BUTTERNUT PARMESAN SCONES with homemade butter
Paul Hartmann
Butter:
250ml (1 cup) double cream
2.5ml (½ tsp) fine salt
Scones:
200g butternut, peeled, chopped and cooked till tender
150g (300ml) cake wheat flour
75g fine mealie meal
5ml (1 tsp) salt
10ml (2 tsp) baking powder
2.5ml (½ tsp) bicarbonate of soda
30g (2 tbsp) homemade butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
50g Parmesan cheese, grated
Approx 80ml (⅓ cup) buttermilk, from the homemade butter
2.5ml (½ tsp) mustard powder
Glaze:
1 egg yolk, beaten
A drop of reserved buttermilk
30ml (2 tbsp) pumpkin seeds
1. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
2. For the butter whisk the cream until the cream collapses and separates into buttermilk and butter. Strain over a muslin-lined sieve retaining the 150ml of the buttermilk for the scones.
3. Whisk butter again to remove any retained buttermilk and drain once more. Knead the salt into the butter, then fill a small ramekin with butter. Spread the remaining butter, 1cm thick on a baking paper lined tray and freeze for 15 minutes and once the butter is firm use to make scones.
4. For the scones drain the cooked butternut on paper towel to remove the excess moisture. Mash, cool and reserve.
5. Sift the flour with the mealie meal, salt, baking powder and bicarb together. Rub in the butter using your fingertips until you have the texture of coarse crumbs.
6. Fold in the butternut and Parmesan cheese into the flour mixture, adding just enough buttermilk to form a dough. Dust the work surface with flour, tip the dough out and press the dough down to about 4cm high, don’t overwork the dough, then cut out using a floured 6cm cutter. Place on a paper lined baking tray.
7. Beat the egg with a tablespoon of reserved Buttermilk and brush the tops of the scones. Sprinkle over pumpkin seeds and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
Serve with the homemade butter.
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