{ über moist pumpkin scones }

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Put all of your dry ingredients, flour through ginger, in a bowl and mix with a whisk. A fork will do the trick in a pinch as well. You can also substitute the cake flour with an all-purpose flour and cornstarch combo…a quick search online will give you the combination. I haven’t tried with this recipe so I wouldn’t want to recommend specifics.
3. Sprinkle your cut butter pieces on the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender (or your fingers) mix until it resembles coarse sand. You want all of the butter pieces covered in flour and in smaller pieces, but be sure not to overwork your dough here. Sprinkle the sugar over the flour mixture and toss with a fork to evenly distribute.
4. Put the pumpkin puree, eggs, milk and vanilla in another bowl and whisk together.
5. Pour the pumpkin mixture over the flour mixture. Gently mix with a fork until incorporated. This will be a sticky dough! You want this…that’s what’s going to make it so moist. But these next couple steps are a wee messy because of this fact. Prepare yourself.
6. Separate into two (sloppy) dough balls of equal size in the bowl.
7. Prepare a cookie sheet with either a Silpat or parchment paper. If using the latter dust with some flour.
8. Slop your dough balls onto opposite corners of the cookie sheet. Gently mold into two round discs. Pat down a bit. Don’t overwork. Sprinkle with the sugar. I go a little heavy here because I like the way it looks and tastes. Use your judgment.
9. Put into the freezer and set the timer for thirty minutes. Wash your hands, they’re a mess.
10. While our dough is chillin’, let’s make the glaze. Put the powdered sugar and maple syrup in a bowl and whisk. It will be thick. Slowly add your milk, a tablespoon at a time. You want this to be thick so that it will give a nice white coat to the top of the scone. If it’s too thin it doesn’t give as dramatic a look and it all falls down the side. Set your schmooey aside.
11. Put the pumpkin, spices, powdered sugar and maple syrup in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Slowly add the milk until you get the right consistency. You want the same desired thickness as above. Taste it and adjust the flavors as necessary. I go heavy on the spices because I like my pumpkin pretty spiced up.
12. Pull it out of the freezer. It should be much more manageable. Cut each disc into either 6 or 8 scones. Carefully pull each scone out a bit so that it has room to grow as it bakes. If it’s sticky, put a little flour down and flour up your spatula. That should help.
13. Put in the oven and set the timer for 14 minutes. Start watching around 10 minutes. You want the tops to have a nice crack, a nice rise and a nice tan. Careful balance with that tan…if they’re in the oven too long they’ll dry out. Think dry like Highway 15 in California…no buena. Don’t wanna drive it and I certainly don’t want to put any of it in my mouth.
14. Put a piece of parchment paper on your cooling rack to set the scones on when they come out of the oven.
15. Give them about 5 minutes to cool on the cookie sheet then transfer them to the parchment-covered cooling rack.
16. After about 20 minutes of cooling, spoon the glaze over the top. You can also use a spoon to drizzle the drizzle, or you can put the drizzle in a plastic baggie and cut the corner to make a more defined drizzle line on the scone. I can never make anything look perfect so I go for a more Jackson Pollock kinda look.
17. Not bad for a breakfast sweet treat in under an hour. Boom. Happy fall.