Baking and Books

Pumpkin Scones with Autumn Spiced Glaze

37 CommentsMonday • October 19, 2009 • by Ari

I’ve been a little obsessed with pumpkin lately, making things like pumpkin muffins, pumpkin spice lattes (decaf, of course) and pumpkin spiced pancakes whenever I have a free moment. My husband jokes it’s like I did a search in the Baking and Books archive for the keyword “pumpkin” and then just made everything that came up in the results… and he’d be right if I’d made the vegan pumpkin currant cookies I posted back in 2007. But I didn’t. So he’s not.

One of the newest recipes to make an appearance in my kitchen is for Pumpkin Scones with Autumn Spiced Glaze and if you’re a pumpkin-lover like me this is one bit of goodness that you won’t want to miss. Flavored with aromatic cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, cloves and ginger, these scones will fill your home with an irresistible fragrance. I drizzled them with spiced sugar glaze when they were still warm too, which may have been slightly sinful… but it was worth it.

It’s only Monday but already it’s been a rough week so I might have to make another batch of these scones tonight in order to coax me through the mornings. We were hit with a number of unexpected expenses this week, the most recent one being that our health insurance is changing its policies so that we’ll be paying about thirteen times as much for our baby to be born in a hospital. Thirteen times! Can you believe that? Suddenly I’m much more interested in health care reform and NO I refuse to have the baby at home, as my husband “jokingly” suggested. Men.

Pumpkin scones, here I come…

p.s. Check out all the pumpkin facts & lore in this pumpkin pancakes post!

Pumpkin Scones with Autumn Spiced Glaze
Slightly adapted from this Recipezaar recipe

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground all spice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 7 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 large egg

For the spiced glaze:

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• A pinch of all spice
• A pinch ginger
• A pinch ground cloves

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.

With your hands, mix the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. (You can also use a food processor with a pastry attachment, but that’s not as much fun.)

In a medium bowl combine the pumpkin, sugar, cream and egg with a whisk. Fold into the dry ingredients and mix with a large spoon until the dry bits at the bottom of the bowl have been incorporated.

With your hands, pat the mix into a ball and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Continue to shape into a ball, then gently press down and out, forming the dough into a flattened circle about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick. If the edges of the circle start to crack just place the palm of your hand against the edge and gently press the dough back in.

Dust a large, sharp knife with flour and cut the dough into six triangles. Slide the knife under each triangle to help you lift and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 14 – 16 minutes, or until the scones begin to turn light brown in color. Place on a rack to cool.

While the scones are cooling, mix the confectioners sugar, spices and milk together in a small bowl. Drizzle over the scones while they are still warm. I glazed the scones twice. I used half during my first pass, then let the glaze set on the scones for a few minutes before finishing them off with the rest of the glaze.