The only easy, foolproof recipe you’ll need for soft pumpkin scones! And just like that, summer gives way to fall (aka pumpkin season). So brace yourselves for all the pumpkin recipes! From pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin spice coffee creamers to pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin roll cake, pumpkin cheesecake, crustless pumpkin pie, pumpkin rice krispie treats, and of course these amazing pumpkin scones! 🙂 I made these pumpkin scones last year, but never got around to publishing it. But here they are at last. While I had perfected this recipe for a while, this time I gave them an upgrade with a delicious brown butter glaze.
Why I love this recipe
This recipe is so easy, and makes foolproof, soft pumpkin scones every time. These pumpkin scones are tall, soft, and buttery. Just like my classic cream scones. Great pumpkin flavor (with cinnamon and nutmeg too!). A great recipe to make for, and to make with kids. Can make these scones ahead of time and freeze for later. They can be baked from frozen, whenever you crave a delicious, soft pumpkin scone! I also show you how to cut them into different shapes, and how to make different flavor variations as well!
This really is a foolproof pumpkin scones recipe, and I’m going show you all the ins and outs. But the recipe is so easy anyway, even a novice baker could nail it, every time. You can check out my archive of muffins and scones for more delicious scones recipes.
Ingredients
Pumpkin purée You can use canned pumpkin puree or fresh pumpkin puree for this. If you’re using canned pumpkin puree, make sure to buy the 100% puree and not the pumpkin pie filling, which is already sweetened. AP flour All purpose flour has a moderate gluten amount, so it’s great to use in many applications. Scones should not have a lot of gluten to keep them soft, so make sure to not over-work the dough. DO NOT use bread dough for this recipe. Unsalted butter Make sure the butter you use is chilled and cubed. Cold butter will ensure buttery, flaky layers in your pumpkin scones. I use unsalted butter, so that I can control the salt in my dough, but you can use salted butter too. You may need to reduce the salt in the recipe if you use salted butter. Half and half I use half and half (10% fat) in this recipe as the liquid, which brings the dough together. You can also use full fat milk (3% fat) or even table cream (18% fat) or whipping cream (35% fat). The higher the fat content, the richer and softer the scone will be. I would avoid using anything less than 2% milk. Sugar I have used granulated white sugar and brown sugar to make these scones. So you can use,
Granulated white sugar Caster sugar Dark brown sugar Light brown sugar or Muscovado sugar
See my comprehensive guide to types of sugar to learn about the differences between them and how to use them in your baking. This pumpkin scone is not very sweet. The glaze adds sweetness to the scones, making it perfect to eat as a sweet treat. But I can just add butter and cheese and have this as a savory scone too! So if you want the scone to be sweeter, feel free to add more sugar. Salt Salt helps to balance and bring out all the flavors in the scone. Do not leave it out, otherwise these will taste very bland. Spices I use a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. You can also use store-bought pumpkin pie or apple pie spice too.
How to make pumpkin scones
Making the dough
First, have all the ingredients measured and ready to go. The butter and milk MUST be chilled, but chilling other ingredients are optional. If it’s a hot day, it’s better to have all the ingredients chilled for best results. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes, OR freeze the butter and then grate. If the butter is in cubes, you will need to rub the butter into the flour to create flour/butter crumbs. If the butter is frozen and then grated, then you only need to toss it in the flour. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl so that they are well combined. Add the cubed butter into the dry ingredients, and cut the butter into the flour. The butter should resemble coarse bread crumbs, with some butter being hazelnut-sized. If you grated the butter, then you just need to toss the butter in the flour. Stir the pumpkin and milk together until smooth, and add it to the pumpkin scone flour mix in two additions. After adding half of the pumpkin-milk mix, stir it into the flour using a fork. Repeat with the second addition. This will create clumps of pumpkin, butter and flour with lots of dry flour spots. But not to worry! The dough will come together next. Tip all of the dough out onto a parchment paper. Lightly bring the dough together to form a rough dough slab on the parchment paper. Fold the parchment paper over, so that the dough slab also folds over itself. Then gently pat it down. Repeat, to fold the dough over again. The dough should come together as you do this. If the dough is too wet and sticky, use a lightly floured surface. Repeat the gentle flattening and folding over of the dough another 2 – 4 times. Take care to be gentle with the dough and use the parchment paper to fold and pat down the dough. You’ll end up with a dough that’s soft and a little sticky. Pat this down to a rectangle of about 6 x 9 inches.
