Pumpkin Spice Scones
These homemade pumpkin spice scones are made with pumpkin puree, cold butter, and warm pumpkin spice in a simple one-bowl dough. They have a more substantial, bread-like biscuit texture rather than the soft, fluffy crumb of a cake-like or cream scone, with lightly crumbly edges and plenty of warm fall spice.
This pumpkin spice scones recipe is only lightly sweetened in the dough, with just 3 teaspoons of sugar for a batch of eight. The optional spiced icing drizzle adds more sweetness after baking, so you can ice them as generously or lightly as you prefer.
They are an easy fall baking recipe for breakfast, brunch, or an afternoon snack with coffee or tea. You also only need ¼ cup of pumpkin puree, making them a practical way to use up a small amount of canned pumpkin left from another recipe.
Quick Answer
Pumpkin spice scones are oven-baked scones made with pumpkin puree, cold butter, and warm pumpkin pie spices. This version has a sturdy, tender biscuit-style crumb rather than a fluffy cake-like texture and is finished with an optional pumpkin spice icing drizzle.
Method:
One bowl, no mixer needed
Prep Time:
5 minutes
Bake Time:
30 minutes
Yield:
8 large scones
Texture:
Bread-like, tender biscuit crumb with lightly crumbly edges
Best For:
Fall breakfast, brunch, afternoon tea, or coffee break
A Note About the Texture
These aren’t meant to be soft, pillowy bakery-style scones. The dough is made with all-purpose flour, eggs, cold butter, pumpkin puree, and enough milk to bring everything together, which gives the baked scones a firmer, bread-like biscuit crumb.
The dough should also feel slightly dry before the milk is added. Add the milk gradually and stop once the dough comes together; adding too much liquid can change that biscuit-style texture and make the dough unnecessarily sticky.
If you prefer muffins with your fall coffee, my Tim Hortons Pumpkin Spice Muffins have a soft pumpkin crumb and cream cheese center.
Cost Rating: 🍳 Low Cost | Moderate Yield
Cost guideline:
Cost Per Batch: ~$2.50–$3.00
Cost Per Serving: ~$0.31–$0.38 per scone (based on 8 scones)
Most of the ingredients in these pumpkin spice scones are inexpensive baking staples such as flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, milk, and spices. At $6.49 per can, pumpkin puree is one of the more expensive ingredients to purchase, but only ¼ cup is needed for one batch.
Butter can also make a noticeable difference in the batch cost. At $8 per 454 g brick, the ¼ cup used here costs about $1. Buying butter when it drops to around $4.99 per brick and freezing the extra reduces that portion of the recipe to about $0.62.
Why You’ll Love These Pumpkin Spice Scones
One-Bowl Recipe: The scone dough is mixed in one bowl with no stand mixer or hand mixer needed.
No Chilling Required: Once the pumpkin scone dough is shaped and cut into wedges, it can go directly into the oven.
Lightly Sweetened Dough: Three teaspoons of sugar lightly sweeten eight scones, while the optional spiced icing lets you decide how sweet you want the finished scone.
Warm Fall Flavor: Pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice bring the familiar cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove flavors associated with fall baking.
Uses Leftover Pumpkin: Only ¼ cup of pumpkin puree is needed, which is handy when you have a small amount left after another pumpkin recipe.
Budget Tip:
Pumpkin puree goes a long way in this recipe. Because you only need ¼ cup for one batch, refrigerate or freeze the remaining puree rather than letting the rest of the can go to waste. Portioning leftover pumpkin into small amounts also makes it easier to use later for another batch of scones or other fall baking, such as my pumpkin spice Bundt cake.
Around Halloween, don’t overlook pumpkins that are getting older but are still sound enough to cook. Cook the pumpkin down into a thick puree, cool it, and freeze it in ¼-cup portions for baking. Because homemade pumpkin can vary in moisture, keep the puree thick and add the milk to the scone dough gradually as needed.
Let’s Get Started Making This Pumpkin Scone Recipe
Preheat oven to 425F
You only need one bowl to make this tasty scone recipe. In a mixing bowl, measure the flour (measure the flour by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it rather than packing or scooping it), sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix that together well before adding the cold butter cubed. It’s important to use cold butter when making scones. Cold butter helps to increase the flakiness as well as to make for a tender crumb.
Use your pastry cutter tool to blend the butter into the dry ingredients. This method ensures that you don’t overwork the dough and keeps the butter chilled so that it can create light, flaky layers.
Once the butter has been cut in and the mixture resembles coarse crumbs you will want to add the eggs, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice blend . Mixing with a spoon, work the scone dough, which will be slightly on the dry side. Add the milk to the scone batter a bit at a time. Continue to work the dough gently to keep it from being too stiff.
Once all the milk has been added, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface to work it. Lightly flour the work surface and your hands, then gently work the dough just enough to bring it together. Use only enough additional flour to keep the dough from sticking rather than working extra flour into the dough. Pat the pumpkin dough into a thick round for cutting.
