July 12, 2023
Pumpkin Scones
Pumpkin Scones
Ahhh flaky, beautifully baked scones. Perfect for breakfast or dessert. Is there a more perfect concoction? Well, we’ll focus on these autumnal favorites of crunchy outside, flaky inside and delightful warming spices throughout.In addition to being delicious, scones are also extremely versatile and unbelievably quick to pull together. One or two bowls, a little mixing, a tad of kneading, patting into place, cutting, and then into the oven. I wasn’t always a huge fan of scones because they seemed dry and dense. Then while working in Scotland and London in a few restaurants as well as having a flatmate who made scones quite often, I grew to really enjoy these flaky, moist and ever so versitle delights! Several years passed after returning to the States, I was asked to make over 100 scones for a Mother-Daughter Tea. So, I baked several batches of two-bite Lemon Blueberry Scones! It wasn’t the moms I was concerned about approving the scones, it was the teen age daughters’ stamp of approval I held my breath for. Approved! They loved them. So, these are teen-age approved scones! Cheers❣️BEFORE YOU BEGINCold Ingredients are Key!The best tender, flaky scones rely on cold butter (this is also key when making pie crust, if y. It’s important that you don’t overwork this dough as you don’t want to melt the butter; cold butter pieces in our scone dough are key to flaky scones. Make sure your cream is also cold when you add it to help keep that butter as cold as possible.Don’t Over-work Your Scone Dough!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter or frozen cut into 16 pieces
- 1/4 cup heavy cream (Additional for brushing)
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree, blotted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- coarse sugar (for sprinkling)
GLAZE
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tsp milk
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
PREPARATION
- Gather ingredient. Adjust oven racks to middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper. Or Combine flour, sugars, baking powder, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and salt in the canister of a food processor. Pulse briefly until ingredients are well combined. Sprinkle butter pieces over the top of your flour mixture and pulse until mixture resembles fine crumbs.Note — If Using Hands: Use a grater to grate very cold butter over your dry ingredients. Then, use a pastry cutter or two forks to cut the butter into your dry ingredients until your mixture resembles coarse crumbs. The grater trick worked for me for a long time before I switched over to using my food processor.NOTES: Unless you want scones that are tough and dense, do not over handle your dough! I recommend using a food processor. The more you handle the dough the warmer it will become and remember, we want our scone dough to be as cold as possible! If you feel that you’ve handled your pumpkin scone dough too much and made it too warm, after you’ve cut it into wedges and placed them on your baking sheet, place the pan in the fridge or freezer for at least ten minutes before baking.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together heavy cream, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour pumpkin-cream mixture over flour-butter mixture in your food processor, and pulse until mixture begins to clump together.
- Carefully turn pumpkin scone dough out onto lightly floured surface. Fold the dough in half over itself and use your hands to gently flatten layers together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again, repeating this step 5 times and taking care to not overwork the dough. Use your hands to form into a disk about 6” wide.
- Using a large knife, cut into 8 wedges pressing the knife straight down (don't saw dough with your knife! Just press straight down, this will help your scones to bake up straight).
- Place scones at least 2" apart on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Brush each scone with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Transfer to a 375F oven and bake for 13-17 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack. Allow scones to cool for at least 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare vanilla glaze.
VANILLA GLAZE
- To prepare glaze, in a small bowl whisk together sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Drizzle over cooled scones and allow vanilla glaze to set before serving. Or enjoy while scones and glaze are still warm.
Notes
Scones taste best fresh but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. They will taste best when warmed again before serving.
Serve these scones plain, with whipped cream, Devonshire cream, honey butter or fruit preserves, or mix in fresh fruit or a variety of other options for a sweet or savory scone you’ll want to enjoy again and again.
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