What to Get Rid of Wednesday: Pumpkin Scones with Berry Butter

This week's venture took me back to the flavors of fall: pumpkin, cranberry, and pecans.

I love scones.  For whatever reason I'm drawn to them.  Ginger and lemon, bacon and cheese, blueberry, or, in this case, pumpkin.  I can never look over a scone recipe.  I always want to make them.  But, my lovely husband has a distaste for anything dry, and scones, being traditionally dry, fit into that category.  So, I usually read a recipe, think about it long and hard and then decide no, I don't think it would be a good decision to make all those scones and then consume them.  I really need to work on getting some food dumping friends.

On another note I try to be frugal where possible and after last October's festivities I baked down a small pumpkin, smashed it, divided it into baggies and stuck it in the freezer.  And there is has remained.  As much pumpkin as I cook each year I never eat through what we have on hand.  Until now.

This recipe was fabulous because I finished a bag of dried cranberries, a container of pecan halves, and the rest of my frozen pumpkin.  It was hard to use the rest of the pecans.  I'm sure I can buy them just as readily in Richmond, but I have an attachment to Texas through them.  They are one of my loves in this state.  They're one of the reasons I learned to love Texas.  Oh, pecans...

Save this one for later or pull out your fall leftovers, this scone is fabulous.  This is adapted from a recipe in Taste of Home.

Pumpkin Scones with Berry Butter


Butter
2 T. Dried cranberries
1/2 C. Boiling water
1/2 C. Butter, softened
3 T. Powdered sugar

Place cranberries in bowl, add water and let re-hydrate 5 minutes.  Drain.  Chop berries.  In small mixing bowl, beat butter until fluffy then add the sugar and berries.  Cover and refrigerate.

Scones
2 1/4 C. All purpose flour
1/4 C. Packed brown sugar
2 t. Baking powder
1 1/2 t. Pumpkin pie spice (I used combo of 3/4 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. nutmeg, cloves, and ginger)
1/2 C. Cold butter
1/4 t. Salt
1/4 t. Baking soda
1 Egg
3/4 C. Pureed pumpkin
1/3 C. Milk
2 T. Chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, spices, salt, and baking soda.  Cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.  (I did this in a food processor.  About 10-12 pulses to cut in butter.)

In a small bowl, whisk the egg with pumpkin and milk.  Add to the dry mixture and pecans if using, and mix just until moistened.  If you used the food processor, dump dry ingredients into another bowl for this step.

Scoop dough onto a greased or parchment lined baking sheet (I cut into wedges, but the dough was too moist and made it difficult). This makes 8 scones, about 1/2 C. each.  Bake 15-18 minutes, until deep golden brown.  Serve warm with butter.