Now flour a sharp, large knife and evenly cut the dough ball into eighths.
The next step is baking, of course. Here’s where you can vary the recipe if you wish. You can brush the surface with egg white and then sprinkle with coarse granulated sugar if you like. Or leave it plain, as I did, to add the spiced icing drizzle afterward.
Bake the pumpkin scones on a baking sheet for 30 minutes. You won’t need any parchment paper for the baking sheet, as the scones will not stick. If you’ve decided to roll the dough and cut rounds instead of making wedges, you may need to adjust the baking time.
Remove the baked scones from the oven once they have baked to be no longer moist in appearance. The base of the scone will turn golden brown when thoroughly baked. Because we baked these as triangular slices of dough, we want to be sure they have been baked so there are no unpleasant doughy bits. Poke the surface of the scones. They should yield slightly and bounce back after a light poke.
Transfer your baked scones to a wire rack to cool. You want the scones to be nearly cooled before adding any icing drizzle. If you try to add it too soon, it will simply melt right off.
Make the spiced icing drizzle in a small bowl. Add the icing sugar, milk or cream, pumpkin spice, and half a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix it well and let it drizzle a tablespoon in a back-and-forth motion over the top of each scone.
Serve the scones warm from the microwave or toaster oven with a cup of tea or coffee for breakfast, brunch, or snack time. The fall spices are a pleasant reminder of pumpkin season.
Ingredients
These pumpkin spice scones use basic baking ingredients with pumpkin puree and warm pumpkin spice for the seasonal flavor.
All-Purpose Flour: Forms the base of the scone and gives this recipe its more substantial, bread-like biscuit crumb. Regular all-purpose flour is also an economical choice for everyday baking and does not require a specialty flour.
Baking Powder: Provides the lift needed as the scones bake. It helps keep the crumb tender without turning these into a soft, cake-like scone.
Sugar: Lightly sweetens the dough and helps distinguish the finished scone from a savory biscuit. Sugar also contributes to browning, including the golden crust that develops along the bottom.
Salt: Balances the sweetness and brings out the flavor of the pumpkin and warm spices.
Salted Butter: Cold salted butter adds flavor and creates small pockets of fat throughout the dough, giving the baked scones their lightly crumbly, biscuit-style texture. Keep the butter cold until you are ready to work it into the flour.
Eggs: I bake with large eggs. They help bind the dough together while adding structure and richness to the finished scones.
Pumpkin Puree: Use plain pumpkin puree rather than pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin puree adds moisture, color, and pumpkin flavor without the added sugar and seasonings found in prepared pie filling.
Milk: Add the milk gradually to bring the scone dough together. The dough should remain fairly firm rather than becoming wet or sticky, so you may not need to add it all at once.
Pumpkin Spice: Adds the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and other warm spice flavors that give these scones their pumpkin spice flavor. You can use a prepared blend or make my homemade pumpkin spice blend.
For the Spiced Icing
Icing Sugar: Forms the base of the icing and dissolves easily to create a smooth glaze that firms slightly as it dries.
Milk: Thins the icing to a consistency that can be drizzled over the cooled scones. Add it gradually so the icing does not become too thin.
Vanilla: Adds another layer of flavor to the icing and rounds out the warm spices.
Pumpkin Spice: A small amount of pumpkin spice carries the same warm spice flavor from the scone into the icing.
Substitutions and Add-In Suggestions for Pumpkin Spice Scones
These pumpkin spice scones have some flexibility, but the flour, baking powder, eggs, and pumpkin puree all play important roles in creating the bread-like biscuit texture of the dough.
All-Purpose Flour: I recommend keeping all-purpose flour for this recipe. I have not tested this dough with gluten-free flour, so I would not suggest a direct 1:1 substitution without further testing.
Baking Powder: Keep the baking powder as written. It provides the leavening needed for the scones to rise while maintaining their biscuit-style texture.
Sugar: Brown sugar can be used in place of the granulated sugar in a 1:1 ratio. It will add a slightly deeper molasses flavor and may make the crumb a little softer.
Salt: Keep the salt in the recipe to balance the sweetness and bring out the pumpkin spice flavor.
Butter: Unsalted butter can be used in place of salted butter. Margarine may also work, but because it contains a different amount of water and fat than butter, the texture may not be quite as crumbly or rich.
Eggs: Keep the eggs as written. They provide structure and help bind the pumpkin scone dough together, and replacing them with additional pumpkin would significantly change the moisture level of the recipe.
Pumpkin Puree: Use plain pumpkin puree for these pumpkin spice scones. Replacing it with sweet potato or butternut squash puree would change the flavor and turn this into a different type of scone rather than a pumpkin scone.
Milk: If you have a small amount of heavy cream to use up, it can be used in place of some or all of the milk. Because cream is richer, add it gradually and stop once the dough comes together rather than automatically using the full amount.
Vanilla: The vanilla in the icing can simply be omitted. Maple or almond extract can also be used for a different icing flavor, but use almond extract sparingly because its flavor is much stronger.
