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    Home » recipes

    By Amanda Smyth 25 Comments

    Lady Flo's Pumpkin Scones

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    Something exciting happened to me this weekend - I met Lady Florence Bjelke-Petersen!

    We were staying at the lovely Bethany Cottages in Kingaroy, and were invited to the house for Lady Flo's famous pumpkin scones.  The scones were every bit as tasty as I'd hoped, but meeting Lady Flo was by far the highlight of our trip!  Although she's now in her nineties, Lady Flo still has all the hallmarks of the matriarch that Queensland admires.  It was a real thrill to meet her.

    Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen
    Meeting Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen.
    What a woman - Writer, Senator, Farmer, Mother, Wife and a damn fine cook!

    Before we left town, I found a copy of Lady Flo's Classic Country Collection - a cookbook of over 500 recipes and handy hints for classic Australian fare.  I look forward to test-driving more of these on the blog.

    Lady Florence Bjelke-Petersen's Pumpkin Scone recipelady flo's pumpkin scones

    Chef: Lady Florence Bjelke-Petersen

    Ingredients:
    1 tblsp butter
    ½ cup sugar
    ¼ teaspoon salt
    1 egg
    1 cup mashed pumpkin (cold)
    2 - 2 ¼ cups Self raising flour

    Method:
    Beat together butter, sugar and salt with electric mixer.
    Add egg, then pumpkin.  Finally stir in the sifted flour by hand.
    Turn on to floured board and cut.
    Place in tray on top shelf of very hot oven 225-250c for 15-20 minutes.

    Cooker and a Looker
    Early morning view from Bethany Cottages - Kingaroy bathed in fog.

    Bethany Cottages were a great spot for our family get away - we rented all four cottages to house all of Bearhands's family and really enjoyed our two nights there.  You can also do a tour of Bethany, complete with tea and pumpkin scones.  Details are on their website - Bethany Cottages.

    For those of you not au fait with Australia history.  Lady Flo is as close to royalty as Queensland offers. A retired politician and writer, she was a member of the Senate from 1981 to 1993.  But Lady Flo is most fondly remembered as the wife of the longest-serving Premier of Queensland, the late Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen (13/01/1911 – 23/04/2005).

    have you ever tried Lady Flo's Pumpkin Scones?

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Sarah @ SlapdashMama says

      May 23, 2013 at 7:48 am

      Gotta love a pumpkin scone. Without incriminating myself too much, I work somewhere that Joh and Flo used to hang around a lot back in the day. It's a big old building at the end of George Street. You know. Ahem. Anyway legend has it they still use that recipe for the punkin scones at the cafeteria. The legend lives on. Haha.

      Reply
      • cookerandalooker says

        May 23, 2013 at 3:32 pm

        Sarah, she was incredible. She even told us a story about brokering a deal between Joh and some miners by inviting them to meet halfway for a scone!

        Reply
    2. robomum says

      May 23, 2013 at 8:00 am

      I'm not much of an Australian having never tried a pumpkin scone but these sound just perfect! What a treat to meet lady Flo as well!

      Reply
      • cookerandalooker says

        May 23, 2013 at 3:31 pm

        It really was robomum!

        Reply
    3. Rachel says

      May 23, 2013 at 8:59 am

      Wow, when it comes to Queensland culinary icons you really can't go plast Lady Flo! She still looks extremely sprightly for her age - I guess all those year living with Sir Joh must have toughened her up. I don't imagine he would have been an easy man to live with but clearly she was more than a match for him 😉

      Reply
      • cookerandalooker says

        May 23, 2013 at 3:31 pm

        Sprightly is totally the word for it Rachel - when the afternoon finished up, she excused herself to go and put the veggies on - for her great-grand children.

        Reply
    4. katyberry says

      May 23, 2013 at 10:51 am

      Love pumpkin scones! With lots of butter.
      And the best bit, the girls are suspicious of them - the colour or perhaps the mention of a vegetable - which means that Justin and I have them all to ourselves!

      Reply
      • cookerandalooker says

        May 23, 2013 at 3:25 pm

        My kids don't refuse them, but they have been known to lick the good bits off the top and hand them back!

