I love pumpkins, I’m sure you love pumpkins… we all love pumpkins, so we don’t need to waste a whole bunch of time discussing how wonderful those chubby little squashes are when we could be making something delicious with them, right?
A few nights ago, my brother sent me a picture of some beautiful biscuits he had just baked up and it got me thinking about how wonderful pumpkin biscuits would be. Pumpkins add wonderful moisture and flavor to so many baked things and these biscuits are proof of that. They come together quick and are tall, flaky and super flavorful.
Let’s get started…
Butter is the most important ingredient in biscuit making and the way it is treated will help determine how tall and flaky your biscuits turn out. If you are a confident biscuit baker then you can cut cold cubes of butter into the dough with a pastry cutter and move on, but if you are not a pro at cutting in cold butter then I would love to introduce you to a super simple alternative…
Begin by placing the butter into your freezer for a few minutes to firm things up a bit. Quickly run the cold butter over the large side of your grater to create big butter shreds. I usually do this over a flat plate, so I can transfer the plate back into the freezer to keep the shredded butter cold until I am ready to use it.
The shredded butter is not only all the same size, but when it is super cold, it breaks apart easily and distributes throughout the biscuit or scone dough super easy. No fancy cutting skills required.
Now that your butter is shredded and chilling in the freezer, combine 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1/3 cup of brown sugar, a tablespoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon of cloves in a large bowl.
Once the dry ingredients are combined, add the cold shredded butter and use a fork to quickly mix until the butter is evenly distributed.
Add 1 1/4 cup of pumpkin purée and 2/3 cup of buttermilk and mix with a fork until a shaggy dough forms. Unlike other doughs, we are going to touch this mixture as little as possible to avoid warming up the butter.
The dough may feel like a tiny bit dry, but this is normal. As long as you don’t see much dry flour unincorporated, you are good to transfer the dough onto a floured surface.
Sprinkle a little flour over the top of the dough and then quickly and gently knead by folding a forming the dough into a rectangle that is about an inch thick. Try not to fold the dough over more than 10 times. A gentle touch and light forming is all a biscuit dough needs…
Use a round biscuit cutter if you want round biscuits or a sharp knife if you prefer square biscuits. I use a 2 1/2″ round biscuit cutter and this recipe makes 8 biscuits that size.
Transfer the cut out biscuits onto a parchment lined or non-stick baking sheet or place them into a generously greased cast iron skillet and transfer them into the freezer (or refrigerator, if space is an issue) to chill while you preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Once the oven is preheated, bake your pumpkin biscuits for 18-20 minutes or until they are tall, flakey and lightly golden.
To add a little punch of that classic buttery biscuit flavor, brush the tops of each biscuit with melted butter as soon as you pull them out of the oven while they are still piping hot.
These pumpkin biscuits are truly wonderful. They are so tall with tons of flaky layers and the flavor… is amazing. The pumpkin is bold and although they are a little sweeter than your average biscuit, the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves round them out perfectly.
Now you can eat them straight out of the skillet while they are still nice and warm or you could whip up a little bit of my whipped maple butter and make things extra delish.
However you choose to enjoy them, you are going to absolutely love these pumpkin biscuits.
Pumpkin Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup of butter, shredded and cold
- 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup of brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
- 1 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree
- 2/3 cup of full fat buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons of butter, melted
Instructions
- Use a large grater to shred 3/4 cup of cold butter and chill until ready to use
- In a large bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1/3 cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon of cloves
- Add the cold shredded butter and quickly mix until evenly distributed
- Add 1 1/4 cup of pumpkin purée and 2/3 cup of buttermilk and mix until a shaggy dough develops
- Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and gently knead just enough to bring the dough together (about 10 times) and gently press it out to about an inch thick
- Use a floured cutter to cut out the biscuits and place them onto a greased skillet or baking sheet
- Transfer the cut out biscuits into the refrigerator or freezer while you preheat your oven to 425°
- Once the oven has preheated, bake the biscuits for 18-20 minutes or until fluffy and golden brown
- Brush with melted butter
- Serve warm with butter, honey or whipped maple butter
