Pumpkin Scones with Maple Glaze

September 2007. Kirsten’s bachelorette party. Not the first place one would expect to fall in love with scones.

But at this supremely classy affair, we went wine tasting and had high tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. There were porcelain teapots straight out of a Jane Austen novel and overstuffed settees. More importantly, there were crumbly scones fresh from the oven, served with pots of clotted cream and jam.

I immediately assumed that all scones would be this delicious, but this assumption exposed as false as soon as I was next in a Starbucks. Starbucks scones are neither British nor American:* if they aren’t sickly sweet, they are dry and tasteless – and there is nary a dollop of clotted cream to be found.

Fortunately, last spring’s blueberry scones demanded some time in the oven, and that was the end of scone abstinence. I came upon the base recipe for these pumpkin scones when the aforementioned blueberry scones were both featured in a delightful scone round-up, and my scone frenzy began in earnest.

Let’s be very clear here: the cream cheese chunks in these scones are heavenly, particularly right out of the oven. If you want to adapt, as I encourage you to do, I beg you not to remove the cream cheese. I think I would take this scone over a pumpkin maple cream cheese cupcake, and that’s really saying something.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Scones with Maple Glaze
Adapted from Bodacious Girl

*Unlike the British-style scones from the Prince of Wales, American-style scones aren’t meant to be topped with additional cream and sweetness. Instead, the fat and sugar is baked right into the biscuit – and that’s what we’ve got here.

Other than the maple glaze, I did make one serious alteration to the base recipe by applying the Cook’s Illustrated grated butter technique. It’s a pain in the butt, but I think the flaky results are worth it. I find that one-pound blocks of butter are easier to grate than the individual sticks, particularly if you have a kitchen scale and are working by weight. Once the butter is grated, you just mix, shape and bake.

For the scones:
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, frozen solid
4 ounces (1/2 package) cream cheese, very cold
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling!)
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking sodaView Post
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

For the maple glaze:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 teaspoon maple extract (optional, but it really ratchets up the mapliness.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Working as quickly as possible, grate the butter on the large side of a box grater. Return the grated butter to the freezer. Cut the cream cheese into small dice and put it in the freezer as well. In a small bowl, combine pumpkin, buttermilk, maple syrup and vanilla, and stick that in the freezer as well.

In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and whisk until uniform. Add the grated butter to the dry ingredients and toss quickly with your fingers until butter is coated in flour. Add the cream cheese chunks and do the same; try not to press on or squish either the butter or the cream cheese. Gently fold the cold pumpkin mixture into the flour-butter mixture, mixing until just combined. If the dough is too dry, add a little more pumpkin puree, a teaspoon at a time. Return the whole dish to the freezer for 5 minutes.

Lightly flour a work surface. Turn the dough out onto the surface and pat into a 12 inch square. Fold the dough in thirds to produce a 4 inch by 12 inch envelope. Using a bench scraper or flat-edged knife, cut the rectangle into relatively square quarters, then cut each quarter into triangles. Arrange the scones on the baking sheet. (If you have another baking sheet the same size, stack them so that the bottoms of the scones won’t brown too far.) Bake for 15 minutes, or until scones are puffy and do not squish when poked. Remove to a rack to cool.

While the scones are baking, whisk together the ingredients for the maple glaze in a measuring cup with a spout. Once the scones have cooled enough that you can touch them, drizzle the top of each scone with the maple glaze. If the glaze hardens in the glass before you are finished, just zap it in the microwave for a few seconds. Serve warm.

Freeze what you can’t eat right away, and reheat them gently in the oven before serving.

Tagged as: buttermilk, cream cheese, maple syrup, pumpkin