These pumpkin spice scones are the perfect fall treat. Inspired by Starbucks they are a tender and flaky pastry with plenty of pumpkin flavor, a golden top and spiced glaze!
If you love scones, try Irish scones, blueberry scones and glazed orange scones, too!
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Table of Contents
Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Scones Recipe
These pumpkin spice scones are a delicious pumpkin recipe for fall that come together quickly and bake up tender and light. Using pumpkin puree keeps these soft and moist!
They taste just the Starbucks pumpkin scones and a spiced powdered sugar glaze on top is the perfect finishing touch.
They are one of our favorite fall breakfasts to make, as well as pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls and pumpkin waffles. I love to pair one with a mug of hot chocolate or apple cider!
Ingredients Needed
- All-purpose flour: Learn how to measure flour accurately. Too much flour will lead to dry scones.
- Granulated sugar: Adds sweet taste, you could substitute with brown sugar if you love the molasses flavor.
- Baking powder: This adds lift and rise to the pumpkin spice scone.
- Spices: Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Salt helps enhance the flavor.
- Cold butter: I cut my cold butter into small pieces, but you can grate it too.
- Pumpkin puree: Not pumpkin pie filling, check the can.
- Milk: Whole milk is best in this baked good, but heavy cream works.
- Egg: Binds the ingredients together.
- Pumpkin glaze: Powdered sugar, milk, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger and ground cloves.
How to Make Pumpkin Scones
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger in a medium-sized bowl.
- Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- In a large measuring cup, mix together the milk, pumpkin and egg.
- Then add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Pat the dough out on a lightly floured surface to form a rectangle that is roughly 4 inches by 12 inches.
- Cut the dough into thirds to form three 4 inch by 4 inch squares, then cut an X in each of the squares to form 4 triangular scones.
- Move the scones to the prepared baking sheet and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom. Remove from the oven and move to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.
- While the pumpkin scones are cooling, make the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar, milk and spices. Drizzle the spiced glaze over the scones.
Scone Success Tips
- Use cold butter. Just like homemade biscuits, the butter needs to be cold when cutting it into the flour to give the scones a thick and crumbly texture and keep them from spreading while baking. I like to stick the small cubes of butter in the freezer about 30 minutes prior to mixing the dough.
- Don’t overmix. This shouldn’t be a smooth dough. Mix until the dough resembles coarse crumbs and just barely comes together. The butter should still be in pea-sized pieces.
- Blot the pumpkin. Pumpkin puree holds a lot of moisture, so it helps to lightly blot the pumpkin with a paper towel to absorb any excess liquid. Too much moisture will make the texture similar to pumpkin muffins instead of flaky, crumbly scones.
- Easy glaze clean up. Before drizzling pumpkin scones with glaze, set the cooling rack on top of the baking sheet with parchment paper. Any drips from the glaze will fall onto the parchment paper, making it virtually mess-free!
Variations
- Mix chocolate chips or white chocolate chips into the dough.
- Chopped pecans also add a nice crunch.
- Swap milk for buttermilk for an ever softer and fluffier texture.
- Instead of drizzling on the glaze, you may also dip the tops into a bowl of the icing.
- Use a sweet maple glaze or cream cheese glaze on top instead.
- If you like spice, add in a 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.
- Make mini scones by cutting the triangular wedges of dough in half again to make 24 smaller pieces.
Storage
- Store: These pumpkin spice scones will stay fresh in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Freeze: Simply wrap each scone individually in saran wrap, then place in a freezer bag or container. Freeze for up to 1 month. When ready to enjoy, let thaw in the fridge overnight or on the counter for a few hours.
More fall desserts include caramel apple pie bars, apple crepes and pumpkin cookies with caramel frosting.
More Pumpkin Recipes
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Pumpkin Scones
These pumpkin spice scones are the perfect fall treat. Inspired by Starbucks they are a tender and flaky pastry with plenty of pumpkin flavor, a golden top and spiced glaze!
