International Scone Week

I stumbled across Celia's blog last week and I'm glad I did. If I didn't then I would have missed International Scone Week and I would have been much displeased. There is no need to have a special excuse for making scones of course but sometimes I forget that they are an easy and not too unhealthy treat and I go a while between scones. Well, in honour of such a wonderful thing as International Scone Week and having a willing morning tea partaker at home today, I decided to make some pumpkin and date scones. I like pumpkin scones and I like date scones so together, I like them doubly.

 

The pumpkin makes the mixture quite moist so they take a little longer than regular scones to bake. They also have more of a crunchy exterior than plain scones too (mine do anyway).  They are probably sweet enough without any additions but if I'm having sweet scones then jam and cream are going to be there too. Today we had a choice of rosella or strawberry jam. I had half a scone with each jam and today my favourite is rosella.

Pumpkin and Date Scones

 

Ingredients

3/4 cup mashed pumpkin

2.5 cups self raising flour

30 grams butter

1/2 cup chopped dates soaked in hot water and drained

1/4 cup sugar

milk, enough to make a sticky dough (1/3 - 1/2 cup)

 

Method

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C and grease or line a baking tin/ tray.

Combine the sugar and flour in a mixing bowl.

Rub in the butter.

Stir in the pumpkin and dates and enough milk ( a little at a time) to make a sticky dough.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead a little to bring the dough together in a ball.

Press the dough out to a thickness of about 2.5cm and cut with a well floured round cutter.

Place on tray and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. They are done when they are golden and sound hollow when tapped.

It is a sticky dough so floured hands are a must. And if scones weren't good enough already, the cooking time is just about the right amount of time to get the kitchen back in order after making all of that floury mess.

Needless to say, no lunch necessary here today.
Tracy