Pumpkin Scones with Spiced Glaze

Last Monday, I was running early for a doctor's appointment, so I decided to hop off the subway and stop off for a coffee at Starbucks. Of course, as soon as I got in the line, the rumbling in my stomach reminded me that I had eaten my lunch (quiche) for breakfast at 9:45 that morning as I'd forgotten to pack breakfast.

It was 2 pm, and I was really hungry. In honour of the fact that it had recently become autumn, I bought myself a pumpkin scone, settled into a cushy seat with a new magazine and sipped my chai tea latte.

I regretted the scone immediately. The icing was far too sweet, and it was painfully dry. It felt like it was absorbing all the moisture from my mouth as I was eating it.

Frustrated (and still hungry), post appointment, my husband and I went grocery shopping and I bought several tins of pumpkin. By God, I was going to prove that I could make a better pumpkin scone than Starbucks.

And this is it. I brought the first batch in to work to share with my coworkers (positive reviews all around), much to my husband's chagrin. So, I whipped up another batch this past weekend.

With the use of a food processor, this recipe comes together in minutes.


Pumpkin Scones with Spiced Glaze

(lightly adapted from The Shoebox Kitchen)

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
pinch salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into ½" cubes
½ cup pumpkin puree
3 tbsp milk
1 large egg

glazes

1 cup icing sugar, divided
2 tbsp milk, divided
1/8 tsp cinnamon
pinch each ginger, cloves, nutmeg


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375º. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together flour, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt. Add butter, pulsing until you have small, pea sized clumps.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, milk and egg. With motor running, pour pumpkin mixture through tube, pulsing just until mixture comes together and forms a ball.

3. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a rectangle, about 1" thick. Divide vertically into 4 rectangles, then divide those rectangles in half horizontally to form 8 squares. Cut each square diagonally to create 16 triangles.

4. Place on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes, or until lightly golden on the bottom. Let cool on a rack.

5. Whisk together ½ cup icing sugar with 1 tbsp milk. Brush over tops of cooled scones. Let dry for 15 minutes. In a small plastic bag, massage together remaining icing sugar with 1 tbsp milk and the spices. Cut the corner of the bag off to create a piping bag, and pipe the spiced glaze over top of the regular glaze. Let harden for 1 hour before transferring to an air tight container.