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 were 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 aioli 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 Lulu 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 its freezing cold waters. Her place is still with me. The light, the colours, the cosiness 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 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 Lulu’s 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 surprising 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. Lu-Lu also gifted 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
Preparation – 50 minutes
Makes 12 -14 scones
ingredients
⅓ cup walnuts
1½ cups pumpkin, cut into small pieces
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp flax meal (soaked in 3 Tbsp water for 15 minutes)
50ml full-fat cream
350g plain all-purpose flour
100g whole-wheat/spelt flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp fine rock salt
¼ cup/fine brown sugar
120g cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 tsp vinegar
preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with parchment.
2. Place the walnuts on a tray and toast for approximately 8 minutes. Allow to cool, roughly chop and set aside.
3. Steam the pumpkin for 10 minutes, or until soft, drain well, and cool, place in a bowl and mash with a fork, then add the maple syrup, soaked flax and cream – stirring until well combined. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar, then using your fingertips, lightly work the butter until the mixture resembles dry breadcrumbs. Mix in the toasted nuts.
5. Drizzle the vinegar into the wet pumpkin mixture and using a spoon or your hands, stir into the dough. It will be on the moist side but if you having trouble handling it, dip your hands into flour.
6. 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.
7. Using a glass or round cutter, press straight through the dough and lift up. Flour the glass each time you cut a scone. Don’t twist the glass, otherwise, it seals the dough and less air gets inside. Transfer to 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.
8. 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 jam of choice.
Goodness shared from Stacey
