Tag Archives: scone

pumpkin scones

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DSC_0698 pumpkin scone

Because it’s the weekend and weekends are for staying in your PJs for as long as humanly possible.

And because it’s winter and therefore still considered an acceptable time of the year to eat pumpkin-flavored things.

And because apparently I think everything needs to be drizzled with icing.

Everything.

And because, if you haven’t noticed, Starbuck’s fancy new bakery line wants nothing to do with their classic pumpkin spice scones that I anxiously await every year, so I was likely to start getting the shakes if I didn’t somehow consume a pumpkin scone before the end of winter. 

These scones are smaller than the Starbucks variety, meaning you won’t want to run off of a bridge (as badly) once you realize you’ve inhaled the whole thing (or two of them).  They’re also taller (and craggy-er) than the Starbucks scone, which I find to be more enjoyable, personally.

DSC_0690 pumpkin scone

And while I considered using royal icing on them (I’m half-convinced that’s what is on theirs, or some sort of concoction that can only be made with high fructose corn syrups and/or various types of hydrogenated vegetable oils), royal icing is a bit much for the morning, wouldn’t you agree?

So I did the usual mix some powdered sugar with a little bit of milk and vanilla and drizzled it on top.  Then I thought I should also do a version with some pumpkin spice mixed in, and drizzled that on top, because PUMPKIN!

To review: these are not Starbuck’s pumpkin scones.  But they ARE pumpkin scones.  And they are delicious.

I made one batch of these (for me, that was about 12 scones) and then froze them to bake at my leisure.  Now I can preheat the oven while I make my coffee, pop in a scone, and have a scone breakfast ready in no time flat.  I  don’t even have to think about it.  Which is convenient for any of you who are planning to start a diet in January, you can bake one or two this weekend, and freeze the rest to reward your post-diet self! 😉

Print
pumpkin scones

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Yield: 12 scones

Ingredients

    For the scones
  • 2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold butter
  • 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
  • 2 large eggs
  • 11/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • For baking
  • 2 Tablespoons milk
  • Your favorite glaze* or cinnamon-sugar (if desired)

Instructions

    Make the scones
  1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and spice. Work in the butter until coarse crumbles form (I do this by grating the butter into the mixture, then using my hands or a pastry cutter to cut the butter in). A pastry-cutter is recommended, as you want the butter to stay as cold as possible.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla until smooth. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until moistened.
  3. Scrape dough onto a floured surface and divide the dough in half. Pat each half into a circle about 5- to 6-inches in diameter and about 3/4-inch thick.
  4. Transfer the dough circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and cut each circle into 6 wedges. Cover and place in the freezer 1 hour.*
    5. To bake the scones
  5. Preheat oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Place wedges onto parchment and brush with milk and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar (if using).
  6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and the side of the scone looks dry and baked.
  7. Remove scones from oven and drizzle with glaze (if desired) or enjoy as-is.

Notes

* Once frozen, you may transfer the scones to an airtight freezer-safe bag for storage. Bake from frozen for same amount of time.

* Alternatively, you could probably bake these without freezing (for when you're short on time), but I haven't tried. I would estimate they would take about 15 minutes if you don't freeze them (but you might want to start checking around 10). If baking fresh, they may not raise as high as these did.

* For the glaze, I used 1/2 cup of powdered sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Stir until your desired consistency is reached, adding more powdered sugar to thicken or more milk to thin.

* For a pumpkin-spice glaze, add 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to your powdered sugar before adding the milk and vanilla. Prepare the same way as the regular glaze

https://wee-eats.com/2014/01/04/pumpkin-scones/

pumpkin scone pin

 

mini vanilla bean scones

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vanilla scone 6534

So, you may have noticed (or may  not have noticed, if you’re still searching for a new rss reader) that there was no Thursday Things yesterday.  I do apologize, I got back from vacation last week, but apparently not back from my “blog vacation” which lasted an entire week longer than the rest of my vacation.  You see, there’s this funny thing about going on vacation where I somehow come home to 234923842943 more things to do than there were before I left?

