Welcome fall weather with pumpkin scones

BY

Betty Williams
Columnist, The Friday Flyer

On a grocery trip early this month, I noticed they are back. Hefty, smoothly ribbed and the color of flames. I’m talking about pumpkins, of course, and that means it’s October.

I tried growing pumpkins this year, as well as butternut squash and acorn squash, all from seed.

I’d had such great success earlier in the summer with the sunflowers that sprouted up in my garden. And with names like Mammoth, Russian and Giant, you can imagine what they looked like. The tallest one was well over 7 feet, surpassing my 17-year-old son in height.

But, alas, the pumpkin and squash harvest was not to be. While the seeds sprouted, became vines (albeit wimpy ones) and even flowered, nothing else happened. I felt like Linus in “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” waiting for the fruit that did not make an appearance.

No matter; pumpkin and squash are readily available at grocery stores and farmers markets over the next few months, and I plan to purchase some. Delicious when roasted or broiled, these squash are a rich source of vitamin A and trace minerals. But for baking, I’ll admit it, I use the canned stuff.

If you’ve been counting my whole grain recipes, this week’s recipe makes nine for the year. Back in January, you will remember, my goal was to introduce 12 recipes this year featuring whole grains. New to me were the grains farro, millet, and the so-fun-to-say freekeh. Trying out these grains over the past few months has definitely broadened my side dish and salad horizons in a delicious way.

This week, however, I’ve gone back to the familiar. I don’t know if it’s the unbearably hot weather, the slew of college application essays I’m proofreading, or the giant bruise I have on the ball of my foot from a gym class I took last week, but I am in need of something comforting and congenial. Old-fashioned oats and whole wheat. Baked in a pumpkin scone? Yes, I think that will do it.

Canned pumpkin puree is what’s needed for this recipe, unless your garden produced a crop of orangey orbs. This recipe, from Food Network, serves up homey, crumbly lightly sweetened goodness in less time than a Charlie Brown TV special. Enjoy this first taste of fall.

Whole Grain Pumpkin Scones

Whole Grain Pumpkin Scones

Yields 8 scones

1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree

3 tablespoons buttermilk

1 large egg

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Kosher salt

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter,

   cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1 teaspoon turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment and coat lightly with cooking spray. Whisk together the pumpkin, buttermilk and egg in a small bowl until smooth; set aside.

Grind the oats in a food processor until they form a coarse meal. Add the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt and pulse until combined. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture looks like fine meal. If you don’t have a food processor, use a blender to grind the oats and a pastry cutter to cut in the butter. Add the cranberries and pulse once. Add the pumpkin mixture and pulse until the oat mixture is just moistened, 3 or 4 pulses. Turn the dough out of the processor bowl and gently knead until combined but not overworked.

Turn out the dough onto the prepared pan and pat into a circle about 7 inches across and 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 8 pieces with a sharp knife, about halfway through the dough. Sprinkle the top with the turbinado sugar. Bake until the top begins to crack and is golden and firm to the touch, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then slide out onto a cutting board and slice into 8 scones. Transfer the scones to a cooling rack and let cool for 15 minutes before serving.