I wasn’t planning on posting this recipe on the blog, hence the minimally styled and few photos. It was just something I made for breakfast on a lazy weekend, but after making them a second time last week while visiting family, I decided I had to post it anyway. I simply couldn’t not share something so yummy with you guys, and I didn’t want to wait until I made them again to reshoot them. You see, I am trying to not be so hard on myself when it comes to presentation, which I tend to do often…so these photos will have to do. What really matters, after all, is the food…no?
I first made these lovely scones a few weeks ago when pumpkin fever hit instagram, and even though it isn’t fall down here in Australia, I simply couldn’t resist jumping on the bandwagon; I had serious pumpkin envy.
A quick look around the internet and I found this recipe for pumpkin scones, by a rather famous Australian woman called Lady Florence Bjelke-Peterson, who was a Queensland political figure in the 80’s, and was well known for her iconic pumpkin scone recipe. To be honest, the reason I decided to try the recipe was its title: Lady Flo’s Pumpkin scones. I know, I know…what can I say? I’m just a sucker for recipes with a story or some history behind them, and this one had heaps by the sound of it. Another reason this recipe appealed to me is the fact that it calls for quite a decent amount of pumpkin puree, as opposed to most of the other recipes I came across online, which only use measly quantities. I wanted my scones to scream pumpkin!
To my absolute delight, the scones came out PERFECT. They were fluffy, flaky and sweet, and packed with warm pumpkin flavour. They are very easy to make, but do rquire some planning ahead to prepare the pumpkin puree. You can, of course, use canned pumpkin puree, but honestly it just doesn’t compare to fresh, home-roast pumpkin. What I recommend is to make the pumpkin puree the night before, and – even better – to make a big batch and freeze the extra puree in one-cup portions for future scone making. That’s what I did, and I love that I can just pull out a zip-lock bag of puree from the freezer tonight, pop it into the fridge and have it defrosted and ready to make delicious pumpkin scones in the morning with minimal effort.
When I posted a photo of them on my instagram account, a wonderful blogger friend of mine, Kate of Baking Fiction, directed me to a post on her blog which tells the story of how she grew up with a framed copy of this very recipe hanging on her home’s wall, which was hand-written by Lady Flo herself and given to Kate’s mum! How amazing is that? I absolutely loved reading about it.
The recipe is unchaged, my only addition was a touch of warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, which I find go SO well with the pumpkin. I also find that this recipe is PERFECT for feeding a big crowd, because it just takes a few minutes of prep then your work is all done! 15-20 minutes later, with the house filled with the cosiest of bakery-like aromas, large quantities of warm scones come out of the oven all at once, to be enjoyed together, gathered around a big, noisy, happy table adorned with jars of jam and cream…pure bliss!
Last week I was visiting extended family in Geelong, and I made them a triple batch of these for breakfast, served with sour cream and jam. We were 13 people (5 of which were hungry teenagers), and everyone devoured them happily and couldn’t stop raving about them all morning. I think they’d be wonderful to make your family for Christmas breakfast!
This is my last post before the new year, so I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading my posts, following me on instagram and for you continued support, encouragement, feedback and friendship! I wish you all a very merry Christmas and new years holiday, filled with family, friends, laughter and tons of good food!
See you all next year!
xx Noha
- • 1 tbsp. (15g) butter, at room temperature
- • ½ cup (110g) sugar
- • ¼ tsp. salt
- • ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- • ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
- • 1 egg
- • 1 cup (260g) pumpkin puree*, cold
- • 2 cups (340g) self-raising flour**
- • 2 tbsp. milk or cream, for brushing
- TO SERVE:
- • Sour cream, creme fraiche or double cream
- • Jams
- Preheat oven to 225 C (440F)
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper, set aside.
- Beat the butter, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl with an electric mixer, until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Add the pumpkin and beat until smooth.
- Add the flour and stir it in with a wooden spoon until it comes together. You may need to use your hand to knead it after a few seconds as the flour absorbs the liquid. As soon as it forms a dough, stop mixing and tip it out onto your prepared baking sheet. Don’t over-mix, or your scones will be tough!
- Use your hands to pat the dough down into a circle about 20cm wide and 2-2.5cm thick. Using a pastry cutter or knife, cut it into 8 equal triangles. Separate the slices and push them apart a bit so that there is about 1.5-2cm of space between each slice. (if you like, you could also shape the dough into a rectangle and cut it into 8 squares, or use a cookie cutter to cut out 8 circles from the dough, the shape if up to you! I find the triangles easiest and quite pretty).
- Brush the tops of the scones with the milk/cream and bake in the hot oven for 15-20 minutes, until well risen and tops are golden brown. Serve warm, with your choice of toppings. My favourite is just a dollop of sour cream/creme fraiche!
** If you cannot find self-raising flour, replace with equal amount of plain flour plus 4 tsp. baking powder whisked through it.
