Pumpkin and Cheese Scones

Pumpkin pie isn’t very nice. There. I said it. Its mostly sugar and too much cloying spice, i’d rather have an egg custard tart than try and get through half a slice of over sweet mush that is pumpkin pie. I did find a fantastic recipe for a savoury pumpkin tart that used cheese, caramelised onion and a little cream to make something worthy of eating but not much good for the sweet toothed of you all.

And sadly this won’t help you either as its a recipe for savoury scones BUT they do have two types of cheese in them. Cheese, which has now been proven to be as addictive as crack, makes these scones a bit more interesting than plain pumpkin and adding two types of the yellow stuff lifts them further. I chose stilton and cheddar for creamy familiarity and the hope of a fantastic pairing with a good punchy chutney…and more cheese.

You will need 

• 40g butter, plus extra for greasing
• 200g pumpkin purée 
• 225g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Handful grated Cheddar
• Smaller handful of Stilton or similar blue cheese
• 3-4 tbsp milk, plus extra for brushing

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6. Grease a baking sheet by rubbing with a little butter.

Defrost/empty your puree into a bowl and put to one side

Add flour and baking powder into a big bowl. Add the butter. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs. Make sure your nails are clean for this (shouldn’t have to say!)

Gently mix the mashed pumpkin into the flour mixture. Add the cheese and herbs, then add just enough milk to make a dough. I found that i didn’t need any milk with mine but will depend on how much water is in your purée

Sprinkle a little flour on a work surface and on your hands, then lightly knead the dough for 30 seconds.

Form the dough into a ball, then lightly pat it out to about 3cm thick. Dip a round fluted cutter in a little flour and cut out scones. Put on the baking tray, spaced a little apart. Keep pushing together and rolling the spare bits of dough and you should get 6-8 out of the mixture.

Brush the tops with milk (or egg), put the scones into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until risen and golden. Cool on a wire rack. Serve with MORE CHEESE and chutney.