 pinch ginger, and 1 pinch ground cloves.

Maya Muses:  I’ve tried a lot of scone recipes; some have no taste, others the texture is too hard, etc.  This recipe is very easy to make, it doesn’t take long, and the scones come out perfect each time!  These are great for breakfast with a pot of tea.  Enjoy!

Photo Credits:  Flickr