Whole Wheat Pumpkin Scones with Spiced Glaze

I made these and they were very tasty -- not too sweet, but satisfied my hunger for a hearty harvest scone. I have never made scones before, so this was a first! There are a lot of recipes out there like this, but this one doesn't have the extra powdered sugar glaze which means it isn't overly sweet. I do recommend you eat them all up in one sitting or within a day or try one for dessert with pumpkin ice cream!

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup, plus 2 Tbsp. sugar (I use evaporated cane sugar)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (I freshly grate this)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into cubes about 1/2 inch each
1/2 cup canned organic pumpkin puree
3 Tbsp buttermilk or half and half (might need a smidgen more if your egg isn't big)
1 large (extra large is better) egg, beaten

Spiced Glaze
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp whole milk
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground ginger
1 pinch ground cloves

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and flour lightly with a small amount of whole wheat flour. Set aside

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. Add butter and cost it with the flour mixture. With a pastry blender (or your hands) mix the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse corn meal. Butter should be no larger than a petite pea.

In another bowl, mix wet ingredients: pumpkin, buttermilk or half and half and the beaten egg Stir until well blended, then add to the dry ingredients to form a ball. It should resemble biscuit dough. If too wet, knead a little on a floured surface. If too dry, try adding a touch more of buttermilk. The key is not to over mix the dough or your scones won't be light and fluffy.

Pat the dough onto the floured parchment paper into a 1-inch thick rectangle approximately 4 inches wide by 12 inches long (use a ruler, I did!).

Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 3 equal portions (about 4X4 inch squares). Then cut each square into an "X" pattern so you end up with 12 triangular pieces of dough. Separate the triangles slightly or leave together if you want the scones to be less "crisp" around the edges.

Bake for 14-16 minutes or until lightly brown and when touched they spring back.

While the scones are baking, make the glaze.  Drizzle the glaze onto each scone in a zigzag pattern. Save about half of it to glaze again as the scones cool. You can cool the scones on a wire rack and wait to eat for an hour -- or serve warm with more of the glaze. Use up the glaze on the scones, but if you don't want them too sweet, you can allow the eaters to put more glaze on, depending upon personal preference.

Store any uneaten scone in a tightly sealed container. They taste best out of the oven or if eaten the same day they are baked. If you know you won't eat all of the scones, you can freeze the unbaked scones and then thaw and bake as directed above, maybe adding a few extra minutes if they are cold when you place them in the oven.

They are very filling and have a nice nutty flavor. Feel free to add pecans to the mix or put a few raw pumpkin seeds on top of them after you glaze them (that's what I will do the next time I make these).