| Moist Pumpkin Cranberry Scones |
Prep time: 25 Mins
Cook time: 20 Mins
Yields: 16 Scones
Moist and buttery pumpkin scones makes a wonderful addition to any breakfast table or as a tea time snack. The light orange hue makes it eye candy too.
Ingredients - Part 1:
- 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
Ingredients - Part 2:
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1 and 1/4 cups canned pumpkin
- 3/4 cup milk, divided
Ingredients - Optional:
- 1 cup dried cranberries
Substitutions:
- flour - whole wheat pastry flour
- butter - solidified coconut oil, vegan butter substitute
- yogurt - soy yogurt or any other non dairy yogurt for vegans
- dried cranberries - raisins or chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 400F/190C for 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl combine together all the ingredients in Part 1 except the butter.
- Cut in the butter using 2 forks or a pastry knife until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- In another bowl whisk together the yogurt, pumpkin and 1/2 cup of milk.
- Stir the wet mix into the flour mix until moistened. Fold in the cranberries, if using.
- Turn the dough on a floured surface and knead a couple of times. Greasing your hand lightly with oil/butter will make the kneading easier.
- Divide the dough into two parts and pat each into an 8-inch circle. Cut each circle into 8 wedges and place it on an ungreased baking sheet an inch apart and brush the remaining milk over the scones.
- Bake for about 12-20 minutes. I'm guessing that it took 20 minutes because I used whole wheat flour (See My Notes). The original recipe suggests to bake between 12-15 minutes.
- Transfer to wire racks and cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Glaze it with your choice of icing if you prefer it.
Taste:
- These pumpkin scones were very moist unlike the other scones I have baked so far. This was nice too. I did get the raw smell of whole wheat flour when I tasted it immediately after baking. But it did gradually disappear after a couple of hours. I'm not complaining at all because I(we) have got used to whole grain baking and we rarely feel it. The sweetness is mild and I think that's why a glaze was suggested in the original recipe. I added the dried cranberries in the recipe and I feel that it gives adequate sweetness to the scones.
My Notes:
- I think you would have to use 3/4ths cup of sugar if you omit the cranberries and don't do the glaze.
- If you have pumpkin pie spice, go ahead and add it. Also whole wheat pastry flour could be used instead of the whole wheat flour and all purpose flour combo.
- The original recipe suggested to bake the scones for 12-15 minutes. But I was actually able to see uncooked dough here and there even after 15 minutes. I think this could be because of the whole wheat flour I used. That along-with the pureed pumpkin made it pretty dense. So I baked for another 5 minutes and the scones turned out perfect.
- This recipe makes a large batch of scones. Bake them ahead and freeze it. Pop it in the microwave oven for 20 seconds (more or less depending upon your oven) before serving and it tastes like "just out of the oven". I followed this trick myself and it sure does work.
- I'm pretty sure that you could halve the recipe without any problem for a smaller batch.
Recipe by Madhuram's Eggless Cooking at https://www.egglesscooking.com/eggless-pumpkin-scones-recipe/