Back with Pumpkin Scones!

Hello again, blog! Sorry for leaving you for so long. This has been a busy (ish) year for me. I've just been doing so many things, like watching way too many superhero movies, going to the beach, reading lots of books, and helping out in the garden. Not to mention playing with the newest member of our family, this little rascal here:

OK, so I don't really have any good excuses. I just kind of forgot about this blog for a while, but I'm back now and planning on posting more regularly.

As I mentioned earlier, I've been helping my mom in the garden. This year, we decided to try growing pumpkins and boy am I glad we did. 

I used this wonderful pumpkin puree recipe from The Pioneer Woman and cooked up some of these babies yesterday. It's  actually a lot easier to make pumpkin puree than you would think.

This morning I made a recipe from the Alice's Tea Cup cookbook that I've been dying to try for ages: Pumpkin Scones.

I'm a big scone lover, and I'm always on the lookout for new recipes to try. And let me tell you, this one is a hit. My mom got upset with me for letting her eat too many, and that's always a good sign.

These are pretty straight-forward: mix dry ingredients, cut in butter, add wet ingredients, and cut into scones. The original recipe calls for a caramel glaze but I skipped it.  I also added some chocolate chips, and cut the vanilla down to 2 teaspoons.

Pumpkin Scones

Adapted from Alice's Tea Cup, by Haley and Lauren Fox

makes approximately 18 scones

Ingredients:

Scones

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Three-quarters teaspoon salt (the "four" key on my keyboard isn't working)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch peices

1 and a quarter cups buttermilk

1 cup canned pumpkin puree (or fresh! make sure not to use pumpkin pie filling, as this has spices added in)

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips, if using

Caramel Glaze

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Quarter teaspoon salt

1/2 cup heavy cream

1.  Preheat oven to four hundred twenty-five degrees F. (Darn four key)

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, and cinnamon.

3. With clean hands, work the butter into the dry mix until thoroughly incorporated and the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.

Four. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the buttermilk, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract into the well. Combine using you hands until all the dry mix is wet, but do not knead! At this point I folded in the chocolate chips.

5. Turn the mix onto a well floured surface (dough is very sticky) and gather the dough together. Gently pat to make a disk about 1 1/2 inches thick. Using a 3 or 3 1/2 inch biscuit cutter (I just used a drinking glass), cut out as many scones as you can and lay them on a nonstick baking sheet. Gather the remaining dough to cut out more scones. Don't knead the dough too much. I brushed the tops of the scones with milk and sugar, but you can skip this step if you're going to make the caramel glaze.

Six. (six key isn't working either) Bake the scones for about 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let the scones cool slightly on the baking sheet before glazing.

7.  To make caramel glaze: Place the butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk gently until the mixture is smooth. Just as the mix comes to a light boil, add heavy cream and reduce heat to low. Whisk well for 2 minutes, or until glaze is thickened and smooth; then remove pan from heat.

8. To glaze: Dip the top of the scone in the warm caramel glaze, then return to baking sheet.