Spiced Pumpkin Scones
In their 20s and 30s, my parents were Beatles-lovin’, meditating, Lysergic-blissin’ hippies. They wove their own shag pile carpet, made their own wine and bought books with titles like ‘Raising Kids OK’ , ‘How to throw clay on the wheel’ and ‘Build your own felt yurt’. They grew vegetables in the front garden, and had a (mercifully temporary) rat infestation in a banana tree out the back.
Dad loved Buddhism, Alan Watts and Jiddu Krishnamurti. Mum loved making wall hangings on her weaving loom, and they both disliked competition, so they sent my brother, my sister and me to a small hippie school that didn’t have sports carnivals or traditional grading systems, and didn’t require its students to wear shoes - it was great!
In year 4, Mum taught my class to build a permaculture garden. We had our own giant banana tree (no rats this time), a trickling pond and, one year, we had about a million pumpkins that sprawled their way over everything. So (as you do) our class made a recipe book that featured exclusively pumpkin-based recipes, including the recipe for pumpkin scones made by Lady Flo, the QLD premier’s wife. Mum cold called the premier one morning, and when he picked up, she asked if she could speak to his wife about her scones. Easy as that!
The years have slipped wildly by and my fabulous parents remain as eccentric as ever, but somehow, until yesterday, I had managed to entirely forget about the wonder of pumpkin scones! I’ve made my own version now, in honour of my Mum this Mothers’ day. Mine have a bit of added spice and a bit less sugar but they do a perfect job of whisking me back pleasantly to the pumpkins of yesteryear and to all my parents’ wildest projects.
Spiced Pumpkin Scones
Makes about 12 scones
Ingredients
1 cup grated pumpkin
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup castor sugar
1 egg
2 1/3 cups plain self-raising flour
Method
Put the grated pumpkin, milk and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring every so often and making sure that the saucepan doesn’t boil over. Remove from heat and whisk briskly to break up the pumpkin, forming a smooth mixture. Set aside to cool.
Cream the butter and sugar on high in an electric mix master. Mix until they have gone a pale colour, then turn the mix master to low and add the egg and the cooled pumpkin mixture. Stir the flour in with a big spoon until a dough starts to form, then tip out on to a floured surface and knead gently until smooth. If the dough feels a little dry, sprinkle with a splash of milk, if it’s a bit sticky, dust with a little bit of flour.
Roll the dough out so it’s flat and about 5cm thick. Using a cookie cutter (or a glass) ~8cm in diameter, cut circles out of the dough. Roll the off-cuts of the dough out again and repeat until all the dough has been cut into the circular scone shapes. Place the scones on lined baking trays and brush the top with a little milk. Bake in the oven at 200˚C for 10-15 minutes, or until the tops of the scones have turned a golden brown colour.
Eat while piping hot, preferably slathered with salty butter and drizzles of honey.