Pumpkin Scones

Sunday brunch, pumpkin scones.  It's still cold out, so on the menu are steaming hot scones with melting butter and plenty of tea .

Pumpkin Scones

400g pumpkin puree

600g self raising flour

50g butter

2 eggs

2 tablespoons of sugar

2 or more tablespoons of milk

Extra flour

Rub the butter into the flour.  Add the eggs, pumpkin and sugar, stir gently but thoroughly to combine into a rough, craggy dough, adding as much milk as you need - the dough should be quite moist, rough, not at all smooth.  It's not an exact science - add more pumpkin, flour or milk as you need, but don't overmix.

Turn onto a well floured board, and knead a few times, gently, with floured hands to bring it all together.  The dough will be too moist and rough to roll out, so just pat it out on a floured surface to around an inch thick.

Using a circular cutter dipped in flour, cut out rounds of dough.  It's better to use a metal cutter rather than a glass, because a sharp, clean cut will allow your scones to rise higher, instead of pressing down the edges.

Bake at 220 - 230 degrees (if your oven struggles at high temps, you might need to err on the side of hotter) for 10 - 20 minutes.  The scones should be beautifully risen, and lightly golden brown on top.  Split one open to check if you want - should be moist, but not wet.

Serve with plenty of salted butter and some golden syrup, if you'd like.

These freeze really well for a month or so - just defrost them in the microwave for a couple of minutes, or in a moderate oven.

I find scones to be messy work.  I think it's because the dough is so sticky, and you tend to also fling flour around everywhere.  Pumpkin scones always seem even more messy, as the dough is more vibrant.  My work area always looks like this after scone baking - does yours?  Admittedly, I am quite a messy cook:

While the scones bake, you have just enough time to eat some breakfast.  One of my most regular breakfasts is avocado - lots of it - on rye sourdough toast, with plenty of salt and lemon juice:

When the scones come out of the oven, you can cool them a little on a tray - like below - or put them into a basket and wrap the top with a tea towel, letting the steam soften them a little.  I do either, depending on my mood.

Pumpkin scones are so yellow - they always look like they have saffron or turmeric added, in my opinion:

I like to dust the tops of my scones with flour.  Some people prefer to brush them with milk.  I find the milk darkens the tops too much, so I generally go with flour for pumpkin and date scones, and I use milk or flour for plain scones, which require a little less time in the oven.

I personally believe that really excellent scones are never visually perfect.  To get a perfectly smooth, even, round-topped scone, you need to work the dough until it is quite smooth.  This will result in a tougher scone, one lacking the ethereal, flaky melting quality of a really excellent scone.  The best scones are hastily thrown together with an incredibly light hand - not too much kneading or mixing.  The edges will be rough and damp as you cut them out.

It made me quite cross to watch Masterchef one day, and see some of the contestants told that their less-than-perfect looking scones would 'never sell' in a cafe.  Well, that's nonsense, because after I did a quick survey amongst people I know (who know good scones), we all agreed that we would, in fact, never buy a perfect-looking scone in a cafe, because it would inevitably be tough.

The insides of the scones will be incredibly moist, flaky and delicate, almost melting away as you eat them.  They will split easily in half, without requiring a knife, if they are still hot.

The only secret to scone making is practice.  Several years ago, I decided that I wanted to learn to make really brilliant scones - the sort people remember and request time and time again.  So, every single week (sometimes twice a week) for many months, I made scones.  Plain, date, pumpkin, cheese and herb.  But mainly plain.  No one complained - every time we had guests, they would be given hot scones - and my scone technique and recipes improved immensely.  I can now have a batch of fresh, hot scones on the table in less than 20 minutes including baking.  And doing a half batch of a regular scone recipe, giving you just 6 scones, is perfect for unexpected visitors.

But for Sunday brunch, I think that pumpkin scones are a good choice.