Pumpkin scones

When one has some pumpkin on hand for a certain project, invariably there is always some left. What to do with It? Make pumpkin scones, of course.

Before I proceed, check out the plate above - the result of my first ever pottery wheel session with a local Grand Rapids potter, Kate Lewis. She does the pottery for one of our favorite restaurants, Sovengard and offers one-on-one wheel sessions for anyone with an interest in the craft. It was great fun - I shaped 3 plates, a cup and 2 bowls, one of which was pretty wonky but will serve nicely as a snack or nut bowl for those oh-so low key occasions. I chose the glaze colors and she did the rest. Et voila!

For this treat I tweaked my base recipe, making a number of changes resulting in this recipe with added spices, pumpkin purée and a butter bump up. As with all scone and biscuit recipes, keeping the butter, cream and egg cold and working quickly, efficiently and with purpose without overworking the dough is très important.

The steps are the same as my typical classic recipe, adding the spices in with the dry ingredients and the pumpkin purée in with the cream and egg.

For baking I suggest doubling the sheet pan to protect the bottoms from darkening too much. It worked out well with these - lovely crisp outside, moist and tender crumb inside and a subtle taste of pumpkin and spice. One could certainly opt for a maple syrup/confectioner’s sugar glaze once cooled, although I went with a brushing of cream and a sprinkle of raw sugar before baking to achieve that wonderful exterior crunch.

For my taste test I dolloped on some blackberry jam (although most any jam will do).

Too bad the Steve-meister doesn’t like pumpkin. I brought some over to Mom for her enjoyment and popped a few in my own freezer for future breakfast treats for visitors. One can never be too prepared, particularly with the holidays fast upon us.

Have fun creating your own treat with leftover pumpkin! So much to bake and so little time! Don’t ya just love that plate!!