While the fall is often synonymous with pumpkin season, I am a fan of cooking and baking with pumpkin year round. Pumpkins are full of beta-carotene, fiber, potassium, vitamins C & E and magnesium… all nutrients that our bodies need. So I like to keep pumpkin in rotation all throughout the year.
In addition to all of its health benefits, pumpkin is delicious! It is great in sweet or savory dishes and is often paired up with warm spices and while pumpkin spice gets all of the press as soon as the nights get chilly, I prefer this squash paired with a great chai spice blend instead.
These pumpkin scones are full of the warm, comforting flavors of chai and ride the line between a soft, tender scone and its drier, more crumbly counterpart. They are simple to bring together and make for a delicious breakfast, snack or dessert.
Let’s get started…
Begin by combining all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. You’ll need 3 cups of all purpose flour, 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of cloves and a healthy pinch of cardamom.
Pumpkin Spice vs Chai Spice
If you are wondering what the difference is between pumpkin and chai spice blends, they are similar and can vary from brand to brand, but here are the typical differences…
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- Pumpkin spice is cinnamon forward, while most chai blends are more ginger and cardamom forward creating a slightly more spicy flavor profile.
- While chai can contain nutmeg, it is more of a background flavor than one of the main flavors like it is in pumpkin spice.
- Chai usually contains cardamom, star anise and black pepper, while most pumpkin spice blends do not include these spices.
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If you have ever avoided baking scones or biscuits because you are not sure how to properly “cut” cold butter into the dough then I have a trick that will have you confidently baking with cold butter doughs from this day forward!
Instead of adding cold, cubed butter and working it into the batter with a pastry cutter, we are going to add little shreds of butter that will not only be super easy to distribute throughout the dough, but also requires to special cutting skills.
To do this, simple place your butter into the freezer for a few minutes to let it firm up. Run the amount of butter your recipe calls for (8 tablespoons or 1 stick of butter in todays recipes) over a large cheese grater until all of the butter is in little shreds. Do this over a plate or bowl and then transfer the shredded butter back into the freezer until you are ready to add it to your dough.
Easy peasy.
Once the cold shredded butter has been evenly distributed throughout the dry ingredients, add a combination of 2/3 cup of pure pumpkin puree, 3/4 cup of heavy cream and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and mix until everything comes together into a shaggy dough.
The dough may feel a little too dry at this point, but thats ok. It is better to slightly under mix scone dough than to overmix it and warm the butter up, so work quickly and handle it as little as possible.
Transfer the shaggy dough onto a floured surface and “knead” the dough by gently folding it and pressing it out. You shouldn’t need to fold and shape the dough more than 8 times.
You have a few options for cutting your scones. Today, I shaped all of the dough into a large round that was an inch thick and cut out 8 large scones, but you can divide the dough in half and form 2 smaller rounds to make 12 medium scones or even 16 mini scones. You can also shape the dough into a square and cut out square scones.
However you decide to shape and cut your scones, brush off any excess flour from the sides and bottom and transfer them onto a parchment lined or non-stick baking sheet. Transfer the scones into your freezer or refrigerator (whichever your baking dish will fit into) and start preheating your oven to 400 degrees.
When your oven is preheated, brush the chilled scones with cold heavy cream and sprinkle their tops with some coarse grained sugar.
Bake the scones in a 400 degree oven for 22-24 minutes for large scones or 16-18 minutes for smaller scones. They are ready to come out of the oven when they are lightly golden brown and feel set to a light touch.
Transfer the baked scones onto a cooling rack and let’s mix up a simple chai vanilla glaze to dress these beauties up with…
In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 teaspoon of your favorite chai seasoning (or a pinch of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves) with a pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, 1 cup of sifted confectioners sugar and enough heavy cream to create a thick, but drizzle-able consistency. This should take 1-2 tablespoons.
Once the scones have cooled off a little bit, give them a healthy drizzle with that fabulous glaze and if you have any leftover, go back for a second pass. You can’t really have too much glaze in my opinion…
These scones are fantastic and like I mentioned earlier, they are right between a tender, more moist scone and a drier, crumbly scone. I feel like both scone aficionados could appreciate these scones.
Like most scones, these pumpkin chai scones are best on the day you bake them up, but I will say that if you wrap them up well or place them in an airtight container, they are good the day after too!
If you are looking for tall, flaky scones with bold pumpkin flavors and warm chai spices then I am proud to say that you have found them.
Now all you need to do is bake them up and enjoy.
Pumpkin Chai Scones
Ingredients
Pumpkin Chai Scones
- 8 tablespoons of butter, frozen and shredded
- 3 cups of all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom
- 2/3 cup of pure pumpkin pureè
- 3/4 cup of heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- additional heavy cream (for brushing the scones)
- coarse sugar (for garnishing)
Chai Vanilla Glaze
- 1/2 teaspoon of your favorite chai seasoning (or a pinch of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves)
- a pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 cup of confectioners sugar, sifted
- 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream
Instructions
Make the scones...
- Place 8 tablespoons of butter into the freezer to firm up for 10 minutes and then use a cheese grater to grate it into small pieces. Return it to the freezer for now.
- In a large bowl, combine 3 cups of all purpose flour with 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of cloves
- Add the 8 tablespoons of frozen, grated butter and quickly mix to evenly distribute the butter
- Add 2/3 cup of pure pumpkin puree, 3/4 cup of heavy cream and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and quickly mix until the dough is just combined
- Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and fold the dough about 8 times to bring together into a large round, 2 smaller rounds or narrow rectangle that is 1 inch thick
- Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into wedges and transfer the wedges onto a parchment lined baking sheet leaving 2 inches between each wedge
- Transfer the wedges into your refrigerator or freezer while you preheat your oven to 400 degrees
- Once the oven is preheated, brush the tops of the dough with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar
- Bake the scones for 22-24 minutes or until they are tall and feel set to a light touch
- Transfer the scones to a cooling rack to cool while you prepare the glaze
Make the chai vanilla glaze...
- In a small bowl, combine 1/2 teaspoon of your favorite chai seasoning, a pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 cup of sifted confectioners sugar
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream to create a thick, but drizzle-able consistency
Assemble the scones...
- Once the scones have cooled a bit, drizzle them with a generous amount of chai vanilla glaze
- Store leftovers at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 days
