There are a couple of tricks to a good scone. First of all, the butter and cream should be cold cold cold cold. If at any point, the butter starts to melt into the flour mixture, pop the whole bowl into the freezer for a few minutes. I like to freeze my scones before I bake them as well. Secondly, handling the dough too much makes the scones tough. This is especially tricky when adding extra wet ingredients like pumpkin to the batter. Use a fork to mix the wet ingredients into the dry and stop before everything is completely uniform.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Inactive: | 1 hr 15 min |
| Cook: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 8 scones |
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing the tops
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 3 ounces chopped pecans (3/4 cup)
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, heavy cream, vanilla and egg. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture. Add the pecans and toss to combine. Use a fork to stir in the pumpkin mixture just until you have craggy dough. Do not overmix.
- Tip the dough out onto the prepared baking sheet and pat it into a 6-inch circle. Cut the dough into 8 equal triangles and freeze them for at least 15 minutes. (Once they’re frozen, you could transfer them to an airtight container and keep them frozen for up to a month.)
- Spread the scones out on the baking sheet and brush with a bit of cream. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.
- Mix together the cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and milk with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Spread some of the cream cheese mixture on top of each scone and serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 506 |
| Total Fat | 32 g |
| Saturated Fat | 15 g |
| Carbohydrates | 49 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 22 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Cholesterol | 95 mg |
| Sodium | 320 mg |
Reviews
These were awesome, first attempt at making scones and they came out perfect. Skipped the icing and just lightly sprinkled course sugar on top when the came out of the oven. Making another batch today.
Delicious! I made these for Thanksgiving breakfast, using the brown sugar exchange. I had extra pumpkin left over so made another batch and put those uncooked in the freezer and will be baking them for New Years. Unbelievably, the second batch I forgot to put sugar in them, so will make some maple icing to sweeten them. They should be great as I don’t like scone that are too sweet. I’ll let you know!
These scones are a big hit with everyone and the only minor change I made was substituting brown sugar for regular sugar.
This recipe is easy & delicious. I will make it again & again
Excellent!!! Easy and delicious. My kids loved them.
Absolutely delicious and easy to make, only changes I made was walnuts instead of pecans and coconut milk instead of heavy cream. I will definitely be making these again.
Do not change a thing. The only addition I made was a 1/4 of cardamom in the cream cheese frosting.