I used to love making scones with my Granny, and these Cheesy Vegan Savoury Pumpkin Scones are inspired by those afternoons I spent with her, learning all her tricks of how to make the lightest, fluffiest and most delicious scones around.
Granny’s scones were legendary,
(a bit like quite a few of her recipes, that I have veganised for the blog!) and were always super light and fluffy. She claimed it was because she stirred them with the feather of an Angel’s Wing.
And I believed her.
She confessed eventually that it was really because she had cold hands and worked the dough quickly.
I don’t always have the requisite cold hands for mixing the dough, so instead use another trick I learned from her, use a butter knife to cut in the fat (in our case vegan butter). You don’t want the butter to melt before it hits the oven. So try and work in a cool room, and use either your fingertips, or a knife.
My other top tip, is to use fridge cold or even only just thawed from frozen pumpkin or squash. This keeps the mixture cold and the butter from melting. Now, you could use canned pumpkin here, but seeing as it’s Hallowe’en as I’m writing this, why not use up some of the interiors of your Hallowe’en pumpkins! They’re usually discarded, but are all edible, even though sometimes can be a little watery. I suggest oven roasting the flesh of any large pumpkins to concentrate the flavour, before pulping it and letting it get properly cold in the fridge.
Follow along with these instructions below to see how it should look:
Alternatively, if you have lovely sweet butternut or other squash you want to use, you can just steam or boil it. Any way works really!
Now, back in the day, my Granny’s cheesy scones were stuffed full of parmesan and cheddar cheese, which obviously now I’m making them vegan we won’t use. Instead for that savoury cheesy flavour, I’ve added in loads of nutritional yeast. It works a treat, especially combined with the pumpkin and some fresh (or dried) sage and thyme.
These yummy cheesy pumpkin scones are the perfect thing to serve up for a savoury alternative at afternoon tea, or are also delicious warmed through and served with some hearty lentil soup. So yummy split and toasted with some vegan butter slathered on top!
Now, the other thing we have to decide is how we pronounce scone.
I say it the correct way- Scone sounds like done, it does not sound like moan.
Obviously.
If you like the sound of this Cheesy Vegan Savoury Pumpkin Scones, you might also like some of these other tasty ideas
Easy Vegan Savoury Spinach Muffins
Vegan Yellow Split Pea & ‘Ham’ Soup
Soothing Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup
The Best Vegan Scones & Clotted Cream
Delicious pumpkin scones made savoury with cheese and herbs. Perfect vegan recipe to serve at afternoon tea or as a yummy accompaniament to a warming soup!
- 60 g vegan butter
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 40 g nutritional yeast (1/2 cup)
- 250 g cold mashed pumpkin or squash (1 cup) Approx 300 g of uncooked pumpkin yields 250g cooked.
- 355 g Self Raising Flour (2 1/2 cups)Or add 4 tsp baking powder to plain (all purpose) flour
- 1/4 tsp bicarb soda adds extra lift and lightness!
- 1 tsp fresh or dried thyme
- 2 tsp fresh or dried sage
- 2 tsp plant based milk just enough to bring the dough together.
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Preheat your oven to 200C (Gas Mark 5) and line a tray with baking paper
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Stir the nutritional yeast, butter and mustard in a bowl until combined
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Add in the cold mashed pumpkin and stir until combined
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Gradually add the flour to the mix, and use a flat knife (a large butter knife is ideal) to cut the mixture together until it is just combined and starts coming together. If needed add a tiny bit of plant milk to bring together.
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Once you have a soft dough, turn it out onto a floured surface and give a light kneed to pull it all together (very light! you don't want tough scones!)
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Roll and pat the dough out until it is about 2cm thick.
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Use a big cookie cutter or a glass and cut between 10-12 scones out and put onto the tray
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(any leftover dough, pat together to make a wobbly scone. Cooks treat for later!)
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Dust with flour and bake scones for about 14-15 minutes, until golden on top. They will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom when properly baked.
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Let cool on a wire rack and then serve!
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Delicious served warm with butter!
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