Christmas Notebook

While looking for ideas for Menu Plan Monday, I came across a recipe on cincyshopper.com for CopyCat Starbucks Pumpkin Scones. I made a double batch which worked very well. The recipe below is for a single batch of scones. Makes 8-12, depending on how they are cut.

Pumpkin Scones
Preheat oven to 400°F. Using the blade in a food processor, blend the following dry ingredients.

• 2 1/2 c. unbleached flour (I used 2 cups of unbleached flour and 1/2 cup of almond flour.)
• 6 T sugar
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Add the cubed butter to the dry mix and process until the butter is incorporated and the dry mixture has the texture of cornmeal.

• 1/2 c. (one stick) cold butter, cut into cubes

Add the following wet ingredients and pulse till well blended.

• 1/2 c. pumpkin puree
• 3 T heavy cream
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Optional: By hand, mix in

• 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips, raisins or walnuts.

The batter will be soft. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil. Sprinkle some flour on the parchment paper. Scrape the dough onto the paper. Sprinkle a little flour over the top of the dough to make it easier to handle. Shape into a round, about 3/4 of an inch high.

Use a knife or pizza cutter (dipped in flour after each cut) to cut the circle into eight to twelve pieces. I cut mine into twelve pieces and it made a nice size.

Bake for 18 minutes, or until golden brown.

When done baking, allow to cool and cut the wedges apart. To make the glaze for drizzling over the scones, stir the milk into the powdered sugar until well blended. Include the spices in the second glaze. Top the scones with the plain glaze, allow to set, then drizzle the spiced glaze over the top.

Plain Glaze

• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 2 T milk

Spiced Glaze

• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 2 T milk
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of cloves
• Pinch of ground ginger

I made a second batch, to use up the leftover canned pumpkin, and added chocolate chips. I didn’t use the plain glaze on those. The spiced glaze was plenty.

Allow the glaze to set before serving with coffee or hot tea.

The scones are supposed to be a copycat recipe for Starbuck’s pumpkin scones. I can’t speak to that, as I’ve never been to a Starbucks and haven’t tried their scones. If you have, and if you give the recipe a try, maybe you can give some feedback on how they compare.

The scones were very easy to make, didn’t take long to cook, were moist and tasted great. A sweet treat for the autumn months. We served them to guests with coffee and tea. Also had peach cobbler, which was good, too. Thanks, Pedro and Joan, and Jerry and Peggy for sharing the evening with us!

The scones would be good at breakfast or for an afternoon snack. If you like pumpkin, give them a try. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

~~Rhonda