The weather has started to cool off and the leaves are starting to change colour where I live. Time to crack open a can of pumpkin puree!
To be honest, I’m more of a spring/summer person than a fall/winter person. I get cold easily and spend most of the fall and winter seasons bundling up in multiple layers to ward off the cold. Meanwhile, my husband and daughter walk around in t-shirts all winter! So, to warm me up as the weather starts to cool down, I turn to baking. I love apple flavoured treats and from mid-September to mid-October, I bake a few pumpkin treats as well. No pumpkin for me after Canadian Thanksgiving though. For whatever reason, I only enjoy this flavour at this time a year.
I didn’t want to make a pumpkin pie yet, so I decided to try something new: pumpkin scones. I took the same base recipe that I used for both my Blueberry Scones and Raspberry-Lime Scones and tried tweaking it to carry a pumpkin-spice flavour. It was easy to do!
The original recipe uses a half cup of sour cream or yogurt, so I swapped that out for pumpkin puree. To make up for the loss of acidity with no sour cream, I used buttermilk instead of whole milk. Then I added cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves for a pumpkin pie flavour. Instead of sprinkling the scones with sugar before baking, I decided to make a spiced cream cheese glaze to put on the scones when they were done. The glaze is a mix of cream cheese, icing sugar and milk, to which I added the same spices as I did in the scones, but in a smaller amount so that they weren’t overpowering.
They turned out very well! The pumpkin pie spices were present but not overwhelming and the cream cheese glaze provided a bright contrast to the rich pumpkin flavour.
They only had big cans of pumpkin at the grocery store, so I have some leftover. Looks like there will be a few more pumpkin recipes on the horizon!
Pumpkins Scones with a Spiced Cream Cheese Glaze
With the addition of some pumpkin and a mix of pumpkin pie spices, these scones are a celebration of fall flavours. The spiced cream cheese glaze on the top brightens up the rich pumpkin flavour.
Ingredients
-
For the Scones
- For the Cream Cheese Glaze
Instructions
-
For the Scones
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Grate butter on the large holes of a box grater. Place grated butter in a bowl in the freezer until needed.
- Whisk buttermilk, pumpkin puree and vanilla in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until needed.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Add the frozen grated butter and toss with your fingers until the butter is thoroughly coated.
- Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and fold with a rubber spatula until just combined. Transfer the dough to a liberally floured counter and dust the surface of the dough with flour. With floured hands, knead the dough 6-8 times until it just holds together in a ragged ball.
- Roll the dough into an approximate 12-inch/30 cm square. Fold the dough into thirds like a business letter, using a bench scraper or metal spatula to lift the dough if it sticks to the counter. Lift the short ends of the dough and fold into thirds again to form an approximate 4-inch/7.5 cm square. Transfer the dough to a plate and chill in the freezer for 5 minutes.
- Transfer the dough back onto the floured counter and roll into an approximate 12-inch square again. Sprinkle the raisins or nuts evenly over the surface of the dough, if using. Lightly press them raisins into the dough.
- Roll the dough into a tight cylinder, pressing to form a log. Arrange the log seam-side down and press into a 12 by 4-inch rectangle. Cut into 4 equal rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally in half into 2 triangles each. Transfer the scones to the prepared baking sheet. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 425 F/220 c. Before baking, brush the tops of each scone with melted butter. Bake for 18-25 minutes, until tops and bottoms are golden brown.
- Let cool 10 minutes before glazing. For the Spiced Cream Cheese Glaze
- Beat together cream cheese, vanilla, salt and spices until smooth.
- Beat in icing sugar until combined.
- Add milk 1 tbsp at a time until glaze is thick but slightly runny consistency.
- Drizzle or spread over the tops of your cooled scones.
