We had a very hot, humid summer in D.C. that seemed like it would never end. But eventually more comfortable weather arrived, and the instant the calendar turned to October, I decided that I was ready for fall baking. I kicked off my fall baking season with Sarah Kieffer's recipe for Pumpkin Scones from The Vanilla Bean Baking Book.
To make the dough, you put all of the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, grated nutmeg, and salt) into a bowl; cut in cold cubed butter; and stir in the liquid ingredients (pumpkin puree, heavy cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla). I followed the recipe faithfully up to this point but took a few liberties with the shaping method. The recipe instructs you to shape the dough into a 12-inch square, perform a letter fold, freeze the dough for 10 minutes, perform another letter fold, and then shape the dough into a long rectangle that you cut into eight triangles. There wasn't one inch of free space in the freezer, so freezing the dough was simply not an option for me. Instead, I performed the folds and chilled the dough, eventually shaping the dough into two rounds instead of a rectangle. I cut each round into six small wedges to form the scones, and brushed them with cream before baking. As suggested by the recipe, I doubled up my baking pans to prevent the bottoms from overcooking.
The pumpkin puree gave the scones a rich orange color, and the bottoms were nicely golden without being overbaked. After the scones cooled slightly, I brushed on a glaze made from maple syrup, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. My scones rose nicely in the oven and I still managed to get some nice layers. Perhaps not as many as I would have achieved if I had frozen the dough, but still, I was quite pleased with the result. The pumpkin spice flavor of the scones was warm and comforting. I was afraid that the maple glaze would be too sweet, but it was nicely balanced with the salt and I thought the addition of the maple flavor was great.
My only complaint was that the texture of the scones was slightly heavy and dense, instead of being crumbly as I would normally expect and desire for a scone. But then again, I sort of expected as much from the addition of the pumpkin puree. And the sub-optimal texture might have been my fault from not strictly following the shaping instructions. But while I wouldn't call these ideal scones, they totally delivered on putting me in a cozy, fall-baking state of mind.
Comments