Pumpkin Scones

It is officially fall.  I know this because not only the weather, but Starbucks has told me!  The Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins, Pumpkin Spice Latte's and Pumpkin Scones are out.... which means I try making them myself.

This past weekend was the monthly Bake Sale at church.  I got up early on Sunday morning to start making my Pumpkin Scones.  These scones are delish!  I even think they are better than Starbucks. (At least they seem fresher than the ones at the store.)  I was excited to take them to church and I never would have admitted it out loud before, but I was sure they'd be a huge hit.

Pride comes before the fall.

Apparently I should NEVER bake at 7am.  I took all of the ingredients out of the cupboard but inevitably forgot to add some very important ones.  Yes, salt and baking powder are very important for scones.  Of course, I didn't realize that I had done this until I took them out of the oven 15 minutes later and they had not risen even the smallest amount and were hard as a rock.

They can't be that bad, I tell myself.  So I taste one.  YUCK.  They were terrible.  We ended up taking Dunkin' Donuts to the Church Bake Sale.  I'm still a little ashamed, but Grant says I can give him the credit for the donuts.  What a good husband.

I redeemed the recipe for myself later that day by making the scones for a party that evening.  Without much further ado... here is the recipe for Pumpkin Scones.  (Just make sure you add ALL the ingredients.)

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
7 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (homemade or canned)
3 tablespoons half and half
1 large egg
6 tablespoons cold butter

Plain Icing:
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk or half and half

Spiced Icing:
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk or half and half
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of ground cloves

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger in a large bowl.
3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and eggs.
4. Cut butter into cubes and add it to the dry ingredients.  Use a pastry knife or fork to combine butter with dry ingredients.  You want it to look like sand without any large chunks of butter visible.  You can also use a food processor (which I did) because it is so quick.
5. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, then form the dough into a ball.  Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into a 1-inch thick rectangle that is about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide.  Use a large knife or pizza cutter to slice the dough.  I like to make them much smaller than Starbucks (so you can have two).
6. Bake 14-16 minutes on a baking sheet.  You can oil it, line it with parchment paper OR if you have non-stick cookie sheets like these (which are worth every penny) you don't need to line or grease the pan.
7. While scones cool, mid the plain icing in a bowl.  I found a whisk to be just fine, but you can use a mixer if you prefer.  When the scones are cool, drizzle or paint a coating of glaze over the top of each scone.  I put the scones on a cooling rack on top of wax paper or plastic wrap to let the excess run over.  (See photo below) And there will be excess!
8. As the icing firms up, prepare the spiced icing in the same manner as the plain icing.  Drizzle on top.  I like to do it just like Starbucks does in a criss cross pattern.  I just just a spoon and hold it above the scones as the icing drizzles over, but you can use a squeeze bottle or something else too.

Makes 6 Starbucks-size scones or 12 regular-size scones.

Enjoy!