Pumpkin Scones that practically melt in your mouth. They are light and buttery, with a crisp sugary topping. A sweet maple glaze finishes them with a touch of sweetness.
Enjoy Pumpkin Scones with some Hot Chocolate or a Pumpkin Spice Latte Steamer.
The Best Pumpkin Scones
I’ve always been obsessed with Starbucks pumpkin scones, but stopping every day for a pumpkin spice latte steamer and scones just wasn’t practical. So, I set out to recreate them at home, and let me tell you, these are even better!
The texture is perfect, and the pumpkin flavor is amazing. They’re everything you want in a fresh scone and capture all the best flavors of fall!
Ingredients In Pumpkin Scones Recipe
- Dry Ingredients: Combine flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Use fresh spices and measure the flour accurately for the best texture.
- Wet Ingredients: Mix butter, egg, heavy cream, canned pumpkin, brown sugar, and vanilla. Keep the butter cold and press out excess liquid from the pumpkin to avoid a soggy dough.
- Glaze: Whisk together powdered sugar, butter, maple syrup, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon. Sift the powdered sugar and use softened butter to ensure a smooth glaze.
How To Make Pumpkin Scones
- Dry Mix: Combine flour, baking powder, spices, and salt in a bowl.
- Wet Mix: Whisk heavy cream, egg, pumpkin, brown sugar, and vanilla in another bowl.
- Butter: Cut frozen butter into the dry mix until crumbly.
- Form Dough: Mix wet and dry ingredients. Shape into discs, cut into wedges, brush with cream, and sprinkle with sugar.
- Chill: Freeze wedges for 20 minutes.
- Bake: At 400°F (200°C) until lightly golden.
- Glaze: Blend powdered sugar, butter, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Drizzle on scones.
Quick Tip
Top tip: Keep both the butter and dough as cold as possible! I refrigerate the flour, freeze the butter after cutting it, and use wet ingredients directly from the fridge. The colder your dough, the better your pumpkin scones will be; they’ll be lighter and less dense.
Storage
Scones taste best when fresh from the oven, so bake these Pumpkin Scones about an hour before serving.
To make ahead: Shape the dough, store in an airtight bag in the fridge, and bake the next day.
To freeze: Place unbaked scones on a lined sheet and freeze. Once frozen, transfer to an airtight bag for up to a month. Bake directly from the freezer, adding 1-3 minutes to the usual baking time.
Use Leftover Pumpkin In:
- Small Batch Pumpkin Cookies
- Starbucks copycat Pumpkin Spice Latte Steamer
- Pumpkin Cupcakes with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting
- Glazed Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with a streusel topping
Pumpkin Scones
Pumpkin Scones that practically melt in your mouth. They are light and buttery, with a crisp sugary topping. A sweet maple glaze finishes them with a touch of sweetness.
Ingredients
- 2 cups white all-purpose flour
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon each: ground ginger & allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter See Note 1
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup + 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream, divided
- 1/4 cup canned pumpkin, With liquid pressed out with paper towels. See Note 2
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste OR 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Coarse sugar for topping
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- DRY INGREDIENTS: In a large bowl, combine the 2 cups (spooned and leveled) flour, 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 3/4 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, and 3/4 teaspoon salt.
- WET INGREDIENTS: In a small bowl, whisk together the 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1 large egg, 1/4 cup pumpkin, 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and 1/2 vanilla paste or extract. Mix until smooth.
- ADD BUTTER: Add the frozen cubed butter into the dry ingredients. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is evenly dispersed and the size of small peas.
- COMBINE WET AND DRY: Make a well in the center of the ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. With a wooden spoon, gently combine the ingredients until a dough begins to form. Mix as little as possible — just until everything is moistened and mostly combined.
- FORM SCONES: Very lightly dust a surface with flour and turn the mixture onto the surface. With lightly floured hands, gently work the dough into a ball (we want to handle the dough as little as possible while getting it into a cohesive disc). If the dough is too sticky, add a tiny bit more flour; if it is too dry, add 1-2 tablespoons additional cream. Press dough into a disc and cut exactly in half. Form each half gently into a smaller disc about 5 inches wide. Chill the discs, wrapped tightly, for 20 minutes in the freezer. Remove and cut (with a very sharp knife) each disc into 8 equal wedges. Try to cut each wedge in one decisive cut (don’t shimmy the knife through the wedge). Place wedges on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or Silpat liner), about 2 inches apart. Pour remaining 2 (3 if needed) tablespoons heavy cream into a small dish. Using a pastry brush, brush the cream over the scones. Sprinkle with sparkling/coarse sugar if desired.
- FREEZE: Place the pan of scones in the freezer for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- BAKE: Bake for 17-23 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges and lightly browned on top (over-baking scones will make them less flavorful and more dense, so watch carefully). Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before using a metal spatula to transfer to a cooling rack.
- GLAZE: Whisk together the glaze ingredients. Add more maple syrup (or heavy cream or milk) 1 teaspoon at a time if the glaze is too thick. Drizzle just-barely-warm scones with glaze. Let set and then enjoy.
Video
Recipe Notes
Note 1: Butter: Keep all the ingredients as cold as possible! Chill the flour in the fridge ahead of time if possible (10-20 minutes). Cut the butter into small cubes and place in the freezer to chill until needed.
Note 2: Pumpkin: Use cheesecloth or paper towels to press any excess liquid out of the pumpkin. Don’t skip this step or the scone dough will be too wet; strain out as much liquid from the pumpkin as possible.
To make ahead: Shape the dough into scones and place in an airtight bag in the fridge overnight. Bake fresh the next day.
To freeze: Freeze the unbaked scones on a lined baking sheet, transfer the frozen scones to an airtight bag and freeze for up to one month. Bake scones straight from the freezer (add 1-3 minutes on baking time).
Nutrition
Serving: 16servings | Calories: 300kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 187mg | Potassium: 74mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 901IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made these this morning. They are fabulous. I make a lot of scones. This recipe was spot on. I used a tad more liquid, but just a splash. The pumpkin flavor/spices are subtle. Highly recommend. Thanks for sharing.
So happy to hear that! Thank you for the comment 🙂
These scones look amazing! I love the pumpkin 🙂
I am a scone lover, a pumpkin lover
So this recipe lands in The Perfect Scone Recipe roster.