Secret Recipe Club--Pumpkin Spice Scones

Ohmyohmyohmy-o.

This month for Secret Recipe Club I had A Spoonful of Thyme for my blog. I'd pinned several salads to try and then I saw these scones and I thought, "Who needs salad? I mean, these have a vegetable in them too, right?" Totes.

And then--I know you drizzle things on your salads, right--well, I figured I better drizzle something on my pumpkin scones as well. A Spoonful of Thyme used a beautiful and delicious-sounding cream cheese drizzle. But then I opened my cupboard and saw that my husband had opened the speculoos cookie spread. And then I realized that maybe a speculoos cookie spread glaze with pumpkin scones might, just might, be the next cure for cancer. So I didn't want to, you know, miss out on that. So then this happened.

It didn't cure cancer (well, not that I know of). But I can't say I regretted the experiment.

My kids didn't either. They wolfed these down and beg beg begged me to make more today. Thanks, Spoonful of Thyme for the perfect fall breakfast/dessert (depending on your standards for such things).

Pumpkin Spice Scones with Speculoos Glaze
adapted from A Spoonful of Thyme
makes 8 large scones
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Cost: $1.85 or about $.22/scone
flour: .15, whole wheat flour: .10, sugar: .10, butter: .40, pumpkin: .35, egg: .10, half and half: .05, spices: .20, powdered sugar: .10, cookie spread: .30 (um, I don't quite remember how much this cost, so I'm sort of making this up)

A few notes:
-Spoonful of Thyme used all all-purpose flour, but I added 1/2 C whole wheat and found it perfectly delightful.
-The risk with scones is having them dry out. To avoid this: 1) DO NOT OVERMIX them. I took mine out when still kind of a crumbly blop and then pressed and formed it into a ball and that was all it needed. 2) DO NOT OVERBAKE them. I went with 10 minutes and it was perfect. This didn't make them golden, so I wouldn't recommend going for golden brown. When they're puffy and look done, take them out. Stick a fork in it if you're worried it's doughy in the middle.

For the scones:

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
7 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
6 Tbsp cold butter
1/2 C canned pumpkin
3 Tbsp half and half
1 large egg

For the glaze: 

1/3 C powdered sugar
2 Tbsp speculoos cookie spread (this is generally a seasonal item--likes like peanut butter; tastes like cookies in a spoon)
2 Tbsp milk

For the scones:

Combine all dry ingredients. I did this in a food processor. Then add the butter in chunks and process until the big pieces are gone.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, pumpkin, and half and half.

Then add this to the food processor. Do NOT overprocess it.

Process it until it's crumbly and mostly combined-ish. then dump it out and fold it a few times (as in 4 kneads, not 75 kneads) to be sure it's uniform in flour-y-ness. Then form it into a ball. That's it. Do NOT keep messing with it. Gently roll it into a circle on a WELL-FLOURED surface (I hope you're enjoying the caps. I feel strongly about certain aspects of this recipe). Don't skimp on the flour or it will get stuck and you'll have to scrape it up and maybe re-need it and life as you know it will be ruined. Well, probably not, but your scones may be slightly tougher than you prefer.

 Okay--so roll it out into a circle that's about 1/2 inch think. Then cut it into 8 pieces.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Again--don't overbake this. It will be a little too dry and a little too crumbly.

Let cool.

For cookie spread glaze:

Combine all ingredients and whisk.

When your scones are cool, drizzle with the speculoos cookie spread (or Spoonful of Thyme's cream cheese frosting).

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