        Reply
    5. Lara at This Charming Mum says

      May 23, 2013 at 1:42 pm

      Oh, that's a lovely photo and story. I worked at Queensland Museum for awhile and one of the collection items in the store room was a recipe for scones handwritten by Lady Flo - surprising how much of a kick different visitors got out of it! No matter how controversial her husband was people still have such a soft spot for the scones!

      Reply
    6. Kim@fallingfacefirst says

      May 23, 2013 at 2:14 pm

      Awww pumpkin scones.. brings back memories of my grandma who used to make the most AMAZING ones for my lunchbox. What I'd like to know is, who was the person who looked at a pumpkin and thought, 'hmm, you look like you want to throw yourself into my scones today'. Crazy bakers. What would we do without them?

      Reply
      • cookerandalooker says

        May 23, 2013 at 3:29 pm

        They probably had kids like mine who swerved their attempts at mashed pumpkin Kim!

        Reply
    7. Lisa says

      May 23, 2013 at 2:23 pm

      Lady Flo! Wow, that is QLD royalty. I will have to try to make these-they look fantastic

      Reply
      • cookerandalooker says

        May 23, 2013 at 3:27 pm

        Totally Queensland royalty and deservedly so!

        Reply
    8. Ness says

      May 23, 2013 at 4:03 pm

      Pumpkin scones don't seem to taste any different than plain scones to me. Maybe Lady Flo's scones would be the exception.

      Reply
    9. Sarah Mac says

      May 24, 2013 at 4:01 am

      Sounds like a lovely weekend - 12000 miles is a little far for me to travel but I may well try these at home!

      Reply
    10. Bec Thexton says

      August 25, 2014 at 4:20 pm

      These look delicious! I haven't had pumpkin scones before and I'd LOVE to try them! I will give these a go, thanks for the recipe Amanda. Bec x

      Reply
    11. thehungrymum says

      August 27, 2014 at 2:11 pm

      Love pumpkins. Love scones #needThese

      Reply
    12. Trish MLDB says

      March 21, 2015 at 8:26 pm

      Such a coincidence I saw Lady Flo's recipe on a Tea towel today -almost bought it but I'm the only pumpkin scone eater.

      Reply
    13. gailbusuttil says

      April 23, 2015 at 4:49 pm

      These scones are beautiful ive made them twice but do you have any advice to why is my mixture so sticky i end up with it everywhere but thankyou a firm favourite

      Reply
      • Amanda Smyth says

        April 23, 2015 at 5:44 pm

        Hi Gail,
        I'm glad you like the scones. I'm no Lady Flo, but not all pumpkin is the same. Butternut pumpkin for example has a higher water content than other varieties. Perhaps excess liquid in the pumpkin mash is making your scone dough sticky?
        Maybe try a different variety of pumpkin or using some cheesecloth to squeeze some of the water out of your pumpkin mash before you add it?
        Thanks for getting in touch,
        Amanda

        Reply
    14. Mary Busuttil says

      August 26, 2022 at 3:07 pm

      Yes I have made this recipe many times, years ago, I remember the in laws and I use to go cleaning there parents home, and I use to bring them with me. My father in law God rest his soul use to wait to see if I bring them. They are lovely, beautiful memories…

      Reply
    15. Annette says

      May 07, 2014 at 11:32 am

      please tell me where I can purchase her book, I grew up knowing, without a doubt, her scones are the best

      Reply
    16. Carla says

      October 09, 2014 at 11:44 am

      http://www.kingaroyvic.com.au/index.php/hikashop-menu-for-module-166/product/14-flo-s-cookbook

      Reply
    17. Amanda, Cooker and a Looker says

      October 09, 2014 at 11:52 am

      Thanks Carla!

      Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen's Cream of Cauliflower Soup | time-worn tucker | Cooker and a Looker says:
      at

      [...] I found a great every-day grace last year, by none other than Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen.  By saying this I am not inferring that we say grace every day in Casa de Cooker - I just mean it’s a better go-to option than “Ta Pa, God bless the cook”.  It’s from the front of her Classic Country Collection cookbook that I bought in Kingaroy after meeting her and feasting on her famous pumpkin scones. [...]

      Reply

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