Pumpkin Walnut Scones Recipe

I love the pumpkin scones from Starbucks. Love, love, love them. And this fall, it seems like I cannot get enough pumpkin.

However, I can't afford to go to Starbucks that often, and I'm trying to eliminate most sugar from my diet. I had made some whole-wheat vegan scones before, but they were always a little dry, even if I substituted butter for the applesauce or whole milk for the almond milk. They never satisfied my craving for a sweet, Starbucks-like pumpkin scone. So I decided to play around with recipes I had and see if I could achieve something that would be pumpkin-y and sweet without actually having a lot of sugar.

Voilà! Success! I've made these scones twice now and they came out amazing both times. They are soft and delicious and moist (as much as I hate that word, it's accurate here, in the good way). They are also pretty healthy, considering they're scones. I think the difference was made by using spelt flour instead of regular whole-wheat flour, and also having the walnuts ground into the flour.

Also, they are quickly-made, especially if you have a food processor. I supposed it would be possible to make them if you had a pastry cutter and some kind of spice grinder for the walnuts, but the food processor makes it quick and easy.

So, without further ado, here's the recipe:

1) Into your food processor, dump the following dry, spice, and fat ingredients:

• 1 cup whole-wheat spelt flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar (they are good both ways, just a touch sweeter with 3 tablespoons)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• A sprinkle of ginger and nutmeg each
• A tiny pinch of cloves 

• 4 tablespoons butter, cold and cut into small cubes
• 1/2 cup walnuts (I've been cooking with raw sprouted walnuts; they may not have to be sprouted, but I would definitely use raw walnuts)

2) Run the food processor for about twenty seconds, or until the walnuts and butter have been well-ground into the dry ingredients and the whole mixture looks a little like wet sand.

3) Dump the flour mixture into a bowl and add the following:

• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 3/4 cup pumpkin

4) Mix wet ingredients into dry ones. (I've found a couple stirs with a spoon help get things started, and then I use my hands to really get the pumpkin to absorb.)

5) Shape the dough into a circle about a half-inch thick, then place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cut the circle into eight triangles. Your uncooked scones should look like this, except a little darker because this was an attempt where I forgot the spices and had to sprinkle cinnamon over the top later:

6) Bake for 10-12 minutes at 450 degrees (I set my oven to 440, because it always runs a bit hot).

7) Let rest on the cookie sheet for five to ten minutes before serving.

Unfortunately, I do not have food styling skills, so the pictures I tried to take of the finished product didn't look that good. The scones did, however, taste VERY good, so if you're craving pumpkin, try the recipe... Let me know what you think and whether you make any adjustments of your own to increase the tastiness!

Thankful for Thankfulness

This will be my first year participating in the "30 Days of Thankfulness" tradition on Facebook. I am starting a day late, having spent yesterday debating whether or not I would participate. This is no surprise to those of you who know how indecisive I am and how much I hate commitment.

But I decided to participate after all, for two reasons: first, I am going to try to use a lot of pictures instead of descriptions. I tend to get wordy with descriptions, and when I get wordy then I always self-edit, and when I know there will be editing involved I procrastinate, because I am a perfectionist.

Second, there are simply a lot of things for which I am truly thankful these days.

Gratefulness is not my heart's state as often as I would like. Too many times busy-ness makes me forget to feel grateful, or the routine of life makes me take good things for granted, or my inner, entitled ideal of what my life should be likes makes me focus on what I don't have and the little things going wrong, rather than the many things that are going well.

But over the last month, God has been working on my heart. I have been studying grace and growing in my appreciation for it, and I have been studying Jesus and growing in my love for Him. These are things I am grateful for, and somehow in the midst of them, God has been helping me to feel more thankful for a variety of things.

I have been feeling that inner peace and thankfulness that you can't fake or drum up. Prayer and reflection can lead to gratefulness, but with the two baby girls, I don't have as much time as I would like for those disciplines. I can't sit and read my Bible for an hour, and journal my way to gratefulness; many times, all I have is a few minutes to pray for my family and ask God both for gratefulness and to be reminded to pray throughout the day. Over the last month, God has been faithful to answer my prayers for a thankful heart. It's not natural to me, and it's not something I can earn. I still have many stressed, angry, irritable, ungrateful, entitled, selfish moments throughout the day, but the Holy Spirit keeps speaking truth to me, which gives me perspective and reminds me of God's goodness to me.

This grateful feeling is a gift from Him, and I am truly joyful that He is helping me see how much of a gift it is. So, for day one, I am thankful that God is making me thankful.