At last! Pumpkin Pie Scones!

Pumpkin pumpkin everywhere and not a bite to eat…

Pumpkins are not a widely used ingredient in the UK and Ireland. That doesn’t mean we don’t buy them – come Halloween we cut their tops off, pull out their innards, carve a gruesome face and stick a candle inside, then…well, throw them away, I guess. As a food product, pumpkin is generally consigned to the category of yuppie-hippie-organic-not-real-food food served exclusively in vegetarian restaurants, along with butternut squash, bulgar wheat and tofu.

I know pumpkins are seasonal, but in the UK and Ireland they’re even more so, only appearing in shops a week or so before Halloween and being sold off at half price soon after. So all you people on the other side of the pond who’ve been blogging about pumpkin scones (just like Starbucks make), pumpkin pies, pumpkin cookies and who knows what else, you’ve been driving me mad with jealousy. Just so you know.

I have had a long-term, long-distance relationship with pumpkin pie. I first tried it when we made it at school at the age of 5, loved it, but didn’t encounter it again until last year (20 years later), when I was lucky enough to eat it twice in the same year – once made by the official taster’s mum and once made by an American friend at work whose mother shipped all the necessary ingredients over to her.

This year, with my new-found and not-very-original passion for baking, I was determined to make pumpkin pie. I waited patiently for pumpkins to appear, resisting the opportunity to bring one back in my suitcase from the market in Toulouse, until yesterday I finally found one. Pumpkin madness ensued…

I’ll focus on the pumpkin scones, as this is a scone blog. Too lazy to look up two different recipes, I just took this recipe for pumpkin pie from the BBC, left out the eggs and mixed in spoonfuls of self-raising and wholemeal flour and a bit of baking powder until the mixture became doughy. Then I cut out rounds and, while they were baking, mixed together some icing sugar, water and cinnamon to make a glaze.

"Put that down, I haven't taken a photo yet!"

They were delicious, a little spongy probably due to the complete lack of thought I put into it, but I have never seen scones disappear from a plate so fast. The official taster’s eyes went wide and he made a sound which was a bit like ‘mmmmm’ but with more feeling. When he had collected himself he managed a ‘pumpkinerlicious’, then went on to comment that the pumpkin and the cinnamon flavours were easily recognisable without being overpowering.

I should mention that the official taster also loves pumpkin pie, which was an incentive for him to help me out by cutting off the top of the pumpkin for me and digging out the flesh while leaving the shell intact, just in case I should end up feeling a little whimsical later and want to make a Jack O’Lantern. The pumpkin pie comes out of the oven in 15 minutes and I’m a little nervous…

That's the official taster's hand, not mine...

Mmmmmmmm

Slightly strange pumpkin cookies. Well, two out of three ain't bad.