Butternut Squash Scones

Ingredients

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups diced roasted butternut squash 

3 cups all purpose flour

¼ cup sugar for scone dough

1/3 cup sugar for sprinkling (approx.)

4 teaspoons baking powder

¾ cup very cold butter

2 large eggs

¾ cup half-and-half

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup good quality chopped white chocolate

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400. 

Cut squash in half lengthwise, remove seeds, coat with olive oil and roast cut side down on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast until just tender – about 35 minutes.  Cool completely and peel.  Dice two cups of the squash and reserve the rest for another use. 

Preheat oven to 425. 

Mix salt, flour, sugar, baking powder and spices in a large bowl.  Grate butter into the dry ingredients and toss to coat and mix until evenly distributed.  Add butternut squash and white chocolate pieces and mix well. 

Beat eggs with half-and-half and vanilla and drizzle into flour mixture while softly mixing with a spatula.  When ingredients are just combined turn onto a piece of parchment paper and gently work dough until it holds form.  If necessary, add a few drops of half-and-half to any dry ingredients that won’t work into the dough. Flatten into two disks about 1” thick. Heavily coat the tops with sugar and pat into the dough a bit. Score the top where you plan to cut to make slicing into wedges easier.  Bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet about 25 minutes or until done in the center.  The outside should be very lightly brown and crisp at the edges but moist in the inside.  

By Betty Kilpatrick