Easy and foolproof recipe for soft, buttery Classic Pumpkin Scones. Can be made ahead of time, and stored in the freezer for later. They bake perfectly from frozen too. I also show how to make different flavor variations, and provide lots of tips to ensure perfect results. EASY - This recipe is great for novice bakers. Requires inactive chilling time. This recipe makes 12 small scones, or 9 medium scones, or 8 large scones (wedges).US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Common Measurement Conversions. Please measure dry ingredients using the spooned and leveled method. Weight measurements are recommended for accurate results as this recipe has been created with weight measurements for consistent results.You can access metric weight measurements using the toggle button below the ingredients list.
4ozunsalted butter8 tbsp - chilled and cut into ½ inch cubes
¾cuppumpkin pureechilled
¾cuphalf and halfchilled
Extra half and halfto brush the tops of scones
Raw sugar to sprinkle on top
Brown Butter Glaze
3 - 4tbspunsalted butter
4ozconfectioner’s sugar1 cup
Pinchof salt
3 - 4tbspcream
Instructions
Pumpkin scones
Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Place the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk to combine.
14 oz AP flour, 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground nutmeg, ¼ tsp ground cloves, ½ tsp ground ginger, 4 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, ¼ cup white sugar
Add the cubed and chilled unsalted butter and toss to coat the butter pieces in flour.
4 oz unsalted butter
Next, either cut the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter, or rub the butter into the flour. There should be some chickpea-sized pieces of butter coated in flour in the mix, and some coarse breadcrumb-sized pieces.
In a separate bowl, mix the pumpkin puree and half and half together until smooth. Add half of the liquid into the flour-butter mix, and use a fork to mix the liquid into the flour. There will be big clumps of wet dough.
¾ cup pumpkin puree, ¾ cup half and half
Add the rest of the pumpkin mixture and stir it into the flour using a fork. When all the pumpkin mixture has been stirred in, there'll be a lot of wet clumps of dough. But there also may be some dry spots of flour too.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured parchment paper. Bring the dough pieces together to form a rough dough in the shape of a large circle or rectangle.
Use the parchment paper to help fold the dough over in half. Repeat again to fold the dough into quarters.
Then use the parchment paper to gently pat down the dough into a square or rectangle. Fold over in half again.
Cutting the scones (see recipe notes for scone wedges or squares)
Lightly flour the dough, and flatten it out into a 6 x 9 inch rectangle.
Dip a sharp cookie cutter (2.5 - 3 in in diameter) in flour and cut out 6 scones from the dough. Clean and flour the cutter every time you cut out scones, so that you make nice and clean cuts. (To cut out scones, press the cookie cutter straight down into the dough without any twisting motion.)
Place cut scones on the parchment paper-lined baking tray.
Gather the dough scraps together, and gently pat it to form a dough that sticks together. Fold the dough over in half, and pat it again to a 6 x 4 - 5 inch rectangle. Cut out 3 scones from this, and place the scones on the parchment paper-lined baking tray.
Again, gather and pat the dough as before, then fold it over, and pat it to form a dough large enough to cut 2 more scones. Repeat again with the remaining dough scraps to cut one more scone. You should end up with a total of 12 scones.
Cover the baking tray with plastic wrap and freeze or refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. You can keep the scones in fridge overnight, OR keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months (see recipe notes on how to store them).
While the scones are chilling in the fridge / freezer, preheat oven to 400°F / 200°C.
Brush the tops of the scones with milk. You can also sprinkle the tops with raw sugar if you like.
Extra half and half, Raw sugar to sprinkle on top
Once the oven is preheated, remove the scones from the fridge/freezer, and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown in color (20 minutes if baking from frozen).
Brush baked scones immediately with the brown butter glaze to let the glaze melt into the scones. OR let the scones cool down slightly first, if you'd like a glaze topping that doesn’t melt.
Brown butter glaze
Place the butter and salt in a saucepan. Heat to melt the butter, and then continue cooking the butter while stirring, until the milk solids turn dark golden in color. Remove from the heat immediately and pour the butter into a bowl along with the milk solids. Stir in the salt to dissolve, and let it cool down.
3 - 4 tbsp unsalted butter, Pinch of salt
Place the confectioner’s sugar in a bowl and add 3 tbsp of the browned butter (with the milk solids) and whisk it into the confectioner’s sugar.
4 oz confectioner’s sugar
When you have a smooth paste, add another 3 tbsp of cream to form a thick glaze. Add another tbsp of cream to thin out the glaze if you like, or add more confectioner’s sugar to make it thicker.
3 - 4 tbsp cream
Set aside until needed.
Notes
Note about sugar
This pumpkin scone by itself is not very sweet. It's a lightly sweetened scone. This is because the glaze adds enough sweetness to the scone when eaten together. The scone without the glaze can also be eaten with soup or cheese, as a savory snack!If you want to make a sweet pumpkin scone without the glaze, increase the sugar up to 50 g / ¼ cup more. You may need to adjust the amount of liquid added slightly.
Other ways to cut pumpkin scones, and baking time adjustments
Wedge scones - After folding the dough to form a layered dough, shape it into a circle that's about 7 inches in width. Cut the circle into 8 wedges to get 8 large scones. Baking time will be about 20 - 25 minutes in a 400°F oven. Turn off the oven and leave the scones in there for a further 5 - 10 minutes before removing. Square scones - Instead of a circle, shape the dough into a 7 inch square. Cut the square to get 12 small scones, or 9 medium scones. Baking time will still be similar, maybe a few minutes extra.
Pumpkin scone variations
Chocolate chip pumpkin scones - Add 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chip cookies, or 1/2 cup of finely chopped chocolate (about 1/2 cm pieces) to the flour mixture before you add the pumpkin/dairy mix. Pumpkin spice latte scones - Dissolve 2 tsp instant coffee granules in the dairy, before stirring in the pumpkin puree. The scones will be a little less sweet because of the coffee, so you could increase the sugar content. You can also add 1 - 2 tsp of instant coffee to the glaze to add more coffee flavor as well. Pecan pumpkin scones - Use brown sugar instead of white sugar, and add 3/4 cup of chopped pecans to the flour mixture before adding the pumpkin/dairy mix. Pumpkin feta scones - Reduce the sugar to 1 tbsp. Add 1 1/2 tsp chopped thyme (fresh), and gently stir in 4 oz of feta, cubed into 1/2 inch pieces, before adding the pumpkin/dairy mix. Brush the freshly baked scones with salted brown butter.