Butternut Pumpkin Cheese and Herb Damper

The sweet flavour and orange colour from butternut squash is ideal for Australian dampers. Butternut squash is in Australia accepted as a pumpkin. It has a yellow skin with orange fleshy pulp and it turns increasingly deep orange when ripe. Cook or bake the squash the day before or microwave on high for 5 minutes until soft and then puree. The most important things in making excellent scones and dampers are to use cold ingredients and not to over mix the dough.

Ingredients serve 8

300 g cooked or baked Butternut pumpkin pureed

200 ml cream

1 egg

1 tsp salt

¼ cup freshly and finely chopped sage, marjoram and lemon thyme

¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese (60g)

3 cups self-raising flour (450g)

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C. Place pumpkin puree, cream, egg, salt and herbs in a bowl and whisk until evenly combined. Add cheese, then flour and mix with your hand until dough forms. Shape into a round ball and place on a baking tray dusted with flour.  Cut the damper into 8 pieces with a sharp knife and dust on top with flour. Bake in the oven for approx. 30 minutes.

Note: Use any combination of fresh herbs from your garden, such as parsley, thyme, mint, basil, oregano, dill, coriander and chives.