Dessert

Pumpkin Spice Scones Recipe

Delicious pumpkin spice scones recipe. These are traditional scones made with pumpkin, sour cream, a delicious blend of fall spices, and a drizzle of chocolate.

pumpkin spice scones

When the weather turns cool, it’s time for all things pumpkin! On a recent trip to Starbucks, I noticed that they have pumpkin scones, but they are a little too sweet and cake-like for me. I prefer scones that have more of a crumbly, biscuit texture. I started playing around with adding spices and pumpkin to our family’s favorite scone recipe until I got it just right. This pumpkin spice scones recipe is DELICIOUS, especially with a little dark chocolate drizzled on top!

pumpkin spice scone ingredients

The Best Pumpkin Spice Scones Recipe

Start by mixing all of your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices to the bowl. The spices are the key ingredient to these scones. They ensure that each bite is full of flavor! Whisk all of the dry ingredients together incorporating the spices throughout the mixture. Since all of the other ingredients are the same color, the spices are the only way to truly measure this.

Cutting In the Butter

Then cut in an entire stick of frozen butter. “Cutting in” butter refers to the baking technique of adding cold butter to dry ingredients. The cold butter sticks to the dry ingredients in little clumps. This technique results in a light, crumbly texture. Perfect for these pumpkin spice scones!

cutting in butter

There’s a little trick I learned from America’s Test Kitchen to make cutting in the butter easier. Start by freezing your butter for about 30 minutes beforehand, then grate the butter using a cheese grater. Once your butter is all grated use your fingers to mix the butter in. When you’re done it should look like a coarse meal.

grate frozen butter to cut in

Create a Loose Dough

In a separate bowl, whisk your wet ingredients (egg, pumpkin, sour cream, and vanilla) together. Once they are thoroughly mixed, add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix everything together using a fork until large dough clumps form. Then switch over to kneading it all together by hand. The key is to mix the dough until all of the ingredients are combined. The dough should barely stay together. If the dough is kneaded too much, the scones will be more dense and cakelike.

knead loose scone dough

Once you have a nice large dough ball, place it on a lightly floured surface and pat it out into a rectangle that’s about 3/4″ thick.

pat into 3/4" thick rectangle

Use a pizza cutter to cut your rectangle in half vertically and then in half horizontally, forming a plus sign. This gives you four smaller rectangles. Cut each of these rectangles in half diagonally to form eight triangles. Then, sprinkle some sugar over the top of all of your triangles.

cut into 8 triangles

Place on a baking sheet about an inch apart and bake for 15-17 minutes. 

arrange on baking sheet

The scones should be a nice, golden brown on the outside when finished. You can break one apart to check for doneness. The texture should be fluffy, like a biscuit!

Cool Pumpkin Scones Completely Before Eating

I’ve found with pumpkin baked goods it’s best to let them cool completely before eating. It really makes a difference in the flavor! I also really like the combination of pumpkin and chocolate,  so I melted a little dark chocolate to drizzle on top! Yum!

pumpkin spice scones recipe

This pumpkin scone recipe is absolutely delicious! It’s the perfect treat for a Saturday morning in Autumn. Sit by the window, or on the porch, with a cup of coffee and a pumpkin scone and watch the leaves fall.

For more pumpkin recipes check out my recipe for Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies and Pumpkin Bread!

Pumpkin Spice Scones

Delicious pumpkin spice scones recipe. These are traditional scones made with pumpkin, sour cream, a delicious blend of fall spices, and a drizzle of chocolate.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Total Time 46 minutes
Course Breakfast
Cuisine Baked Goods
Servings 8 scones

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 8 tbsp butter frozen
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 3/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 egg

Instructions
 

  • Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 425 degrees.
  • Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in medium bowl.
  • Cut in butter. I prefer to “cut in” my butter by grating it with a cheese grater then working it in with my hands. Your mixture should resemble a coarse meal when done.
  • Whisk sour cream, egg, vanilla extract and pumpkin together in separate bowl.
  • Using a fork, stir wet mixture into your dry mixture until large dough clumps form. The dough will appear very dry, but keep working it with your hands until you can form a large ball.
  • Place dough ball on a lightly floured surface and pat into a rectangle about 3/4″ thick. Using a pizza wheel, cut the rectangle in half vertically and horizontally into 4 equal sections. Then cut each section in half diagonally to form 8 triangular pieces.
  • Sprinkle sugar on top of the dough pieces.
  • Place pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake 15-17 minutes.
  • Allow to cool completely before enjoying!
  • For an extra touch of delicious, melt chocolate to drizzle on top.
Keyword scones
This post was originally published September 22, 2017 and republished September 21, 2021.

2 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Hi, I was just wondering if you had a recipe for a “lighter” in calories Pumpkin Roll? To me nothing beats a GREAT Pumpkin Roll.!! However, have to think on the lighter side now. I would love if you had one and would be willing to share it! Thanks again and enjoy your upcoming Holidays

    • Hi Jacqueline! I don’t have a lighter recipe for pumpkin roll. I’ve actually never made one before! Sorry I couldn’t be of more help on that one!

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