Pumpkin Scones
Our mom loves her afternoon tea. Along with the Iraqi custom of enjoying cups of tea any time of the day, she also appreciates the English tradition of afternoon tea. This is a tradition she experienced spending summers in England with her family and friends. We also grew up experiencing this English tradition both at home and on special occasions at hotels in Chicago. I always loved the finger sandwiches mixed with the slight savory and sweet scones. Our mom loves this tradition so much that we actually surprised her and hosted her 40th birthday party at Ritz Carlton’s teatime in Chicago. I even continued this tradition when I was away at school by going to the TeaHaus for teatime in Ann Arbor.
Of course, what would the Three Teas be if we didn’t have a post dedicated to the English teatime! Fall is a wonderful time to embrace this tradition with a warm cup of tea, and we wanted to add a splash of Autumn to this custom with Pumpkin Scones!
Pumpkin Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (cold)
- 1 egg (cold)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream (cold)
- 1 tsp lebne (thick yogurt)
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- turbinado sugar
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 F and place parchment paper on a baking sheet
- In a medium sized bowl, add dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, pumpkin spice, cardamom, and sifted baking powder. Whisk together
- Cut cold butter into small pieces and add to flour (if butter has softened while cutting, add to the freezer for a few minutes). Combine with flour using a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture looks like a coarse meal. You can also use a food processor but pulse mixture and do not over mix
- In a separate bowl, combine the egg, heavy cream, lebne, and pumpkin puree. All ingredients should be cold. Whisk until combined
- Add the cold ingredients to the flour mixture. Mix until just combined
- Scoop scone mixture to form 6-8 scone mounds on the baking sheet
- Brush scones with cream and sprinkle turbinado sugar on top
- Place in oven for 10-15 minutes until the tops of the scones start to brown
