Pumpkin Spice Scones

These scones seriously changed my life!!! I have always loved scones, but never attempted to make them -- fearful that they may be a challenge I wasn't ready for. I have bookmarked so many recipes telling myself I was going to get to it one of these days...well "one of these days" finally happened when I stumbled across the recipe for Pumpkin Spice Scones!! At that moment I told myself there would be no more putting it off!!

I told you in a recent post that my sister-in-law works for Starbucks, well because of that reason alone, I have gotten to try many scones in my day!!! (My favorite at Starbucks is the Vanilla Bean one...it's small so I don't feel as guilty!!) I love that they aren't so overwhelmingly sweet, but yet satisfy that nagging sweet tooth. I also love how decedent they are. I always feel so dainty eating a scone...like I should be at a table set with silver and gorgeous china atop a white linen. Or maybe over in London with a good cup of afternoon tea...man I miss London, I need to go back!
Don't they look delicious!?!? Well they are/were!! hehe They didn't last long in my household, that's for sure!! I decided to change the icing from what the original recipe called for. I thought I would go ahead and make the icing pumpkin spice. Some of you might be thinking...wasn't that too much...the answer is NO!!! I think it made these scones 10 million times better!!!

So to sum up--I think these are hands down THE BEST SCONES I HAVE EVER TASTED!!!! So what are you waiting for, go conquer your scone making fears!

What flavors have you tried that you liked? Maybe I need to start making more scones!!!

Pumpkin Spice Scones

(recipe from Pinch My Salt)

1 C. all purpose flour
1 C. cake flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground allspice
1/4 t. ground ginger
6 T. unsalted butter
1/2 C. raisins (optional)
1/3 C. pumpkin puree
1/3 C. heavy cream
6 T. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Get out a baking sheet and line with parchment paper (not required but makes cleanup easy!). Cut the butter into small pieces, put it in a small bowl and put it back in the refrigerator. In a medium bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, salt, and all spices. Whisk together well. Place bowl in freezer (refrigerator is fine if you have no room in freezer).

In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, heavy cream, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together well. Put this bowl in freezer (or refrigerator) and take the other bowl back out. Get the butter pieces out of the fridge and dump them into the bowl with the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the raisins if you are using them.

Get the liquid mixture out of the freezer and pour into the flour mixture all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is just moistened. The dough will be very crumbly, this is the way it should be. Turn the mixture out onto the counter and push the pile together with your hands. It should stick together fairly well. Knead it just a couple of times until everything is together. Don’t knead it too much or the dough will get too sticky.

Pat the dough out into a rough circle, 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut it like a pie into 8 pieces. Place pieces on the baking sheet so that they are not touching. Bake scones for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. They should be light brown on the bottom, the tops will darken as they cool.

If you want to use the icing from the original recipe click here and follow the directions...I suggest otherwise!! I made a pumpkin spice icing, which I think tasted better!

Pumpkin Spice Icing

(recipe from Liesl)

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

2 Tablespoons milk

Combine all ingredients in a small dish. Brush over cooled scones, allowing some icing to drizzle down the sides.