“November always seemed to me the Norway of the year.” Emily Dickinson.
I, for one, love late fall. It is not the anticipation of the Holidays, nor all the hoopla that goes with them, but the foods. Pumpkins for pies & cakes, winter squash, deep reddish-brown sweet potatoes, the aroma of sage…it is finally time to crank up the oven again and bake.
These pumpkin scones I made around Thanksgiving week last year. Recently I pulled out my recipe to make them again. They are easy, seasonal and have some of my favorite baking ingredients for this time of year.
Pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and a pinch of cardamom. Kerrygold butter and white whole wheat flour.
A really good quality crystallized ginger from The Ginger People. This really pushed the flavor over the top of goodness.
The dough is enough to make 2 rounds or 12 scones.
Pattycake, pattycake & brush with cream……each cut into 6 scones.
Sanding sugar, pumpkin seeds or pepitas, a drizzle of maple syrup.
Fresh from the oven with more maple syrup drizzled over the top. Best eaten warm.
Pumpkin Ginger Scones with a Maple Syrup Drizzle
Ingredients:
- 2 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup brown/raw sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp each ground cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice
- 1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
- 1/2 cup butter, cut into small chunks and chilled
- 1 cup fresh or canned pumpkin
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tbsp cream
- 1/4 cup sanding sugar
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds/pepitas
- 1/2 cup real maple syrup (divided)
Directions:
- Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt & spices.
- Add butter chunks and with your fingers or a pastry blender work the butter into the flour mixture until crumbly. Stir in the chopped crystallized ginger.
- In another bowl whisk together the pumpkin and eggs.
- Add pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until a dough forms.
- Using your hands form the dough into two balls & then flatten both slightly.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment & lightly flour. Place dough rounds on pan.
- Flatten and shape each dough round into a 6-7 inch circle, each about 1″thick.
- Brush the top of each one with cream. Cut each dough circle into 6 wedges.
- Sprinkle tops with sanding sugar & pumpkin seeds. Chill 30 minutes before baking.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Right before baking drizzle tops with half the maple syrup. Bake for about 25 minutes or until scones are golden brown. Check doneness by sticking a toothpick into the center…if needed, bake another 5 minutes.
- Drizzle hot scones with the remaining maple syrup. Eat warm.
Notes: These scones could be made with Butternut Squash and use Pecans or walnuts or dusted with cinnamon sugar. Teresa Blackburn, Food on Fifth