Pumpkin Butter Scones

A crisp fall day of watching BBC with a friend calls for a cup of maple cream tea and a batch of pumpkin scones. I have a freezer full of pumpkin butter, so I made up a recipe for these little gems. Just the perfect thing for the Call the Midwife Christmas special!

2 cups flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold butter

1/2 cup pumpkin butter (I used this orange bourbon recipe. But you could use this one or this maple one or any of your favorites.)

1 egg

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Cut in cold butter until the flour mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Whisk together pumpkin butter and egg. Add to flour mixture. Stir well to combine.

Knead a few times on a floured surface.

Place on greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Press into a circle about 1/2” thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Separate them slightly from one another.

Bake for 15-17 minutes.

Let cool on rack.

Make a orange spice glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Add orange juice until it becomes a good consistency for drizzling over the top of the cooled scones.

Drizzle over the scones when they are warm but no longer hot. Eat right away or wait until the scones have gotten to room temp and glaze has set.

Bourbon Orange Pumpkin Butter

This is the darkest and most flavorful of the three pumpkin butters I made. It is my favorite to throw into pancakes or yogurt!

4 cups pumpkin puree (see how to make your own HERE)

1/2 cup apple cider

1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (see my recipe HERE)

1 cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon bourbon

1 teaspoon orange juice

Combine pumpkin, cider, sugars, and spice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, still stirring often, until it reduces down and gets thick. You can make it as thin or thick as you want.

Remove from heat and stir in bourbon and orange juice.

Let cool in fridge. Pour into jars or freezer containers. Store in fridge for up to 3 weeks or in freezer up to a year.

Pumpkin Pie Butter

No, it isn’t made of pumpkin pie… But it does have pumpkin pie spice in it and is yummy enough to eat from a spoon!

First you need to make pumpkin puree (you can try this method HERE)

3 cups pumpkin puree

1/4 cup apple cider

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (my recipe HERE)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon orange juice

Combine pumpkin, cider, sugars, and spice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, still stirring often, until it reduces down and gets thick. You can make it as thin or thick as you want.

Remove from heat and stir in extract and orange juice.

Let cool in fridge. Pour into jars or freezer containers. Store in fridge for up to 3 weeks or in freezer up to a year.

Maple Pumpkin Butter

I decided to tackle the pile of pumpkins sitting on the hot tub today!

First step was to get them all baked and pureed. Super easy using this oven method!

Before I knew it, I had 25 cups of pumpkin! Fifteen cups went into the freezer and the other 10 got made into pumpkin butter. I’d never made it before, but from the recipes I saw on-line it didn’t seem too difficult. So, I made it up as I went along and am pretty darn pleased with the results!

spiced bourbon orange, pumpkin pie & maple

My mind is reeling with all kinds of ideas to do with them! If they work, I’ll post them here. But first, the Maple Pumpkin Butter recipe:

3 cups pumpkin puree (see recipe HERE)

1/4 cup apple cider (I used our homemade cider)

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 Tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

pinch salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine pumpkin, cider, sugar and syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, still stirring often, until it reduces down and gets thick. You can make it as thin or thick as you want.

Remove from heat and stir in extracts,, salt and lemon juice.

Let cool in fridge. Pour into jars or freezer containers. Store in fridge for up to 3 weeks or in freezer up to a year.

Chorizo Sausage

With the ground pork in my freezer, I am trying some sausage recipes on a smaller scale to see what I think. This one wasn’t my favorite, but I want to remember how I did it. On the other hand, it made a KILLER chili last night for supper!

2 pounds ground pork

1 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon each: oregano & cumin

1/4 teaspoon fennel seed

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/2 Tablespoon each: onion powder & pepper

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

Mix together well by hand or in a stand mixer. Freeze or use within 2 days.

Bacon Jalapeno Biscuits

I needed something to go along with the pot of chorizo chili for supper and had just chopped up the last of the jalapenos from the garden. So here is the result…

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup shortening or lard

1/4 cup crumbled bacon

2 Tablespoons minced fresh jalapeno

1/2 cup shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

1 cup milk

Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in shortening or lard with a pastry cutter. Stir in bacon, jalapenos and cheese. Add milk and stir until just combined.

Drop onto greased baking sheet and bake at 450 for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve hot with butter.

Chicken & Green Beans with Peanut Sauce

I picked a whole big bowl of green beans from the garden today, parboiled them, and stir-fried them with some chicken breast. Over rice it was a super delicious and easy supper! And you could smell the peanut butter throughout the entire kitchen… mmmmm!

Peanut sauce:

2 Tablespoons sesame oil

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

4 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Whisk it all together until smooth and set aside.

Just sauté some cut up chicken breast (about 3 or 4) until it is no longer pink. Throw in some fresh parboiled or frozen green beans and stir-fry them until they are hot. Add the peanut sauce and heat through. Serve over white rice.