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This easy pumpkin scones recipe yields soft ’n moist scones with flaky, crumbly edges, packed with pumpkin pie spice and topped with sweet maple glaze!
My Go-To Pumpkin Scones!
- Pillowy soft centers that are moist and tender–because we hate a dry scone!
- Flaky, crumbly exteriors that you’ll love dipping in your morning coffee.
- Pumpkin Breakfast Love: a delicious fall breakfast to go with pumpkin donuts and pumpkin overnight oats.
Is anyone as excited about the fall as I am? I mean, we’ve got pumpkin chocolate chip bars, pumpkin cake and now… this Easy Pumpkin Scones recipe! Sure, sure… fall can be about more than sweet treats, but really, what could be better than fresh-baked goodies with a steaming hot cup of coffee or tea and a good book? Today’s easy pumpkin scones are buttery, moist, flaky, and so easy to make, with a maple glaze or sugary topping. So grab your favorite bevy and get ready to get your fall bake on!
Tips for the Best Pumpkin Scones
- Use frozen butter and make sure it’s chilled when working into the dough. More on that below.
- Don’t skip the heavy cream: it creates a deliciously crisp, golden top that contrasts beautifully with the soft, tender interiors.
- Use canned pumpkin puree: fresh pumpkin puree tends to be too moist to get the just-right flaky texture of scone and it tends to not be uniformly blended.
- Don’t overwork the dough: simply fold the dough together until it’s a cohesive disc, it can be a little bit crumbly, not smooth. Overworking will result in tough scones.
How to Make Pumpkin Scones
- Preheat the oven to 400°F, then line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the dry ingredients for pumpkin scones (flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and spices) into a large bowl and whisk together.
- Grate the frozen butter. Work it into the dry ingredients using your fingers, just until large pea-sized bits of butter remain throughout the flour mixture.
- In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together the wet ingredients, including pumpkin puree, egg, vanilla, and heavy cream. Using a fork, stir together wet and dry ingredients components together. Using your fingers, work the ingredients together just until it becomes piecey, crumbly dough.
- Transfer the dough onto the baking pan. Fold and knead the dough into a disc. Press together any crumbly bits. Slice the dough into 8 wedges, then place it evenly on the baking sheet.
- Brush with heavy cream and bake for about 17 minutes.
- Cool and top your easy pumpkin scones with maple glaze or coarse sugar, then serve alongside monkey bread. Enjoy!
Easy Pumpkin Scones Toppings
- Maple Glaze <– this recipe is made with pure maple syrup and butter for the most delicious topping for these pumpkin scones!
- Coarse Sugar – quick ‘n easy, simply add the coarse sugar atop your unbaked scones once brushed with buttermilk.
- Plain – since we’ll be brushing the tops of these pumpkin scones with heavy cream, they’ll be beautiful and have a crisp top. Plain pumpkin scones are fabulous!
- Frosting – why is it that cream cheese frosting goes so well with pumpkin?? It’s a must-try.
Why Frozen Butter?
- Grate frozen butter for the best easy pumpkin scones. All you have to do is toss a stick of butter into the freezer about 30 minutes to 1 hour before you start. It’s surprisingly easy to grate butter, just mind your knuckles (and fingers).
- Make sure the grated butter is cold and chilled before folding into the pumpkin scones dough: if it’s not chilly to the touch, simply pop it back in the freezer for a few minutes to refreeze. The ice cold butter will melt in the oven to create tender, flaky layers.
For more delicious recipe ideas, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. If you’ve tried this recipe, take a pic and tag us on Instagram using #beamingbaker. We can’t wait to see it! Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️
More Delicious Pumpkin Recipes
Also try this easy pumpkin fluff dip.
Easy Pumpkin Scones
This easy pumpkin scones recipe yields soft ’n moist scones with flaky edges, packed with pumpkin pie spice and topped with sweet maple glaze!
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1 stick, frozen
- ½ cup 100% pure pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream, plus more for brushing tops of scones
Optional Toppings
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together Dry Ingredients: flour, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, ground ginger, and salt.
- Grate frozen butter.1 Using your fingers, quickly work butter into the Dry Ingredients just until you get a coarse, crumbly mixture–it should be chilly once done. If not, set bowl in freezer to chill during wet ingredients prep.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together Wet Ingredients: pumpkin puree, egg, vanilla, and cream until smooth and well mixed.
- Transfer wet ingredients into dry ingredients bowl. Using a fork, stir together until mostly mixed and it's tinted light orange throughout.
- Switch to using fingers, gently working ingredients together until moistened, making sure not to overwork or overheat the dough. The dough will be piecey and the butter bits should still be solid and chilled, but not melted.
- Transfer dough to lined baking sheet. Gently knead and fold the mixture into a 6-inch disc that’s 1-inch thick.2 Don’t worry about small cracks, they’ll bake together. The dough will spread a lot during baking.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the disc into 8 wedges. Place each wedge about 2 inches apart on the lined baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, brush tops of scones with cream (makes the tops pretty). If skipping glaze, sprinkle with sparkling sugar now.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes. Mine took 17 minutes. Transfer scones directly onto a cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Drizzle or dip with maple glaze. Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes. Enjoy!
- ★ Last Step: If you made this recipe, leave a comment and review. It truly helps our small business keep running and it helps readers like you!
Notes
- 1: It’s important to keep the butter frozen and chilled throughout this recipe, so work quickly but safely. If it’s softened by the time you’re done grating, simply chill in the freezer until cold.
- 2: The less you overwork the dough, the more tender your pumpkin scones will be.
- Do not dip scones directly out of the oven, the glaze won’t turn out right.
- Grating the butter instead of cutting into cubes is quicker and creates more uniform pockets of butter in the scones. Recommended!
- See more tips in the post above.
Nutrition
Calories: 300kcal, Carbohydrates: 38g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.5g, Cholesterol: 60mg, Sodium: 293mg, Potassium: 97mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 2851IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 101mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
These look so good! Is it okay if I don’t have all the spices you listed?
Hi Shelly! It definitely tastes best if you use them all, but if you’re missing one or two that’s totally fine. Hope you enjoy!
Made these with my grandbabies and we loved them! They especially liked mixing the dough with their hands. Next time we’re going to try the donuts.
LOL that might be our favorite part, too! 😂 So glad to hear the little ones enjoyed it so much!
Hi Demeter,
Can these scones be made gluten free they look delicious but I can’t have gluten. I love a lot of your gluten free receipes.
Hi Maria! I haven’t tried it with a GF blend, so I can’t say for sure, but it should be fine. Might take a bit of experimenting because every brand works a little different. Hope you enjoy!