Pumpkin-Spiced Scones
And just like that, it’s fall. The funny thing about living in California is that fall is usually a mixed bag. Sure, the nights and mornings are now refreshingly crisp, but honestly half the time that fades away in the afternoon and you’re greeted with a 90° day fit for summer. I love living here so much, but sometimes I long for cold days on which to wrap myself up in comfy sweaters. I can still enjoy the seasonal cuisine at least, and that’s where these scones come in.
Baking isn’t too high on my list right now since it’s been so hot, but I’ve learned to deal with the heat because these scones are that good. There’s only a few ingredients, and the result is a batch of flaky, breakfast-appropriate goodness that I swear everyone will love. Since it’s fall, it seemed obvious that I should be making some pumpkin-based treats, and these seemed perfectly fit for the beloved seasonal spice.
I was originally going to make some fresh pumpkin puree, but I didn’t really want to run my oven on for any longer than I needed to. Using canned pumpkin was an easy solution to this problem, and these scones couldn’t have turned out better. One thing I did want to mention is that I tried a few different brands of pumpkin puree, and some contained way more liquid than others. If possible, I highly recommend libby’s pumpkin puree, but if you can’t get your hands on that, just make sure to pat as much liquid out of the puree before using it. After that just follow the recipe below and enjoy!
Thanks to Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post! As always, all opinions are my own.
Pumpkin-Spiced Scones
2 cups all purpose flour
¼ cup dark sugar, packed
2 ¾ tsp baking powder
1 ¼ tsp pumpkin spice
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp kosher salt
7 tbs unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
¼ cup heavy cream
½ cup minus 1 tbs (106 g) pumpkin puree, blotted
1 tsp vanilla extract
chopped pecans, optional garnish
Maple Glaze
⅔ cup plus 3 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tbs maple syrup
2-3 tsp whole milk.
Method
Heat oven to 425F. Line a large baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper and set aside.
To a large bowl add the flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt, and whisk to combine.
In a medium bowl add the heavy cream, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract, and mix until smooth, set aside.
Add the cubed butter to the bowl with the flour mixture and with your fingers rub the butter into the mixture until the butter forms into pea-sized clumps (you could use a pastry cutter).
Add pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and mix until you form a shaggy dough. Dump dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead together into a disc roughly 7 inches wide.
Cut into 8 equal sized pieces and place onto prepared baking sheet.Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through. Cool for a minute or two in the pan then transfer to cooling rack. Once cooled, start making the glaze.
To make the glaze, mix powdered sugar and milk together until smooth. Drizzle over scones, top with chopped pecans, and enjoy. Just a quick note, the glaze yields just enough to fully cover all 8 scones, so try to be judicious when it comes to this part.