Perfectly Spiced Pumpkin Scones
How to make our spiced pumpkin scones inspired by Starbucks. Jump to the Pumpkin Scones Recipe or watch our quick recipe video showing you how we make them. These always get rave reviews!
Watch Us Make Pumpkin Scones
How to Make Our Perfectly Spiced Pumpkin Scones
These pumpkin scones are the best. We just love them. We add lots of pumpkin and fall spices to the dough and they have not one, but two glazes. One is a simple white glaze and the other, a pumpkin spice glaze that gets drizzled on top.
These scones are easy to make and worth the effort (they are so delicious). The scones are fantastic warm and at room temperature. You can make them with or without the glazes — we like both options.
Before we get to the glaze, let’s talk about how to make the best scones.
The trick to making the best scones is cold butter — if it isn’t cold, you’re done before you even get started. It’s the cold bits of butter in scones that makes them tender. We use cold butter for every scone recipe on this blog including our cranberry cream scones and these blackberry lemon scones.
It’s also really important to not overwork the dough — the same goes for homemade flaky biscuits and butter pie crust.
To make the scones, we combine dry ingredients with lots of fall spices. Then we “cut” in cold butter. Do this by hand or by pulsing everything in a food processor.
When it resembles coarse crumbs, add the wet ingredients. This is where the pumpkin puree comes in. When mixed, you’ve got your dough. Pat it into a rectangle and then cut into whatever shape you like — we go for triangles.
By the way, do you see all those specks of butter? That’s what makes these scones rise, tender, and delicious!
After baking and cooling, you can glaze them. I mentioned above that you can absolutely leave these plain without any glaze at all. You can also just use one glaze, but if you’re really going for it, add both glazes. The flaky scone with both glazes look and taste like perfection. Highly recommended 😊
The first glaze is simple — just half and half or cream and powdered sugar. The second starts the same, but we also add pumpkin puree and extra spices. Once glazed, you’re done! Grab a cup of coffee or a homemade pumpkin spice latte and enjoy.
More Easy Pumpkin Recipes
- Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes from Scratch — These moist spiced pumpkin cupcakes are hard to beat.
- Chocolate Orange Pumpkin Bread — With orange and filled with chopped chocolate is a winner. Not too sweet, extremely moist and perfect for fall!
- Easy Homemade Pumpkin Pancakes — How to make fluffy pumpkin pancakes from scratch.
- No Fail Pumpkin Pie — How to make classic, unfussy pumpkin pie from scratch. This is our favorite way to make pumpkin pie. It’s easy, too!
- Homemade Pumpkin Spice Lattes — How to make the best pumpkin spice latte at home with pumpkin puree, coffee, milk, and fall spices. Better than store-bought!
- Easy Pumpkin Mac and Cheese — How to make extra creamy pumpkin mac and cheese in under 1 hour. The perfect Fall dinner!
Recipe updated, originally posted October 2012. Since posting this in 2012, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Perfectly Spiced Pumpkin Scones Recipe
- PREP
The inspiration for this pumpkin scones recipe was a popular treat from Starbucks! I know it looks like a lot of ingredients, but trust us, the recipe is easy to make. There are two glazes shared below. The scones are delicious with both, but you could use one or leave the scones plain. We’ve had them all three ways and loved them all.
Makes 16 Scones
You Will Need
Pumpkin Scones2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (65 grams) brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
8 tablespoons (115 grams or 1 stick) cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup (115 grams) pumpkin puree, see our homemade pumpkin puree recipe
1 tablespoon molasses (we use Blackstrap Unsulphured Molasses)
3 tablespoons half and half or cream
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Simple Sugar Glaze1 cup (125 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
1 to 2 tablespoons half and half or cream
Pumpkin Spice Glaze1 cup (125 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon pumpkin puree, see our homemade pumpkin puree recipe
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 to 2 tablespoons half and half or cream
Directions
- Make Dough
- Bake Scones
- Make Glazes
- To Finish
Center a rack in the middle of the oven and heat oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Or use non-stick cooking spray.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg together until blended.
Cut the butter into small cubes then scatter over the flour mixture. Use two knives or a pastry cutter to “cut” the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with a few pea-sized bits of butter, about 5 minutes. (You could also use a food processor for this – if using, add flour mixture to the bowl of a food processor, add the cold butter cubes. Then pulse three to four times until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal or crumbs).
In a separate bowl, whisk the pumpkin puree, molasses, half and half, egg and vanilla extract until blended.
Stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour and butter mixture until a soft dough forms. Transfer the dough to a floured surface. Knead three to four times until it comes together.
Pat the dough into a 10-inch by 7-inch rectangle (a rolling pin can be used here). Cut the rectangle in half lengthwise then cut into 4 even pieces crosswise, making eight rectangles. Cut each rectangle into two triangles, making 16 scones.
Transfer scones to the baking sheet then bake 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
For the simple sugar glaze, add the sugar to a medium bowl then add one tablespoon of half and half. Stir then judge the consistency. If when you pick a spoon up and out of the glaze it slowly drizzles back into the glaze, it is fine. If it is too thick, add a little more half and half (a little goes a long way, here). If it is too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.
