Pumpkin Scones

These pumpkin scones are full of wonderful spices, rich in pumpkin flavor, and super easy to make. They can be mixed up in about 15 minutes! I made these with white chocolate chips, but you can really mix in whatever you want! After baking, I drizzled on a pumpkin spiced glaze for even more pumpkin flavor.

If you’re new around here, let me say Hi. Welcome. My name is Heather and I have a serious thing for scones. I love dreaming up all sorts of fun variations – like my maple bacon scones, or lavender white chocolate scones. There are so many ways to take a simple scone recipe and make it fabulous.

And when I was thinking up what Fall scone recipe to share with you, I realized I didn’t have a pumpkin scone recipe on the blog yet! Say what?! I found this recipe on King Arthur Flour, and played around with it a bit. And then decided it would be better with white chocolate chips mixed in. A few test batches later and I think I perfected the pumpkin scone friend! And this recipe was (like all scones are!) super easy to make, and full of great flavor.

And the best part about scones (at least in my opinion- besides how great they go with coffee) is that they take all of about 15 minutes to mix up. Of course for perfect scones I recommend freezing for 30 minutes (or pop them in the fridge for an hour) to help firm up the butter. It really does make all the difference.

Now that’s a breakfast or brunch treat I can rally around. I started making scones back when I worked at a bakery. And I mean, I made scone after scone after scone. My friends still say how awesome my arms looked that summer! No, seriously my arms were in serious shape. And it’s all due to the lovely scone.

You make 12 bulk batches of scone dough by hand each day and don’t think you won’t get amazing arms too, you’re fooling yourself. So what’s today’s lesson? Skip the gym. Make these pumpkin scones instead 😉

Why You Will Love These White Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Scones

Besides how wonderfully tasty they are – here are 3 reasons why I know you will fall in love with these pumpkin scones.

• Quick To Mix Together – I said this already. But it’s worth repeating. This might be the #1 reason why I LOVE scones. They are always so quick to mix up.
• No Fancy Equipment – You don’t need a mixer or anything fancy. Just a couple mixing bowls, a spatula, and although I use a pastry blender you can cut the butter in with just your fingertips. So really as long as you got clean hands you’re good to go!
• Lots of Fall flavor! – I used pure pumpkin puree in the dough, along with pumpkin pie spice. And then drizzled over these scones an easy glaze made with pumpkin pie spice.

Ingredients Needed

Ingredient Notes

• Butter – You want to make sure to use unsalted butter vs. salted butter in your baking. And make sure your butter is COLD. You don’t want the butter to melt and be absorbed into the flour but stay solid. This will create a flaky tender scone in the end.
• Pumpkin– Make sure to use 100% canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling or mix which has added ingredients in it.
• White chocolate chips – You really could use any chips in this scone recipe, like cinnamon chips, or dark chocolate chips would be great. Or skip the chocolate chips altogether and mix in something else like chopped pecans, or dried cranberries!
• Pumpkin Pie Spice – If you don’t have any on hand, you can substitute with the spices instead (or make your own DIY Pumpkin Pie Spice).

How To Make This Pumpkin Scone Recipe

Making homemade pumpkin scones is a super simple recipe! Here are some step by step photos for you to master making these white chocolate chip pumpkin scones.

Make pumpkin scone dough – part 1

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. 
2. Using your fingertips, two knives, or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter are pea-sized.
3. Stir in the white chocolate chips with a rubber spatula. 
4. In a small bowl, stir together the eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin puree.

1. Make a well by pushing aside the dry ingredients.
2. Pour in the egg mixture.
3. Stir together the wet and dry mixture with a spatula.
4. Stir together to create a shaggy crumbly dough. Sometimes I find it’s necessary to bring the dough together with my hands. Clean hands are your best tools!!

HEATHER’S BAKING TIP: Add a bit of cream or milk. If your dough is not coming together and seems dry, you can add a touch of heavy cream or milk to the dough. 

Shape, cut, bake and glaze!

1. Empty the bowl onto a lightly floured surface.  Pat the dough into a 1/2-inch thick circle.
2. Using a sharp knife cut the circle into 8 triangle wedges. Place scones onto prepared cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Freeze the scones for 30 minutes (or refrigerate for 1 hour). This helps firm up the butter and creates a tender, flakier scones that doesn’t spread as much.
3. Brush the top of each scone with a little milk or heavy cream and sprinkle on a little coarse sugar. (This is optional but highly recommend this!).
4. Bake the scones for 20-22 minutes in a preheated 400^oF oven. Once cooled, make the pumpkin spiced glaze and drizzle over the scones.

