Pumpkin Cranberry Savory Scones

I am trying to make maximum use of the pumpkin season. After the Pumpkin Kootu, I made these pumpkin savory scones. Still have plans for pumpkin soup. But not sure if the plans will change - to another dish of course. When I planned to bake something savory for this month's Serve It event, I wanted to keep it simple. Something which I can munch on for breakfast. The track-record of scone-making for me is in the reverse. People generally start with all-purpose flour when they bake something for the first time and then going forward make substitutions and experiment. But I used wheat flour in the first trial and used flaxmeal. The first time I made scones - Eggless Wholewheat Blueberry Scones, I loved it being the fact that it was eggless and wholewheat. But I still wanted to bake the original scones with all-purpose flour and egg. So here it is, the original version  Couldn't stop the goody girl in me who slipped half a cup of wheat flour though. She actually was screaming in me "AP flour - empty calories??, after all the diwali snacks you munched in just a week ago??". Never mind, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Adapted from here
Makes 8 scones
AP flour - 1 1/2 cups
Wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Light Brown sugar - 1/3 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Ground ginger - 1 1/2 tsp - 2 tsp (as desired)
Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Cold Butter - 1/2 cup - Cut into chunks
Dried Cranberries - 1/2 cup
Egg - 1
Pumpkin puree - 1/2 cup (fresh or canned)
Butter milk - 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Method:
Whisk together the egg, pumpkin puree, butter milk, vanilla extract in a small bowl until the egg is mixed well. In another big bowl sieve/whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon and salt. Add the cold butter chunks and mix in the flour with pastry blender or two forks. Alternatively you could add the flour mixture to a food processor with the butter and pulse it for a couple of times until the butter is well incorporated. Add the cranberries to the flour mixture and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix with a fork until it comes together as a dough. If the dough is sticky sprinkle some flour. Transfer to a floured board and press to form a round disc to about 1 inch thickness. Cut into 8 wedges (like a pie). Preheat the oven to 400F. When it is preheating, place the wedges in a plate and store in the freezer. After oven is preheated place the wedges in a baking sheet lined with parchment paper with 1 inch distance between them. Brush the top with milk. Bake for 20-22 mins or until the top is golden brown and the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm with jam/butter or just plain.
Note:
1. To make pumpkin puree at home, cook about 1 cup of cut pumpkin in microwave with a tsp of water for 1 minute. Mash well with a fork and measure the required puree.
2. Next time I would add about a 1/2 tsp of pepper for a more pronounced savory taste.
3. This is the first time I am baking with ground ginger so was playing safe with 1 1/2 tsp. Next time I would increase it by 1/2 tsp for more ginger flavor.
4. One egg equals 1/4 cup of liquid ingredient. It can be substituted with butter milk or pumpkin puree to make it eggless.

Sending these scones to Serve It - Savory Baked event by me and Denny and to Bake Fest event by Vardhini.