recipe of the week: copycat scones

my friend natasha and i have been enjoying fall at starbucks

you see, on our road trip to arkansas we discovered that they had these a.m.a.z.i.n.g pumpkin scones

and we loved them

(they compliment pumpkin spice lattes quite well.  just in case you're wondering)

but, as you may have heard, starbucks

is a *little* expensive

so after our 2nd scone of the season

natasha ran across this little recipe

it's a copycat scone recipe

and while our version isn't as PRETTY as the starbucks version

it also cost us about 2 times the price of one of their scones to make 6 large or 24 mini scones

plus our version used all natural and organic ingredients from trader joe's

so it's better :)

so...there you go

i've simplified the recipe a little (we use pumpkin pie spice in place of the ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves the original recipe called for) and made it a little easier to understand (we stared at the recipe for several minutes the first time while we tried to figure out how they wanted us to cut the scones.  once we figured it out, we said "ok, we can do better than THAT"

one note: this recipe is actually 3 in one.  i'm listing the scones first, then the glazes.  whatever you do, take the time to make the glazes!  it means that you'll be waiting about 2 hours after they are done to enjoy them but it is SO worth it!

scones

2 cups flour

7 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

6 tablespoons cold butter

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

3 tablespoons half and half

1 egg

preheat oven to 425゜F.  lightly use butter to grease a pan/cookie sheet (we changed that from using oil. we figured it would be better to have buttered scones than oiled.  don't you?)

* combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices) in a large bowl.  using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious.

(that is the hardest part, if you have only a fork.  i'm totally asking for a food processor for christmas.  or buying it myself first.  :)

* in a separate bowl whisk together pumpkin, half and half and egg.

fold wet ingredients into dry.  form the dough into a ball

* pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into a rectangle approximately 1 inch thick.  it will turn out to be about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide.  use a large knife or pizza cutter to slice the dough into 3 equal long strips (2 cuts from top to bottom, making each strip about an inch wide).

* for large scones, cut each of your 3 long strips diagonally in the center, making 6 equally sized scones total.

* for small scones, cut 8 triangles out of each strip of dough, making 24 total scones

(i'm not convinced i said that any better than the original recipe...hard to explain!)

* bake for 14 - 16 minutes, or until light brown.  place on wire rack to cool while you make the glazes

powdered sugar glaze

1 cup powdered sugar, plus 1 tablespoon 

2 tablespoon whole milk

* mix the powdered sugar and milk together until smooth

* when scones are cool, use a brush to paint the glaze over the top of each scone

* wait for the first glaze to firm up while making the spiced glaze

 

spiced glaze

1 cup powdered sugar, plus 3 additional tablespoons

2 tablespoons whole milk

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

combine ingredients, and then drizzle over each scone.  you can be all fancy with it, but it'll taste the same either way ;)

allow the icing to dry before serving...this will take about an hour.

(again, may i remind you that it's totally worth the wait)

enjoy!