Day 89 - Meldrums Cafe, Cairns - Pumpkin Scones

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Not one, but TWO out-of-town friends now! Even better.

With an eventful day ahead for the three of us (myself, and friends Dean and Nicole) , Saturday morning was all about getting some food and coffee into us to face the day’s game plan. After a quick visit to Rusty’s Market for a coffee fix, we settled on a bakery / café nearby. Having missed breakfast menu hours, the server suggested we try some of their "award-winning" pies for lunch. (Oh geez, here we go again with the who-has-the-best-pie bit …)



Still craving a breakfast fix (i.e. eggs and bacon, not beef bourguinion, thai chicken, etc ...) my initial scan of the pie menu was less than enthusiastic UNTIL I saw they were serving breakfast pies. WOOH! Pies for breakfast? Bring it on. (Apparently Nicole and Dean also felt the same way, as each of us independently chose the same breakfast pie on the menu – “Egg, Steak and Bacon”). Pies were followed by fancy mocha drinks and we were all happy campers.



I sided up my pie with a pumpkin scone, remembering I’d seen a similar item in one of my cookbooks at home (but never having actually tried out the recipe). Great way to round on the meal, these get my approval.

Tempting tasties for my next visit ...

Recipe courtesy of JoyOfBaking.com (minus a few changes made on behalf of yours truly):

Ingredients:

2 cups (280 grams) all purpose flour
1/3 cup (72 grams) light or dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup (80 ml) buttermilk
1/2 cup fresh or canned pure pumpkin (if using canned pumpkin make sure there are no spices or sugar added)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
(Egg Wash):
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk or cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place rack in middle of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl mix together the buttermilk, pumpkin puree and vanilla and then add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix the dough.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches (18 cm) round and about 11/2 inches (3.75 cm) thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 3 pie-shaped wedges (triangles). Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash and sprinkle a little sugar on top, if desired.

Place the baking sheet inside another baking sheet to prevent the bottoms of the scones from over browning. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.