Pumpkin Spice Scones (my best scone so far!)

Okay, enough with all the pork talk. Today I want to tell you about the BEST scone that’s come out of my kitchen in…well…ever!!

It’s no secret that scones are one of our favorite weekend breakfasts. I had a basic formula that I was using for a few years, but lately I just had this nagging feeling that I could do better.

Most of my scones so far have included butter, and sometimes an egg. Well. I have decided that I am, definitely, firmly, now a fan of the cream scone — it’s more traditional, for sure, but it is also incredibly light, fluffy, biscuity and in my mind, leaves those other scones in the dust!

I’d been wanting to try my hand at a pumpkin spice scone for awhile (having had – at one end of the spectrum – a disappointing hockey-puck like pumpkin scone at Starbucks, and – at the other end of the spectrum – an unbelievably delicious and decadent caramel-glazed pumpkin cream scone at Alice’s Tea Cup in Manhattan last year.) The latter was the exact texture I was longing for; rich yet light, biscuity, and scented with all the warm spices of fall and winter. I’m not a huge fan of gooey caramel glaze on my scones, though, so I decided to leave that out in my version.

Now, I have to confess that we have eaten these scones every. single. weekend. for the past 4 weeks. Post-Thankgiving brunch? These were on the menu. I think they’d be great as a part of Christmas morning breakfast, too; I don’t know about you, but I love to use pumpkin all throughout the winter, not just near Thanksgiving!

I’m a big believer that scones are best served warm from the oven, but often times any leftovers turn into dry hockey pucks if you keep them for more than a day. Not so with these — they’re actually still pretty darn good the next day.

I used turbinado sugar to sprinkle on the tops; a sprinkling of cinnamon-sugar would also be great. And the best part? Like any scone, you can make the dough (which literally takes all of about 10 minutes), pat it out, cut it into wedges and freeze the wedges in a single layer on a baking sheet…store them when they’re hard in a large ziploc bag in your freezer, then just pop them into the oven when you want one! You’ll just need to tack on a few minutes to the baking time.

Scones on demand! Is there anything better? (No)

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Pumpkin Spice Scones

an Eggs on Sunday original

view printable recipe

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour (can use 1 cup AP flour and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, and spices. Toss the raisins in if using.

In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the heavy cream, pumpkin, syrup, and vanilla. Add it all at once to the dry ingredients and mix quickly with a fork until moistened. Knead it in the bowl several times to gather any dry crumbs into the dough.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a 1-inch thick disk. Cut into 8 wedges and place on a baking sheet. Brush the tops with cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, and serve warm.

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