Pumpkin Scones

Oh, yes.  Pumpkin Everything 2010 continues.  On our search for the next recipe in which to use our fresh pumpkin puree, we stumbled upon a fellow pumpkin obsessive (“obsessive” is also a noun, it turns out) on this food blog.  Christina’s delicious looking pumpkin scones with double glaze caught our attention right away, and without a second thought we were off to the kitchen.

Pumpkin Scones (from sweetpeaskitchen – check it out – great recipes, beautiful photos)

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar (we used turbinado)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (we used our fresh pumpkin puree)
• 3 tablespoons half-and-half
• 1 large egg

Powdered Sugar Glaze (same credit)

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

Spiced Glaze (same credit)

• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Pinch of ground ginger
• Pinch of ground cloves

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, half-and-half, and egg.  Set aside.

Sift together  into a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.  Add the cubed butter on top.

Now, either using a pastry blender or the paddle attachment of your stand mixer on medium speed, mix the butter and dry ingredients until your reach the consistency of coarse cornmeal (pieces of butter should be no larger than a small pea).  Alternatively, you could probably do this step in your food processor, much like you would do for making pie crust.

Now gradually fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  We used a spatula for this step, but had to use our hands in the end to get that last bit of flour to incorporate into a well formed dough ball.  As you can see above, the dough is pretty ragged, but that’s just fine.  The important thing is to make sure all the dry ingredients have been moistened well.

On a well-floured surface, flatten and form the dough into a 12″ x 4″ x 1″ thick rectangle.

Now, we debated over whether or not we did this step correctly (Christina??), but regardless the end results were just fine.  Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, divide the rectangle into three equal pieces, then slice each piece into four triangular pieces by making an “X” through them (we actually did one more cut that is not shown in the picture above, right down the center of the rectangle in the 12″ direction).

Place the triangle of dough on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for just 15 minutes, or until light brown.  Remove to a cooling rack and let cool before icing.

Make up the powdered sugar glaze by mixing the milk and sugar until smooth, then paint the tops of the scones with the glaze using a pastry brush.

While the first glaze is drying (10 minutes or so), make up the spiced glaze by combining all ingredients and mixing until smooth.  Drizzle onto the scones using your favorite drizzling method (we put the glaze in a small ziplock bag and snip off the corner, as shown above).

You should wait about an hour for the glaze to dry before serving, but we were only serving ourselves, so we waited about . . . hmmm . . . 2 minutes.

And wow.  You might want to call some friends over if you make these because otherwise you’ll end up eating way too many yourself.

These scones are not that all-too-common dry, uninteresting variety.  They are moist and springy, the pumpkin flavor plays subtly with the Fall spices, and the sweetness is just right.  In fact, if you eat the scone pre-glaze, it isn’t sweet enough; but with the glaze, the flavors all come together perfectly to make every bite equally satisfying.

Thanks for the recipe, Christina!