Icing Sugar: Keep icing sugar as the base of the glaze because its fine texture creates the smooth consistency needed for drizzling.
Pumpkin Spice: For a simpler icing, use cinnamon instead of pumpkin spice. You can also leave the spice out entirely for a plain vanilla icing.
Expert Tips, Serving and Storing Suggestions for Pumpkin Spice Scones
Tip #1: Keep the Butter Cold: Cold butter helps create the lightly crumbly, biscuit-style texture in these pumpkin spice scones. Work it into the flour while it is still firm so small pieces of butter remain in the dough as the scones bake.
Tip #2: Mix the Dough Gently: Avoid overworking the dough once the wet ingredients are added. Add the milk gradually and mix only until the dough comes together; too much mixing can make the finished scones tougher and less tender.
Tip #3: Look for Doneness, Not Just Time: The pumpkin spice scones are done when the bottoms are golden brown and the tops no longer look wet. Lightly press the surface of one scone; it should yield slightly and spring back rather than feeling soft or doughy.
Serving Suggestions
The dough itself is only lightly sweetened, so the spiced icing adds most of the sweetness and can be drizzled lightly or more generously depending on how you prefer them.
For a simpler scone, leave off the icing and serve them with butter. Their firmer, bread-like biscuit crumb also makes them a good choice when you want a pumpkin scone that is less cake-like and not overly sweet. If you prefer this firmer, biscuit-style scone texture, you may also want to try my cherry scones for another homemade scone option.
Serve pumpkin spice scones slightly warm or at room temperature with coffee or tea for a weekend family breakfast, fall brunch, or afternoon snack with coffee or tea. If you’re planning a fall breakfast or brunch around pumpkin season, pumpkin baked oatmeal with pecan crisp topping is another make-ahead breakfast option.
Storing Pumpkin Spice Scones
Store cooled pumpkin spice scones in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. They can also be refrigerated for up to 5 days, although refrigeration may make the crumb slightly firmer.
For longer storage, freeze the scones without the icing in a freezer-safe bag or container. Thaw them at room temperature, then add the spiced icing once they have completely thawed.
If you make these pumpkin spice scones, I would love to know whether you prefer them with the spiced icing or served plain with butter.
For another seasonal baking option, my rhubarb scones use the same type of homemade scone format with a completely different seasonal flavor.
FAQ
Pumpkin Spice Scones
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- Small Mixing Bowl
- Teaspoon
- Tablespoon
- baking sheet
- Wire Cooling Rack
Ingredients
The Pumpkin Scones
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 4 Tsp Baking Powder
- 3 Tsp Sugar
- 1 Tsp Salt
- ¼ Cup Butter Cold, Cubed
- 2 Lrg Eggs
- 1 Tsp Pumpkin Spice Blend
- ¼ Cup Pumpkin Puree
- 4 Tbsp Milk +More If Needed
The Pumpkin Spice Icing
- 2 Tbsp Milk Or Cream
- 1 Cup Icing Sugar
- ½ Tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½ Tsp Pumpkin Spice Blend
Instructions
The Pumpkin Scones
- Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C)
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.2 Cups All-Purpose Flour, 4 Tsp Baking Powder, 3 Tsp Sugar, 1 Tsp Salt
- Add the cubed cold butter to the dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter, blend the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.¼ Cup Butter
- Add the eggs, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice to the mixture. Stir gently with a spoon to combine. The dough will be slightly dry.2 Lrg Eggs, 1 Tsp Pumpkin Spice Blend, ¼ Cup Pumpkin Puree
- Gradually add the milk to the dough, mixing gently until just combined. Add enough milk until the dough is not overly dry.4 Tbsp Milk
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently work the dough, adding flour as needed until it is no longer sticky. Form the dough into a ball.
- Flour a sharp, large knife. Cut the dough ball into eighths (triangular wedges).
- Place the scone wedges on a baking sheet (no parchment paper needed). Bake for 30 minutes or until they are golden brown.
- Transfer the baked scones to a wire rack to cool. Allow them to cool nearly completely before adding icing.
The Pumpkin Spice Icing
- In a small bowl, mix the icing sugar, milk or cream, pumpkin spice, and vanilla extract until smooth.2 Tbsp Milk, 1 Cup Icing Sugar, ½ Tsp Vanilla Extract, ½ Tsp Pumpkin Spice Blend
- Drizzle the icing over each cooled scone in a back-and-forth motion.
Notes
- Use plain pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Keep the butter cold until you are ready to work it into the flour.
- Add the milk gradually. The dough should come together but remain fairly firm rather than wet or sticky.
- Avoid overworking the dough; too much mixing can make the scones tough.
- The scones are done when the bottoms are golden brown, the tops no longer look moist, and the surface springs back lightly when pressed.
- The spiced icing is optional. Let the scones cool before drizzling so the icing does not melt into the surface.
- Store cooled scones in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerate for up to 5 days.
- For freezing, freeze the scones without icing. Thaw at room temperature and add the icing after they have completely thawed.
Nutrition
