Happy Halloween! How about a pumpkin scone?

I had half a can of pumpkin leftover from my pumpkin hummus and decided I wanted to make something sweet with it.  I came across a great recipe for pumpkin scones on food.com and made them.  Don't be afraid of making scones (even if you don't bake all that much).  There is no rising, no rolling, no kneading.  And if you have a food processor, all of you have to do is pulse everything then form it into a 9x3 brick, slice and bake.

These scones have the wonderful, warm, autumn flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg.  It also has cloves, which I am typically not a fan of, but a little sprinkling in the dough won't overwhelm you with strong clove flavor.  I felt there was way too much icing so I would cut the icing recipe in half or less (I include the full recipe below).  Also, I didn't have ground ginger and so chose to leave it out. Feel free to leave out one of the spices if you don't want to spend the money on it...in my mind the cinnamon and nutmeg were most important. Otherwise don't change a thing.

Pumpkin Scones (from Food.com)

  Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour

7 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

6 tablespoons cold butter

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

3 tablespoons half-and-half

1 large eggs

  Powdered Sugar Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

2 tablespoons whole milk

  Spiced Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 tablespoons whole milk

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 pinch ginger

1 pinch ground cloves

Directions

TO MAKE THE SCONES:

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

2.  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.

3.  In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball.

4.  Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide). Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet.

5.  Bake for 14–16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

TO MAKE THE PLAIN GLAZE:

1.  Mix the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk together until smooth.

2.  When scones are cool, use a brush to paint plain glaze over the top of each scone.

AS THAT WHITE GLAZE FIRMS UP, MAKE THE SPICED ICING:

1.  Combine the ingredient for the spiced icing together. Drizzle this thicker icing over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (at least 1 hour). A squirt bottle works great for this, or you can drizzle with a whisk.
---------------------------------------------------

Happy Halloween everyone!  Enjoy your day (and your candy!)


Chow for Now!  :)