Oh...you thought I was going to talk about Autumn? Or even Back to School? Nah...they seem to have fallen to the wayside over the past couple of years. The shift of seasons is measured by the launch of the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks. And much like the push for Christmas seems to be earlier every year, Pumpkin Spice season seemed to arrive earlier too. Didn't it happen before Labor Day? In the still sweltering days of August?
Pumpkin Spice lattes, pumpkin spice cream oreos, pumpkin spice flavored coffee, pumpkin spice cream filled Twinkies, even pumpkin spice sparkling juice. If you have a Trader Joe's in the neighborhood and receive their Fearless Flyer ad, you may have noticed in the latest edition that the first page featured pumpkin tortilla chips, and deeper within the issue there were SIX additional pages of pumpkin-this or pumpkin spice-that flavored foods.
It's pumpkin overload. Now...don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-pumpkin. I will occasionally enjoy a slice of pumpkin pie. I think pumpkin biscotti are pretty darn fabulous, and pumpkin gnocchi with butter and sage has a place in my recipe collection. But the pumpkin spice everything--when is too much, too much?
Before we attempt to answer that question, let me sneak in a recipe for pumpkin scones. Yes, there is spice in it. To take it up another notch...there's even chocolate. Enjoy the pumpkin for a few more weeks, because before you know it, Gingerbread and Peppermint seasons will soon be here.
Dark Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Scones
Makes 14-16 3 inch scones
2 1/2 cups flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
6 tbsp butter, chilled, in small cubes
1/3 cup milk or cream
2 eggs
1/2 cup 100% pure pumpkin
1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate, preferably 64% cocoa
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk all dry ingredients together and set aside. In a small bowl, beat the milk and eggs. Add the cubed butter to the dry ingredients, mix in with either two forks or a pastry cutter until you have a pebbly texture. Mix in the eggs and milk. Add pumpkin and chocolate pieces, mixing until well combined. Scoop heaping teaspoons full onto cookie sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until bottoms are golden. Transfer to a cooling rack.
The glaze on the scones below is a quick melt of roughly a tablespoon of butter and 4-6 small squares of chocolate (an inch by half inch or so). Melt butter over low heat, add chocolate, turn off heat, and stir until chocolate pieces melt. Drizzle over scones. The chocolate glaze will harden slightly. These are also pretty awesome without the glaze.
