Diabetic Pumpkin Scones

As I love anything with pumpkin in it, I am always serching out recipes that feature it. Recently a girlfriend served up the most delicious pumpkin scones I had tasted and so I decided to adapt her recipe to make it suitable for diabetics. Once you have tried these you will never make them any other way. Whenever you make scones, you should have everything ready before you start as it is important to make them in the quickest time from start to finish. Your touch should also be light and whenever rubbing butter into the flour, always lift the flour high above the bowl at the same time. This is the secret to great scones and if you follow these instructions you will always serve the lightest, best scones around. These can be frozen and need to be thawed then can be reheated in the oven for about 5 mins at 160C.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups SR flour (could use half white and half wholemeal)
35g low fat butter or margarine spread
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1 cup Butternut pumpkin - cooked and mashed when cold
1 cup low fat vanilla yoghurt
1 tablespoon brown sugar

METHOD:

Preheat oven to hot (220C) in fan forced oven.
Lightly grease or spray a non-stick baking tray.
In a large bowl, sift in together the flour and spice.
Rub butter into this using your fingertips.
Make a well in the centre and quickly add the pumpkin, yoghurt and brown sugar together.
Cut through with a bread and butter knife to mix. Do not use a spoon or fort as this will over-mix and make it tough.
Turn out onto lightly floured surface and gently knead through. The less you knead the better as this keeps them light and fluffy.
Cut out scones either with a knife or round cutter. A knife is always better as takes less air out of the scones.
Place onto oven tray and bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until cooked through.
Quickly remove from oven and place scones in a clean cotton tea towel and wrap it over and around the scones. Leave for 5 minutes then unwrap and serve.
*Note: By wrapping in a tea towel it helps the scones stay light by the steam it creates inside the towel.