In another bowl, make the pumpkin spice glaze. Combine the sugar, pumpkin puree, spices then add one tablespoon of half and half. Stir and check consistency. Adjust the same way as you would the simple glaze.
Dip each cooled scone directly into the simple sugar glaze then place glazed side up back onto the cooling rack.
Use a spoon to drizzle a zigzag pattern of the pumpkin spice glaze across each scone. Wait 15 minutes or until the glaze has set then enjoy!
Store baked and glazed scones covered with plastic wrap. We recommend storing in the refrigerator if storing them for more than a day. They will lose a little moisture, but will still taste great.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Molasses: This adds a backbone to the flavor of these scones. If you do not have any and do not wish to buy a whole bottle for 1 tablespoon, you can leave it out. The scones are still delicious without it.
- Make Ahead Tip: You can freeze unbaked scone dough. Chill cut scones in the freezer until firm, and then transfer to resealable plastic bags. Keep up to a month. Bake in a 400ºF oven straight from the freezer. (They may take a few extra minutes).
- Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutrition Per Serving: Serving Size 1 scone / Calories 197 / Protein 2 g / Carbohydrate 32 g / Dietary Fiber 1 g / Total Sugars 19 g / Total Fat 7 g / Saturated Fat 4 g / Cholesterol 29 mg
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Thank you for sharing the recipe. Everyone enjoyed it. I substituted maple syrup instead of molasses.
I made these with chopped pecans and walnuts and chose to eat them plain, sans icing. That is how delicious they are! Definitely my new go-to recipe for pumpkin scones!
Me family like pecans so substituted pecans for the nuts. I then only used the pumpkin spice glaze on the end of the scone and rolled in finely chopped pecans!
BEST PUMPKIN SCONE RECIPE! AND BOTH GLAZES ARE A MUST! they really add to the overall flavor.
This is an awesome pumpkin scone recipe. No joke! The rating goes beyond any scones recipe ever. It has my 5 stars plus another 10!
Made these today and they are delicious! I didn’t have enough powdered sugar to do both glazes so I only used the basic one. Very good. I’m sure I will make them again!
Thanks for this delicious recipe! Better than Starbucks and cheaper too. 🙂 As a bonus, I can eat them in my PJs.
I added an extra tablespoon of molasses since I was out of brown sugar and subbed white. Love the texture and the spiced glaze.
Not the texture or consistency of a scone at all. Way too “cakey” or bread-like.
I used self-rising flour and left out the baking powder/soda and salt. I also substituted half the butter for lard. The dough turned out really sticky and I had to add an additional 1/3 cup of flour or so to make it manageable. After all that, they turned out great. Perhaps a bit softer and lighter than I would expect from a scone, but still very good.
What could I use instead of heavy cream? Evaporated milk?
Hi Polly, You should be able to use regular or evaporated milk (or even a fruit juice like orange). Condensed milk will be sweeter (probably too sweet).
So I experimented with making these today and ran into many “hiccups” along the way – none that have to do with the actual recipe or instructions. However, I would do it all over again because these are SO GOOD! I followed the recipe exactly (after 2 trips to the store because silly me bought a wrong ingredient. Also, it took me over a half hour to find molasses at my local grocery store… I passed it three times before my eyes decided to see it.) Anyway, point being… make these. I added home made cinnamon chips to the dough which added a nice texture as well. Due to the over all sweetness (and my husband’s lack of sweet tooth) I left them unglazed for the time being. They are amazing. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Great recipe! These really hit the spot. I did find that I needed to work in at least another 1/4 – 1/2 cup of flour to make it workable, but I was using fresh flour that was pretty fluffy still. I would also cut back a bit on the cloves in the pumpkin icing because I find it a bit stronger than I like. But overall a great recipe, quick to make and my family and friends that have tried it are all in love and have asked for the link to the recipe.
PERFECTION! I’ve been baking these for over 2 years now and they’re every bit amazing as the first time. It’s something my family and I look forward to every year. I only make a couple batches in November and December. They go quick! They’re not dry and crumbly like most scones, which I prefer. They’re perfectly soft and perfectly spiced. I love when a pumpkin baked good actually tastes like spiced pumpkin so this is perfect. I love how these instructions are laid out, very simple to follow along and make. Once you make it twice you’ll be a prob at rolling them out. You gotta make these, you won’t regret it. I just recently had one from Starbucks and these are a million times better. People will be asking for the recipe too. Gosh, just talking about it is making me want to make some right now!! ….I most likely will too…and eat about 3 before I go to bed 🙂
These are amazing. We had these for the first time at Starbucks in Squamish two years ago on our way back to NZ from Europe and after coming home I was desperate to find a recipe. I have made these several times and it takes us right back to the wonderful time we had in Canada.
Tried your receipe today and they turned out awesome. They were a big hit only lasted a day. It is a keeper for sure. Thank you for sharing.