Gluten-free Pumpkin Scone

I had about a cup of pumpkin puree left from my pumpkin loaf, so I though I would adapt a recipe to make a pumpkin scone. This turned out to be a great idea; the combination of pumpkin and the cultured coconut milk I use instead of yogurt gives it a delicious flavour.  The scone is light and yet dense at the same time, crumbly as a scone should be, but not overly so.  The recipe comes from a really good cookbook called Gems of Gluten-free Baking by Wendy Turnbull.  A lot of her recipes are also egg-free, which is rare in GF baking.  I highly recommend this book.

Brown rice flour for pan.
1 ½ cups brown rice flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
pinch salt
3 tablespoons Earth Balance vegan margarine (not spreadable)
about 1/3 cup pumpkin puree, mixed with almond milk to make 2/3 cup liquid
1/3 cup So Delicious plain cultured coconut milk (my sub for yogurt)
½ cup currents

Preheat oven to 375°.  Lightly grease a baking sheet.  Sprinkle brown rice flour on it in a 6-inch circle and set aside.

In mixing bowl, blend all dry ingredients.  Using pastry blender or fingers, cut vegan margarine into flour to resemble a coarse meal.  Mix in currents. 

Combine almond milk/pumpkin mixture with cultured coconut milk.  Add to dry ingredients, folding and blending gently.  It will seem very dry but continue just enough to moisten and until it pulls together into a soft ball in the bowl. 

Turn dough out onto the prepared sheet and pat into a 6-inch flattened circle, about 1.5-inches thick. 

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until baking thermometer inserted into the centre reads 200°.  (The original recipe said to bake for 20 minutes but mine wasn't even close to done at that time).  Turn onto rack to cool, then cut into six wedges.  Serve same day.

Adapted from a recipe by Wendy Turnbull.  Here is a link to her website. Under the recipes tab you will find the original scone recipe, which is not vegan.
http://glutenfreegems.com/index.htm

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