I am still doing laundry from vacation.   I thought I washed everything before we left but there is always more to do.  So much more…  It.  Never.  Stops.

Ever.

In fact, I’m beginning to think that there’s a portal in the back of our washing machine that just throws the clothes back into the hamper.  Or Sophie is pulling them off of the hanger and just throwing them back into the hamper while I sleep.

sophie in the sheets

I’m not sure, but there is clearly some sort of mischief going on here.  After four days of doing laundry and cleaning I finally gave up and decided just to try again this weekend.

I had to clear my head, think about other things… like how we can get back to vacation land.  Or, since that’s not really the most attainable option, I decided to dream about my future career in a little bakery in a sea-side town like La Jolla, about having little elves to do all my cleaning and laundry, and about butter.

Lots and lots of butter.

dsc_6512

Whenever you are feeling down, the cure is butter.  When you’re sad?  Butter.

Like 9 times out of 10 the answer is butter.

Except when you step on the scale after your week-long vacation of over-indulgence…  Nope, even then, when you realize that you have to return to real life and then you fall into a post-vacation depression, the answer is still butter.

I’ll just disguise this butter as breakfast, and put this glaze on top.  I won’t even know it’s there.

dsc_6514

Yes, that should do just fine.

Plus, think of all the calories you will burn just working the dough, right?  Surely, that counts for something.

And we will make them “mini” because then they aren’t nearly as bad for you.  Mini makes it more cute and less bad for you.  Yup, sounds great.  A delightful breakfast, snack, or dessert for any day.

You know it’s a good sign when your breakfast can moonlight as dessert.

Oh, and we’ll talk more about the vacation later… Thursday, perhaps?  😉

Mini Vanilla Bean Scones

Makes: 12 mini scones, or 24 super mini (1-bite) scones

Printable Recipe

For the scones:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour

  • 2/3 cups Sugar

  • 5 teaspoons baking powder

  • 1/4 teaspoon Salt

  • 2 sticks (1/2 Pound) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled

  • 1 large egg

  • 3/4 cup heavy cream

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste*

For the glaze

  • 5 cups powdered sugar, sifted

  • 1/2 cup milk

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste*

  • pinch (like 1/8 teaspoon) salt

Make the scones:

Preheat oven to 350˚F  degrees.  Stir 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste into 3/4 cup heavy cream and set aside.

In your food processor, pulse flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Once mixed, add cubed cold butter and pulse with flour mixture until the mixture resembles crumbs.*

*If you prefer to do this by hand, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together, then cut in the cubed butter with a pastry cutter or two knives until it resembles crumbs.

Mix vanilla cream with egg, then combine with flour mixture; stir (or pulse, if using processor) gently just until it comes together.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and gently pat it into the shape of a rectangle. (Mixture will be pretty crumbly.)  Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick.

Use a knife to tidy the edges to make a pretty rectangle, then cut the rectangle into 12 equal-sized rectangles. Next, cut each rectangle in half diagonally, to form two triangles.

Carefully transfer triangles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 18 minutes, removing from the oven just before they start to turn golden. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze:

Combine 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste with 1/2 cup milk, set aside for about 5 mintues.

In a medium bowl, put 3 cups of powdered sugar and whisk in the milk until thoroughly combined. Taste and add more powdered sugar to taste.  If the mixture thickens up too much on you, add milk as necessary 1 tablespoon at a time.

Carefully dip each cooled scone in the glaze, and place on a wire rack over a foil-lined baking sheet (to catch the drippies).  Alternatively you could drizzle the glaze in a pretty design, whatever you prefer.

Allow the glaze to set completely, about an hour. Scones will keep several days in an airtight container at room temperature, if glazed.

You can make them ahead by freezing the cooled (unglazed) scones, defrost at room temperature for several hours (depending on ambient temperature) and glaze once defrosted.

[ Adapted from The Pioneer Woman ]