Goodness is….

I just spent the last month in England.  My mother in-law deserves a medal for putting up with us for such a long time.  We all had such a wonderful holiday.  We saw some magnificent shows in London and spent a wonderful time in the English countryside.  A few days were in Cornwall, staying at a beautiful sea-side quaint hotel along the coast called Trevalsa Hotel.

Most days were spent collecting shells and stones along the beach.  We spent one day at the Eden Project, which was so inspiring and very impressive.   We did make it back in time for afternoon scones which where dotted with plump sultanas and served with thick clotted cream and raspberry jam.  The chef did such a wonderful job catering for our specific diets, vegetarian with no onion or garlic. One particular delicious meal was asparagus, lightly steamed, to just bring out its vibrant green colour, but leaving it still slightly crunchy, drizzled with an aoli sauce, green baby leaves and shaved parmesan.  Delicious.

We also spent a few days in Devon, meeting up with our dear friends, Anna and Leon.  On a particularly memorable day, we met up with Lu-lu who was spending a few days there.  She invited us for home-made scones and tea in her friend, Rusha’s place.  The table they set out was so beautiful, with three pots of teas and a mix and match of colourful china cups and saucers.  The scones were magically created in her tiny kitchen on her aga.  They were delicious date and nectarine scones.

Rusha lives in a beautiful fairy-tale  cottage which has a little creek running through her charming house, where the children spent the whole afternoon swimming in it’s freezing cold waters.  Her place is still with me.  The light, the colours, the cosieness of her kitchen and Rusha’s artistic richness in every nook and cranny.

Our next adventure was hiring a barge for four days and driving it through the canals up to Oxford with Anna and Leon and their son Lev.

What a wonderful experience!  It was like being in another world, stopping off anywhere along the banks to sleep, no shops in sight, just us and the the lapping of the water against the barge.  We did have a few funny experiences as it is not easy to direct a 70 foot canal barge, beginners as we were.  We made our way back to London and then onto Lu-Lu’s(where I spent my birthday last year) place which sits on the border of Scotland on 55 acres of incredible lush peaceful beauty.  Beautiful walks, more stones collected and delicious meals shared.  Lu-Lu kept suprising us with freshly baked bread in the morning,  a lovely zucchini cake and home-made blackcurrant jelly and marmalade jam.

Now that I am back, I am obsessed with scones and jam, just to bring back and relive my wonderful holiday.  Lu-Lu also gave me a jar of her blackcurrant jelly and I did buy a few jams while I was there.  Raspberry, blackberry, ginger marmalade…….   And so I had to make some scones to go with all that jam.  This is an old recipe coming from my leather-bound recipe book.  It was inspired from the days I lived in Brisbane and would travel up to Mount Glorious, enjoying the cool, crisp air and sitting in the little cafe cradled by the rainforest trees and feeding the left-over crumbs to the Rainbow Lorikeets that would bravely swoop down to eat the crumbs .  They served the most glorious pumpkin scones, rich in orange colour, moist and so tasty.  It didn’t matter how cold it was, we always sat outside, sipping hot tea and munching on warm pumpkin scones with jam and cream.

Pumpkin Scones

A warm scone is an object of extraordinary comfort, but even more so when it has pumpkin in it.

Nigel Slater

Makes 12 -14 medium sized scones

300g plain all purpose flour

150g wholewheat/spelt flour

1 tspn baking powder

1 tspn baking soda

1/2 tspn salt

50g fine brown sugar

120g cold butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup pecans/walnuts (roughly broken into tiny pieces)

1 egg, lightly beaten

50mL cream

1 1/2 cups pumpkin, cut into small pieces

2 tablespoons of honey

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.  Line a baking tray with parchment.

Chop the pumpkin into small pieces and simmer with the lid on a low flame until soft.  If needed, add the tiniest bit of water.  When soft, take the saucepan off the flame and stir in 2 tablespoons of honey.  Mash with a fork.  Set aside. (If you happen to have any roasted pumpkin or butternut squash left over from dinner, by all means puree it into these scones)

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and stir in the sugar.

Using your fingertips, lightly work in the butter until the mixture resembles dry breadcrumbs.  Gently mix in the walnuts.  Combine the beaten egg, cream and the cooled pumpkin puree.  Mix this mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients.  Use a spoon or your hands to stir the dough together.

It will be on the moist side but if you having trouble handling it, dip your hands into flour and gather the dough into a ball, turn out onto a floured work surface and knead until it roughly comes together.  Make sure not to overwork the dough, using about three kneads.  Use your hands to pat the dough until it’s 1 inch thick.

Using a glass or round cutter,  press straight through the dough and lift up.  Don’t twist the glass, otherwise it seals the dough and less air gets inside.  I dip the glass into flour each time I cut a scone.  Transfer to a greased/lined tray leaving a 2-inch space between each scone. Continue to cut out circles, gathering the scraps and pressing them together to make more scones.

Bake in the oven for 20 – 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until the scones are golden brown.

Serve with your favourite tea and a dollop of fresh cream and your favourite jam on top.

Goodness shared from Stacey