Sunday 12 May 2013

Mother's Day Baking - Spiced Pumpkin Scones (egg and dairy free)

When I first started this blog, I had intended to also write about my adventure in cooking. You see, I knew how to cook in my youth, but, to be honest, I preferred take-aways or just already prepared food like fresh pasta where all you had to do is put it in hot water for 3 min and heat up some sauce in the microwave. Then I had my son and at 6 months, he all of a sudden started choking at the dinner table and it turned he was allergic to dairy and eggs. My finely crafted dinner plan was all of a sudden shot to pieces ...

Prior to my son I had always left baking to Marks and Spencers, but alas, at 4 my son wanted a Dinosaur cake just like his friends ... so the journey began. We had some spectacular mishaps especially with baking, but now I can't imagine going back. We were pleasantly surprised to find that last year, 7 years after his first trip to hospital, he had outgrown his egg allergy.

For Mother's Day today, they baked me some pumpkin scones ... and I thought I really need to share, because they are just soooo awesome. I have already eaten 3 :-)


The are both egg and dairy free and we usually use Jap pumpkin for it. It is a particularly sweet pumpkin and I had first found here in Australia, but it is also sometimes called a kent pumpkin.


To make the pumpkin purée, you cut the pumpkin in half , clean out all the seeds, put it cut side down on the baking tray and roast it in the oven at 180C for about an hour. It really depends on the size of your pumpkin and your oven, but it is really not hard. After it is cooled, you purée or mash it. Any that you don't use, you can freeze for later.

For the scones, you'll need:
1/2 cup of brown sugar
3 1/2 cups of plain flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of bicarb of soda
3 tsp of ginger powder (or mixed spice if you prefer that instead)
1/2 cup of dairy free margarine (in Australia we use Nutelex)
2 cups of puréed pumpkin

1, in a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients well
2, cut in the margarine
3, add the puréed pumpkin and mix thoroughly



Please note that if the puréed pumpkin was stored in the fridge, the dough is less gooey and can be kneaded by hand on a floury surface. If the pumpkin is still a bit warm, it melts the margarine a bit and the dough can't really be kneaded as it is too sticky (as you can see above). In this case just use a spoon and mix it well. The end product tastes great regardless.

4, form the scones and put onto a baking tray that is lined with baking paper. Some people form a rough circle and then cut 12 triangles, others just form 10-12 rough circles. In our case, the kids added some more pumpkin and it was a bit sloppy, so we used  metal spoon and put blobs unto the tray.



5, bake at 200C or 425F for 12-15 min or until done (our oven always takes longer)

In the mean time, amuse your children with the left overs to prevent them from climbing into the oven :-)





I like to eat mine as warm as possibly ... maybe I could have another one for desert.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone.

3 comments:

  1. They look delicious. Following a holiday illness 6 years ago my OH is now lactose intolerant and fructose malabsorbant - it took us a while to figure out how to change some recipes but we got there eventually :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Mothers Day to you.
    It's good you have some recipes that everyone can really enjoy.
    I guess making modified flaounes would be a challenge with all the cheese eggs involved but the Greek pumpkin/cracked wheat pastries would be ok?

    ReplyDelete
  3. These look great! I must try them. Thanks for the recipe!

    ReplyDelete

I'd like to hear what you think, but do try to be nice as this is what I do for fun and enjoyment :-)