BAKING 101: Knead gently. Turn this mixture onto a floured surface and bring the dough together gently. The key here is to not overwork the dough! The less you work the dough means the less the gluten will have a chance to form (the protein in the flour that creates structure) and that means a softer scone in the end.

Recipe Tips

• Use COLD butter. You want butter that is very cold. The butter should be cold and still in solid pieces in the dough. This means that when you go to bake these the cold butter will then melt, and the water in the dough turns to steam pushing apart the layers of flour creating a tender, flaky scone.
• Brush the tops with a little milk (or cream) and sprinkle on sugar. This just helps with browning the tops, and creates a lovely crunchy top.
• Freeze the scones before baking. This helps to create a tall, flaky, tender scone. You can also refrigerate the scones for an hour if you can’t fit them in your freezer. But this step really does help with the texture of the scones and keeps the dough extremely cold before baking.

Recipe FAQ’s

More Recipes To Try

• Cinnamon Chip Scones
• Cinnamon Apple Scones
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Scones
• Chocolate Chip Scones
• Maple Bacon Scones

Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Scones

These pumpkin scones are full of wonderful spices, rich in pumpkin flavor, and super easy to make. They can be mixed up in about 15 minutes! I made these with white chocolate chips, but you can really mix in whatever you want! After baking, I drizzled on a pumpkin spiced glaze for even more pumpkin flavor.

5 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Chilling Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 scones

Calories: 439kcal

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

For the scones:

• ▢ 2 ¾ cups (330 g) all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
• ▢ ⅓ cup (71 g) packed light brown sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• ▢ 1/2 cup (1 stick, 113 g) unsalted butter cold and cut into cubes
• ▢ ½ cup (85 g) white chocolate chips
• ▢ ⅔ cup (151 g) pumpkin purée * not pumpkin pie mix
• ▢ 2 large eggs room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ milk (or heavy cream) for brushing on scones before baking
• ▢ coarse sugar for sprinkling on top before baking

For the glaze:

• ▢ 1 cup (113 g) confectioners sugar * powdered sugar
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons milk
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

• Preheat and prepare pan. Preheat your oven to 400^oF. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
• Combine dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
• Cut in butter. Using your fingertips, two knives, or a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter cubes are pea-sized. Stir in the white chocolate chips with a spatula.
• Mix wet ingredients together. In a measuring cup or small mixing bowl, stir together the eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla.
• Add wet ingredients. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet mixture. Stir to combine until a shaggy dough forms. I like to use my hands at the end of the mixing to get all the flour incorporated.
• Shape and cut the scones. Empty the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough lightly to bring the mixture together. Pat the dough into a 8-inch circle. Using a sharp knife cut the circle into 8 triangle wedges. Place scones onto prepared cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Freeze for 30 minutes (or place in the refrigerator for 1 hour).
• Bake The Scones. Brush the tops of the scones with a little milk or heavy cream and sprinkle on coarse sugar (optional). Bake for 20-22 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven, cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer and cool on a cooling rack.
• Make the glaze. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the glaze ingredients.. Adjust the consistency if needed. Drizzle over scones before serving.

Notes

• Storage: Store leftover scones in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
• Freezing: Scones are best served immediately, but can be frozen for up to 1 month. You can freeze them baked or unbaked. If freezing unbaked scones, just make sure when you do bake them do NOT thaw them. Bake them frozen and just add an additional couple minutes onto the baking time.
• Make ahead: Make the scone dough, shape and place in the fridge overnight, covered, and then bake fresh the next morning.
• Scones spreading: Some spreading is normal. This could be because your dough was too warm. Don’t skip that freezing step! If this happens, remove from the oven and press back into a triangle shape and pop back in the oven.
• Chocolate chips: You can swap out the white chocolate chips for another chocolate chip variety like cinnamon or semi-sweet. Or mix in some toasted nuts or dried cranberries instead!
• Pumpkin pie spice: If you don’t have any on hand, use 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ginger, ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon cloves instead.

Nutrition

Calories: 439kcal | Carbohydrates: 65g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 80mg | Sodium: 182mg | Potassium: 304mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 1256IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 121mg | Iron: 3mg

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