Ingredients
For the Scones:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- 6 Tablespoons butter , cut into small pieces
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 1 large egg
For the Spiced Glaze:
- 2 cups + 6 Tablespoons powdered sugar
- 4 Tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch of nutmeg, ginger and cloves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and prepare a baking sheet by lining with parchment.
- Dry ingredients. Whisk together 2 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon cloves and 1/4 teaspoon ginger in a medium-sized bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the 6 Tablespoons butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Wet ingredients. In a large measuring cup, mix together 3 Tablespoons milk, 1/2 cup pumpkin and 1 egg. Then add the pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Form scones. Pat the dough out on a lightly floured surface to form a rectangle that is roughly 4 inches by 12 inches. Cut the dough into thirds to form three 4 inch by 4 inch squares, then cut an X in each of the squares to form 4 triangular scones.
- Bake. Move the scones to the prepared baking sheet and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom. Remove from the oven and move to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.
- Glaze. While the scones are cooling, make the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar, milk and spices. Drizzle the spiced glaze over the scones.
Notes
- Before drizzling with glaze, set the cooling rack on top of the baking sheet with parchment paper. Any drips from the glaze will fall onto the parchment paper, allowing for easier clean up.
- I added the glaze to a plastic zippered bag and snipped off the corner, then drizzled.
Nutrition
Serving: 1scone | Calories: 241kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 33mg | Sodium: 160mg | Potassium: 164mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 1806IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Recipe contributed by Alicia from The Baker Upstairs.
Categorized as: American, Breakfast, Freezer-Friendly, Nut-Free, Sweet Breakfast, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
I love a good scone with my tea in the morning so I’m happy I made these. They came out perfect! They were so delicious and a great flavor to welcome in fall!
I’m so happy you loved them :)
I’m pumpkin obsessed and these scones might be my new favorite! Perfect for a quick breakfast!
Yay! So glad you loved them :)
These look great, I’m planning to make them for a fundraiser bake sale. Can these be frozen before baking? That way I can make large batches ahead of time and bake on the day of pick up.
Hi! Yes, they can be frozen up to 3 months. I prefer to glaze them just before serving, but you can freeze with the glaze on as well.
Absolutely fantastic, most and delish!! My typing didn’t come out the same but great none the less.
Also, I used pumpkin pie spice 1 tsp instead of the individual spices, I still used cinnamon.
Def recommend a I can’t wait to make for the holidays!!
Oh my goodness! These scones are my weakness, so delicious, flaky and don’t take forever to make. Yum!
These look so delicious and yummy! My family is going to love this recipe! So excited to give this a try!
Everyone at my house loved it! Such a delicious fall treat!
I’m not usually a fan of scones, because usually they’re so dry, but these look so moist and delicious I’m going to have to try them. Thank you for the new recipe!
I love these! I’ll make a batch of them on Sunday and then eat them on my way to work all week!
YES! I am so excited for these! I LOVE pumpkin spice!
These pumpkin scones are so tender and flaky — delicious!
These were so delicious with cinnamon butter on top!
Made these for breakfast, and they were amazing! It tastes like fall in your
mouth!? EXCELLENT!!
I just made these with the spiced icing…OMG!! Sooo good! I won’t be buying these from Starbucks anymore! Thanks Alicia!
I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks for trying the recipe, Diana!
Yummy!! These look great. :)
I’m not usually a fan of pumpkin stuff but these are making my mouth water!
These pumpkin scones look amazing! I love this time of year…so many yummy recipes to try!
Those scones look fantastic ~ almost too pretty to eat. I’ve been soaking up some october fun too.. It’s been a wonderful month so far. This time last year I managed a busy chain craft store and hardly had a weekend off from aug – January … Now that I am (job free) and testing the “stay at home” waters, I’ve been having a blast doing all of the things that I missed out on over the past few years. I think I like it!! : )
Happy October Friend.