My favorite weekends now include what I call Hannibrunch, which is my old Saturday-Morning-Fannibal routine kicked up a notch into Brunch with Friends.  Not only do I get to relive the psychological thrills of season 2, I get to bake breakfast foods for a group instead of just for myself.

For our last session, I got a request for scones, so used pumpkin puree I had leftover from making pumpkin chili. I’ve made the chocolate-chip version of this recipe before, but I liked the second batch I made with crystallized ginger even better. The orange really makes the ginger pop without overpowering the pumpkin, and the scones are tender on the inside. They’re best fresh out of the oven –no need for jam, although clotted cream might be nice.

Pumpkin-Orange Scones with Candied Ginger

(Barely) adapted from King Arthur Flour’s “Harvest Pumpkin Scones”

Time: ~40 minutes
(Active: 15-20 minutes; baking: 20 minutes)
Yield: 16 small scones

Ingredients

(Japanese ingredient list below*)

2.75 cups (325 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (75g) sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 cup (115 g) cold butter

2/3 cup (156 g / 160 mL) pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/2-1 tsp grated orange peel
~1 cup (4-6 oz / 115-170 g) crystallized/candied ginger slices (dice after measuring)

Optional: milk and coarse white sparkling sugar for topping

Equipment

-large bowl
-food processor (or pastry cutter)
-parchment paper
-cookie sheet

Procedure

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Cut the cold butter into chunks, and add it to the food processor with the flour mixture and blend until the butter is worked through the flour. (Or cut together with a pastry cutter.)
3. In a separate bowl, whisk egg, pumpkin puree, and orange peel together.
4. Pour the flour and butter mixture back into the large bowl, then add the diced candied ginger and the wet ingredients. Stir with a spoon until a shaggy dough begins to form (it may seem a bit dry), then finish incorporating the dough with clean hands if necessary.
5. Form dough into a disk, and cut/form it into 16 pieces of roughly equal size. (I cut mine and then formed it into balls, but you could make squares.)
6. Place scones onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a dusting of flour. If desired, paint with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
7. Bake at 425ºF (220ºC) for 20 minutes. Serve hot. Store leftovers at room temperature in an air-tight container and warm briefly before serving.

*Ingredient/equipment list in Japanese:

Food processor (fûdo purosessâ, フードプロセッサー)
Parchment paper (kukkingo shîto, クッキングシート)
Cookie sheet (kukkî shîto, クッキーシート)

All-purpose flour
Granulated sugar (guranyûtô, グラニュー糖)
Baking powder  (bêkingu paudâ, ベーキングパウダー)
Ground cinnamon (shinamon, シナモン)
Ground ginger (jinjâ, ジンジャー)
Allspice (ôrusupaisu, オールスパイス)
Nutmeg (natsumegu, ナツメグ)

Unsalted butter (muen batâ, 無塩バター)

Eggs (tamago, 卵)
Pumpkin puree
Orange [peel] (orenji, オレンジ）
Candied ginger (shôgatô, ショウガ糖, or shôga satôzuke, 生姜砂糖漬け)

These are not healthy at all, but they are so good… For one scone: