Today is the first day of fall. As I stepped outside my door, I felt the cool crisp air and saw that the leaves were changing colors. One of the first thoughts that ran through my mind was that it is pumpkin scone season, at least that is how I think of fall. I LOVE PUMPKIN SCONES! They are one of my favorite things to eat and fall always sets off my craving for them. I usually try to limit myself to one scone every few weeks but I fail miserably at this. I could eat pumpkin scones every day if I could but I don’t want to work out that hard to keep them off my hips.
Since it is the season for pumpkin scones, I decided I would make my own. These pumpkin scones are pure goodness, perfect for fall and easy to make. They are moist, tasty and not too sugary on their own. I topped the scones with a Simple Powdered Sugar Frosting (similar to what I made when I was young). The frosting certainly added sweetness, which I favor, but you can choose to not add the frosting. The scones will stand on their own without it.
First I mixed all my dry ingredients; flour, salt, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and ginger. I added the dry ingredients to a food processor along with cubes of butter and pulsed until the mixture was crumbly with no obvious chunks of butter. If you don’t want to use a food processor, just use a two knives or a fork to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. I set this aside.
Then in a separate medium sized bowl, I whisked together the pumpkin puree, half and half and egg. Look at that beautiful color!
I folded the crumbly dry ingredients with the pumpkin puree mixture until I could form the dough into a ball. I used my fingers to press the dough out onto a lightly floured surface until I created a rectangle about 1-inch thick, 4-inches wide and 10-inches long. To cut the dough into triangle shapes, I first sliced the dough lengthwise in half with a greased pizza cutter, then cut each half diagonally creating triangles. I was able to cut about 7 triangles into each half. If you don’t have a pizza cutter a knife will do the trick.
I placed the sliced dough on a big baking sheet lined with parchment paper and baked for 14 minutes. Depending on the oven they may need to bake a couple minutes longer. The scones will be done when the are turning a light brown. I placed the scones on a wire rack to cool and made the Simple Powdered Sugar Frosting. Once the scones were cooled, I was able to frost them. The frosting hardened somewhat in minutes because the scones were cool when frosted. All that was left to do was grab a cup of coffee and enjoy a Pumpkin Scone while watching the leaves fall.
PUMPKIN SCONES
Ingredients
- 2 cups cake flour (or all purpose if that is what you have on hand)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 6 tablespoons butter , cubed
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/4 cup half-and-half
- 1 large egg
SIMPLE POWDERED SUGAR FROSTING
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease. I prefer parchment paper for easy cleanup.
- Add all the dry ingredients (first eight ingredients) to a food processor along with the cubed butter. Pulse until the mixture resembles crumbles and there are no apparent big chunks of butter. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside. If not using a food processor, mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut the cubed butter into the dry ingredient mixture using a knife or fork until crumbly.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half and egg. Fold this mixture into the dry crumbly ingredients until you can form the dough into a ball.
- Transfer the ball of dough to a lightly floured surface. With your fingers, pat the dough into a 1-inch thick, 4-inch wide and 10-inch long rectangle. Use a pizza wheel or knife to cut the triangle in half lengthwise. Then cut each half diagonally into about 7 triangles. Place the triangles onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes or until the scones begin to turn a light brown. Place the scones on a wire rack to cool.
- Prepare the frosting while the scones are cooling by mixing all the ingredients until smooth. If you do not like vanilla it’s okay to leave it out of this recipe.
- When the scones are cooled, frost each scone using a spatula. Give the frosting a few minutes to set before digging in.