Angie's Pumpkin Scones

My friend A is a Midwestern and younger version of Martha Stewart. She hosts lots of themed parties for various holidays along with sorority functions, and she is constantly making lots of yummy treats for these events. Besides our love of cooking and baking, she and I also share a deep affection for anything pumpkin. When she started tweeting about the pumpkin scones she made for another social gathering, I hinted (okay, demanded) that she send me the recipe!

Since my mom refuses to let anybody contribute to the actual Christmas meal, we are only allowed to contribute to appetizers or desserts. Last year I brought both a hot and cold spinach and artichoke dip for appetizers, but this year B and I decided to tackle the desserts. Since my dad doesn't like desserts that are overly sweet, I thought the pumpkin scones would be something he would enjoy.

First, we gathered up all the ingredients:

Pumpkin Scones (nom nom nom)

2 cups Flour
⅓ cups Brown Sugar, packed
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
½ teaspoons Ginger Powder
½ teaspoons Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Orange Zest
1 stick Unsalted Butter, Frozen
½ cups Pumpkin Puree
½ cups Heavy Cream

FOR THE ICING:

1 cup Powdered Sugar
½ teaspoons Cinnamon
¼ teaspoons Ginger Powder
2 teaspoons Corn Syrup (I did about two squirts)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Heavy Cream (enough to make icing thick, almost like honey)




Together, we mixed the first eight scone ingredients and B added the frozen butter stick by grating it on a cheese grater over the flour mixture. Angie added a helpful note to work quickly with the butter because the butter melts easily and this was definitely a good tip! Aren't the butter curls so beautiful?

While B mixed the butter curls into the flour mixture with a fork. I got to work and mixed the pumpkin and cream into a smaller bowl.

I poured the pumpkin mixture into the flour/butter mixture. B folded the ingredients with a wooden spoon just until flour is moistened. I turned the dough onto a lightly floured board and kneaded the dough over a couple of times. I wanted to get a nice dough consistency without overworking it. When I was done kneading the dought, B formed the dough into a rectangle and then cut them into triangles, about one inch thick. He put them on a plate and froze them for about forty-five minutes.

We took the firm scone dough out and placed them on a baking sheet that we sprayed with cooking spray and baked at 400F for about twenty minutes until the scones were firm and golden around the edges.

While the scones were cooling, I put together the icing by mixing the first five icing ingredients. I added the heavy cream in small amounts at a time, stirring often, until the icing reached a thicker consistency. Like Angie advised, I added enough heavy cream to make the icing a honey-like consistency. When the scones had cooled, we piped icing onto the scones.

We made a test scone that was a little misshapen from the rest and tried it out. The scones had a nice pumpkin flavor but the nutmeg and orange zest really stood out. The icing added the perfect amount of sweetness. My family really enjoyed the scones on Christmas Day and I'm definitely going to make them again in the fall!

Thanks Angie for sharing the recipe!

xoxo