Fermented goodness for fall

I can always tell that it’s fall when my baking starts including an abundance of pumpkin and my oil diffuser contains more blends using oils like cedarwood, pine and cassia rather than lemongrass and lavender. The days start getting shorter and the evenings are cooler. The trees are shedding their leaves and the animals are storing up food for the winter. My whole body starts telling me that it’s time to hibernate this time of year!

But alas, no rest for this weary woman… there is work to be done and much delicious food to create! And these scones are the perfect place to get started with your fall baking.

These scones are full of pumpkin flavour and the healthy cultures from the milk kefir are great for your gut! If you have never tried kefir before, it is growing in popularity these days and that makes it easy to find. Pronounced “keh-feer,” it’s a fermented milk beverage with many similar properties to yogurt. It also has a similar nutrition profile and health benefits.

Kefir is typically made by fermenting cow, goat or sheep milk using a bacterial culture of polysaccharides called kefiran. This fermentation creates high doses of probiotics and gives the drink a fizzy pop-like consistency that some people say is similar to that of beer. In taste and texture, kefir has a thin, drinkable consistency. Its flavour is strong and tangy.

The coolest thing about kefir is that you can use it as part of the liquid in your baking recipes. That’s what I did with these scones, and the end result is just fantastic.

Give these a try this fall and see if you don’t fall in love with fermented goodies!

Kefir Pumpkin Scones:

· 2 cups flour (I like using soft wheat or spelt)

· 2 tsp. baking powder

· ½ tsp. salt

· 3 tbsp. cold butter

· 3 tbsp. pureed pumpkin

· 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

· ½ tsp. ground nutmeg

· ¼ cup raw buckwheat honey

· ½ cup milk kefir

1) Preheat your oven to 425°F

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt

3) Cut the butter into small chunks, then work into the flour using fingers or a pastry cutter until you have a coarse mix

4) Add the pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg /and slowly mix in the honey and kefir until it forms a dough. The dough should just hold together and not be too sticky. Knead briefly to bring the dough together and turn out onto a floured surface

5) Roll out into a 1½”-thick round or rectangle. Use a 2" biscuit cutter to cut out the scones and transfer to a baking sheet. Knead together the scraps of dough and cut into more scones until all of the dough is used up

6) Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and serve warm with cultured butter, clotted or whipped cream, and jam