Cutting the pumpkin scones
Next, using a floured cookie cutter, cut out rounds from the dough. You should be able to get 6. With the leftover dough, gently bring it together and flatten it to make a cohesive dough. Fold the dough over itself, and gently flatten it again (using the parchment paper). Flatten this to about a 6 x 4 to 5 inch rectangle (same height as the cut scones). Now cut 3 scones out of this dough. Finally, repeat this process again with the remaining dough, and cut out 2 more scones, and repeat one last time to cut the last scone. You should end up with 12 round pumpkin scones.
Easy method to cut square and wedge scone shapes
Wedge scones – After folding the dough to form a layered dough, shape it into a circle that’s about 7 inches in width. Cut the circle into 8 wedges, to get 8 large scones. Square scones – Instead of a circle, shape the dough into a 7 inch square. Cut the square to get 12 small scones, or 9 medium scones. Then place the cut scones on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and let ’em chill for at least 30 minutes before baking. I like to keep them in the freezer, so that I can freeze them if I don’t want to bake them on the same day. Plus you can bake these scones from frozen too, so it’s easier to simply freeze them right away.
Baking the scones
Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C. Bake these classic pumpkin scones in the preheated oven, after glazing them with a little milk OR sprinkling them with some raw sugar.
For small scones (12) – bake for about 15 – 20 minutes (20 minutes if you’re baking from frozen). Medium scones (9 – 10) – baking time will still be similar, maybe a few minutes extra. For large scones (8) – bake for about 20 – 25 minutes.
Once the pumpkin scones are baked, top them with the brown butter glaze to let the glaze get absorbed by the scones, OR let them cool down first before glazing, so that you can keep the glaze from melting.
How to make pumpkin scone variations
Chocolate chip pumpkin scones – Add 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chip cookies, or 1/2 cup of finely chopped chocolate (about 1/2 cm pieces) to the flour mixture before you add the pumpkin/dairy mix. Pumpkin spice latte scones – Dissolve 2 tsp instant coffee granules in the dairy, before stirring in the pumpkin puree. The scones will be a little less sweet because of the coffee, so you could increase the sugar content. Add 1 – 2 tsp or instant coffee to the glaze to make a coffee glaze to top your pumpkin spice latte scones. Pecan pumpkin scones – Use brown sugar instead of white sugar, and add 3/4 cup of chopped pecans to the flour mixture before adding the pumpkin/dairy mix. Pumpkin feta scones – Reduce the sugar to 1 tbsp. Add 1 1/2 tsp chopped thyme (fresh), and gently stir in 4 oz of feta, cubed into 1/2 inch pieces, before adding the pumpkin/dairy mix. Brush the freshly baked scones with salted brown butter.
Serving suggestions
These classic pumpkin scones are great just the way they are with the brown butter glaze on top. But if you’re wanting to serve them for breakfast or tea, they are perfect with a hot cup of coffee or tea. You could even make a batch of this pumpkin spice coffee creamer to go with your coffee!
Another great way to serve these scones is to top them with some whipped cream or creme fraiche.
Or a drizzle of maple syrup on top. Or maple pecan topping that I shared in my pumpkin pancakes recipe for something a touch more decadent.
Perfectly spiced, perfectly sweet, buttery, soft, and delicious, this classic pumpkin scone recipe is a delight no matter how you enjoy it!
Pro tips to make the best pumpkin scones
Start with chilled butter. Better yet, start with all chilled ingredients. Chilled butter will create flaky layers in your scones. And to make sure that the butter doesn’t melt into the dough, keep all the other ingredients chilled too. This is especially important if the weather is warm. Do not over handle the dough. For buttery and soft pumpkin scones, you want to make sure you don’t develop the gluten in the flour. The more you handle or knead the dough, the more gluten you develop. This will result in chewy scones. Use the parchment paper to gently fold over the dough. This will help create layers in the dough that will give your0 scones that characteristic tall, layered look as they bake. Make sure the cookie cutter or knife that you’re using is sharp when cutting out scones. Flour the knife or cookie cutter lightly to make sure it doesn’t stick to the dough. Push the cookie cutter straight down into the dough, and avoid twisting the cutter. Clean cuts also help the scones rise tall as they bake. Want flakier scones? Reduce the dairy to 1/2 cup. The wetter the dough, the softer the scones. So if you add less liquid, the dough will be drier, and you end up with more distinct layering in your scones. Refrigerate or freeze the scones before baking. The chilled butter chunks will melt and evaporate as the scones bake, resulting in tall, flaky, soft scones.
If you like scones and biscuits, then you may also love,
Classic Cream Scones Egg Stuffed Breakfast Biscuits Whole Wheat Scones Blueberry Scones Date Scones
