There’s no subtle here! These scones are tender, yet spicy, delicious and bright orange. Eat them at tea time, breakfast time, or any damn time you want.

The Recipe

Servings: 12 | Prep Time: 10 mins | Inactive Time: 30 mins| Bake Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

3 c. flour
½ c. brown sugar
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1½ t. ginger
2 t. cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. allspice
¼ t. cloves
½ c. cold vegetable shortening*
½ c. crystallized ginger
2 eggs
¾ c. pureed pumpkin
Cinnamon for sprinkling
Sugar for sprinkling
Milk for brushing

Instructions

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices together in a large bowl (a larger bowl than I used at first because I made a little bit of mess with that one). Cut or rub in the vegetable shortening. This means you use your fingers to rub the vegetable shortening together with the flour mixture. OR you use a pastry cutter to combine the two together in a similar fashion, just not using your fingers. Either way, in the end you should have a mixture that looks like bread crumbs.

Toss in your crystallized ginger and mix to combine. Add your eggs and pumpkin and mix until a very stiff dough. Don’t overmix or your scones will be tough not tender. Form the mixture into two rough circles ¾ inch thick on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Brush them with milk and sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar. Cut them into wedges (a total of 12 between the two disks).

A great tip from King Arthur Flour, is to rest the scones in the freezer for 30 minutes to improve the rise. I followed this tip and liked the rise I got, so I recommend doing it. In the meantime remember to preheat the oven to 425°F for about 25-30 minutes. Cool slightly but serve warm. Because nothing is better than a warm scone with some tea. So yummy. You can serve it with apple butter, regular butter, some jam, cream or any of an array of tea time staples, but I think these are just great by themselves.

Good luck and good eating!

*I used vegetable shortening because I think it makes a more tender pastry, while butter makes a more flavorful pastry. Because this is such a highly flavored and spiced recipe you wouldn’t taste the butter anyways.