Harvest Pumpkin Scones (21)

 

I've never loved scones. They fall into the "meh" category for me. But these scones have made me a believer.  

First, let's have a quick chat about flour. This recipe calls for King Arthur All Purpose Flour. It has a protein content of 11.7% This is much higher than most other brands. Can you bake this with whatever AP flour you have on hand? Of course. Will it turn out exactly the same? Of course not.  If you want to replicate results, you need to replicate ingredients. 

Now to the baking. These are assembled in much the same way that you would make a biscuit. I measured the dry team (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice) into a mixing bowl and gave it a quick stir to homogenize. Not going to lie--my teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice were heaping. I like a strong spice flavor. 

Then I busted out the pastry blender, and cut in an entire stick of butter. To make this step a little faster and easier, I cut the butter stick into eight or nine pieces before I tossed it into the flour mix. Cutting in the butter took a little elbow grease, so if you prefer, you can use a mixer with a paddle attachment. 

The recipe says the mixture is supposed to be unevenly mixed, and some butter chunks are fine. My OCD did not approve, but I acquiesced.  At this point you can add up to two cups of cinnamon chips, crystallized ginger, or "cinnamon sweet bits" (which they sell on their website). They are optional, but I highly recommend adding some (or all) of these inclusions. I went with a small amount of ginger, since my kids don't love it, and one cup of cinnamon sweet bits.  I set this bowl aside.

Now to the wet team. I measured pumpkin into a second bowl, added two eggs, and whisked for about 30 seconds until fully blended. This mixture gets plopped on top of the dry ingredients and everything gets stirred. Word to the wise: STOP MIXING when the dry flour is gone and the dough comes together. Not one stroke more. You don't want to create too much gluten, which will make your scones tough. 

I measured out the dough, so I could divide it into two equal halves, and placed both parts on one lightly floured parchment sheet. I pressed each half of the dough into a 5.5 inch circle (yes, I measured). The tops of both rounds were brushed with cream. I sprinkled one circle with big sugar crystals, and the other with a cinnamon/brown sugar mixture. 

I cut each round into six (somewhat even) pieces and slightly separated the wedges. I popped the whole thing into the freezer for 30 minutes. I have no idea why. The recipe says, and I do. I'm pretty much a sheep following PJ Hamel's voice here. 

At the end of the 30 minute freeze, I preheated the oven and put the scones in to bake. They took about 24 minutes to cook though, and brown. I immediately moved them to a cooling rack, and batted away the hands of my children until I could snap a few pictures. 

The ones with the big sugar crystals on top were the kid's favorite, and I liked the flavor of the cinnamon. Next time, I will combine them both. No one said anything about the ginger pieces inside, so I think I guestimated the amount just right. Those, along with the cinnamon bits, really made these scones over the top yummy. 

The crumb inside was soft, moist, and tight. Almost like a muffin. The spice level was just right for my personal preference, but can easily be adjusted to suit yours. Did I mention they smell like all things fall? I will definitively place this recipe into my regular cooking repertoire. 

Scores (out of 5): Breanna-4. Dustin-4 Michael-5. James-4. Andrew-4. Total 21/25

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/harvest-pumpkin-scones-recipe