Hello everyone,

You may or may not know it yet, but pumpkin scones are your favourite food.

Pretty much every person who has tried one of these has freaked out at their deliciousness. Sweet but not too sweet, with the thick and flaky but chewy scone texture, accented with the pumpkin spice combination of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves, these scones are just amazing. The cookie monster really picked the wrong tasty treat to obsess about.

THEY ARE SO GOOD. YOU MUST MAKE THEM! If you don’t, you are missing out on one of life’s fundamental joyous experiences, depriving your heart and soul of this simple happiness. You don’t want that, do you?

The story behind this recipe involves my mom’s friend Nellie. Nellie had been a long time lover of Starbuck’s pumpkin scones, and she found a recipe trying to replicate them online. I think the idea was that there was some kind of contest to replicate the Starbuck’s pumpkin scones, and they picked a winner.  I think the judges failed at picking a winner, because these scones don’t replicate the Starbuck’s version, they beat them by a mile!

A few years back, Nellie and I decided we wanted to try this pumpkin scone recipe. I know how much John likes all things pumpkin spiced so I thought this would be something he would enjoy. Nellie and I were quite ambitious this first time around as we decided to use fresh roasted pumpkin instead of the canned pumpkin. “Fresh roasted pumpkin” you say? “Sounds like a lovely idea” you say?

You are wrong. This was a BAD idea.

Turns out that making roasted pumpkin puree is a lot of work. We started by scooping all the guts out, and cutting it into big chunks. We then roasted batch after batch of pumpkin. After we found that it took way too long and the pumpkin wasn’t even fully roasted, we decided to microwave it to speed things up, just to get the pumpkin soft enough to use. After this, we had to cut all of the flesh off, put it in a food processor and then squeeze excess moisture through a cheesecloth. Pumpkins are big, so this took a lot of time, and the mess was incredible! I think Nellie would agree with how arduous this task was, and that this will not be attempted again.

Despite all the headaches caused by the aforementioned undertaking, I have to admit that the fresh roasted pumpkin puree was delicious. We made the scones and I later made a pumpkin soup that turned out quite nice.

So if you read my earlier buttercup squash post, you will know that I used buttercup squash in a pie. If you want fresh pumpkin puree in a dessert, my recommendation to you would be to substitute buttercup squash. Roast and mash, as simple as that!

Now time for the scones:

The original recipe made about 6 – 9 scones, depending on how big you make them. This is not enough scones. When you make these babies, you are going to be very popular with all the of the members of the opposite sex, and the envy of all of your own gender, so you are going to want a nice haul to share with everyone. I tripled this recipe, and this one makes about 24, give or take based on the size.

The recipe is pretty straightforward as baking goes.

TIPS

–          Once you have made the batter, break it into about 3 pieces. Grab a piece of dough and mold it into a large
rectangle a few inches thick. With a knife, cut the rectangle into multiple triangles. When you are cutting the triangles, keep in mind the dough will expand in the oven, so keep them small for proper portion control. I prefer multiple little scones to a few giants.
–          While they are baking, make your vanilla and spiced glazes.

–          Once the scones have cooled somewhat, apply the glaze. Brush the vanilla glaze on first, and drizzle the spiced glaze on second, in whatever pretty zig-zag squiggly pattern you like.
–          Let them sit out so the glaze hardens. You can let them sit overnight, and they are almost better the next day!

–          These scones freeze wonderfully

Ingredient I can’t live without:

PUMPKIN
An essential fall ingredient for the pumpkin variety of pie, scones, tiramisu, mousse, soup – yes, I have made all of these with pumpkin! I have even had stew baked right inside the pumpkin.

Try substituting buttercup squash for the pumpkin. You will not regret this decision.
Spice of the week:

THE CLASSIC PUMPKIN BLEND: CINNAMON, GINGER, NUTMEG and CLOVES
This wonderful spice blend goes with all things pumpkin. As you might have guessed, I have added them to pumpkin pie, pumpkin scones, pumpkin tiramisu, pumpkin mousse and pumpkin soup! And of course, we all love the seasonal pumpkin spice latte!

So in the end, I was right – John loved these and looks forward to them every time I make them. Special thanks to Nellie for finding this recipe and sharing the experience of making them with me!

So enjoy your new favourite food! These pumpkin scones are a wonderful fall treat that I’m sure you will be making year after year!

Bon appetit,

Julie

Click here to view prinatble Word version of recipe:
Pumpkin Scones

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Pumpkin Scones

Makes 2 dozen scones

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups flour
1 and ¼ cup sugar
3 tbsp baking powder
1 and ½ tsp salt
1 and ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 and ½ tsp ground nutmeg
¾ tsp ground cloves
¾ tsp ground ginger

1-14 oz can pumpkin or 1 and ½ cup squash puree
½ cup and 1 tbsp half and half cream
3 large eggs
1 cup + 2 tbsp butter

Vanilla Glaze

1 cup icing sugar
3 tbsp milk
¼ tsp vanilla

Spiced Glaze:

1 cup icing sugar
¼ cup milk
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Pinch of ginger
Pinch of cloves

DIRECTIONS:

– Preheat oven to 425°F.
– Lightly grease or cover with parchment paper baking sheet.

.
Scones:

– Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices in a large bowl.
– In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half and egg.
– Using a pastry cutter or 2 knives cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles cornmeal .
– Add the pumpkin mixture into dry ingredients and mix.
– Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until dry crumbs stick together.
– Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it a long strip. Using a knife, cut triangles out of the strip of dough. Do this a few times with 2 or 3 pieces of dough.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes on greased baking sheet. Make glazes while scones are baking.

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Glazes:

Make your two different glazes, combine glaze ingredients and mix with electric mixer.

Once scones have cooled a little, use a brush to cover scones in vanilla glaze. Then, us a spoon to drip spiced glaze on in a zig-zag pattern.

Let sit until glaze solidifies before packing up.

Scones freeze wonderfully.