Pumpkin Scones
Serves: 10 or more scones
Tender and buttery Pumpkin Scones, perfect for afternoon tea or as a savoury side dish. Make these classic Pumpkin Scones with homemade pumpkin purée or canned pumpkin.
Ingredients
For the Pumpkin Scones
- 500 g (3 ⅓ cup) plain flour, (all-purpose flour)
- 6 g (1 teaspoon) fine salt
- 25 g (2 tablespoons) caster sugar, (superfine sugar)
- 20 g (4 teaspoons) baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
- 75 g (¾ stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes, see Kitchen Notes
- 250 g (1 cup) pumpkin purée, see Kitchen Notes
- 125 ml (½ cup) buttermilk, see Kitchen Notes
For the Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
For the Scones
- Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F) (without fan).
- Place a baking tray in the middle shelf of the oven to warm up while you are making the scones.
- Place the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and nutmeg into the bowl of an electric stand mixer.
- Add the butter and briefly mix with the flat paddle attachment until the mixture resembles damp sand. Alternatively, you can do this by hand by simply rubbing the fats into the flour with your fingertips.
- Add the pumpkin purée and beat it into the mixture briefly.
- Slowly add the buttermilk and quickly mix everything together. You may not need all of the buttermilk - just add enough buttermilk until the mixture just comes together into a rough dough. Try not to overwork the dough as this may lead to tough scones later.
- Place the dough onto a floured work surface and pat it into a rectangle or circle shape about 3 cm (1 inch) high.
- Cut your scones with a round cutter. You could also use a teacup or small glass to shape your scones. Use a straight up-and-down movement to cut the scones. Try not to twist the cookie cutter as this might prevent the scones from rising nicely later.
- Dip the cutter into some flour to prevent the dough from sticking to it.
- You can make the scones as little or as big as you like, adjusting the baking time accordingly. I use a 6 cm (2.5 inch) cookie cutter to make medium-sized scones.
- Lightly re-shape the dough as necessary, but try to handle the dough as little as possible.
- Arrange the scones closely together on a baking tray.
- Make an egg wash by lightly beating together the egg and milk.
- Brush the scones with some egg-wash.
- Bake the scones in the oven for about 15-20 minutes (depending on size), or until they are lovely and golden.
- You may need to test a scone to make sure that it is fully cooked through in the centre. A digital thermometer inserted in the centre of a scone should read about 85°C (185°F).
- These scones are best served hot or warm, but they are also lovely served at room temperature.
- Serve the scones warm with a spread of butter.
- To stop the scones from developing a hard crust as they cool, cover the warm scones with a clean tea towel. The steam trapped under the tea towel will help to keep the scones soft.
Kitchen Notes
- HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK
To make your own buttermilk, simply add 1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar to 1/2 cup milk, and leave to stand for about 5 minutes before using. - HOMEMADE PUMPKIN PURÉE
* Peel and remove the seeds from about 500 g (1 lb) of pumpkin.
* Cut the pumpkin into large pieces of roughly equal size.
* To boil, bring a large pot of water to the boil, add the pumpkin and cook for about 30 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.
* To steam, bring a large pot of water to the boil, place the pumpkin in the steamer basket and steam for about 50-60 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.
* Place the cooked pumpkin into the bowl of a large food processor and blitz until you have a fine purée.
* Leave the purée to cool completely before using in this recipe.
* Any leftover pumpkin purée can be kept in a covered container in the fridge for a few days. - USING FROZEN BUTTER
You can use frozen butter in this recipe and simply grate it into the dry ingredients. - STORAGE TIPS
The scones are best eaten right away, or at least on the day of baking. But I find that if you individually wrap them in clingfilm, they still taste quite fresh one or two days later. - FREEZER TIPS
The scones can be made ahead of time and stored in the freezer. Simply prepare the scones as per the instructions above until Step 9. I like to freeze 2 or 4 scones together in a small zip-lock freezer bag for easy handling. To bake, simply proceed with the remaining instructions above using the frozen scones (there is no need to defrost them first), but they will require an extra 5-10 minutes in the oven (depending on size). - OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer's handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.