Halloween Scones
Halloween is looming. Mischief and magic are brewing: small apparitions may cross your path, sprightly witches, goblins, or sheet-shrouded ghosts will be out and about.
Halloween is the Celtic name for October 31, the eve of All Hallowes or All Saints Day. Observances connected with it are thought to have originated with the Druids who believed that on that evening, Samhain, Lord of the Dead, assembled the souls of people who had died that year.
To ward off the spirits of the dead, people dressed like ghosts and great bonfires were lit.
In Ireland, people began to carve faces out of turnips to frighten away wandering souls, a custom which evolved into pumpkin carving when the Irish migrated to the United States.
Inroduction
About this Recipe
By: Sheridan Rogers
Pumpkins are closely associated with Halloween thanks to the American tradition of carving Jack-o’-Lanterns and filling the cavity with a lit candle to ward off evil spirits.
Numerous varieities are used to make pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies while here in Australia Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen’s recommended using a Queensland Blue for her famous pumpkin scones.
Ingredients
- softened unsalted butter 40g
- caster sugar 1/3 cup
- free range or organic egg, 1
- cooked mashed pumpkin, 1 cup
- self-raising flour, 3 cups
- ground nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon
- milk, 2 -3 tablespoons
Preheat oven to 210C (190C fan-forced). Line a lamington tray with baking paper.
In a small mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg. Transfer ingredients to a large bowl and stir in the pumpkin. Sift together the flour and nutmeg and stir through the butter mixture. Add enough milk to make a soft sticky dough then turn out onto a floured benchtop or board.
Knead together quickly and press out to 2cm thickness. Dip 5cm diameter scone cutter in flour and stamp out scones, cutting out as many as you can.
Place the rounds side by side on the baking tray.
Knead together the scraps, pat out to 2cm thickness and cut out more scone rounds.
Brush tops of scones with milk.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until browned and cooked.
Makes about 16 scones.
Note: you will need to cook about 300g pumpkin for these scones. It’s best to steam the pumpkin rather than boil it.