Continuing my obsession with all-thing-Starbucks, of course I have a Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Scones Recipe!
These taste just like the real deal, yet you’ll find that they’re much more tender and delicious than those you buy at the coffee shop. My husband brought one home from SBux yesterday, and it was stiff and commercial-looking. My Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Scones Recipe is so much better!
How to make Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Scones:
Butter is cut in to the dry ingredients to create a crumbly mixture. Then the crumbly mixture is added to a mix of pumpkin purée, egg and cream. The dough at this point will be sticky. You’ll sprinkle in some more flour until it’s not quite as sticky and easier to shape into a round of dough. The pumpkin scones dough is then formed into a flattened rectangle on a floured, parchment-lined baking sheet.
Then you’ll cut the rectangle in half lengthwise and cut each half into 5 triangles. It’s easiest to use a knife that has been sprayed with nonstick spray for this. You’ll end up with 10 triangles. Oh, so carefully pull the triangles apart so that there is a little bit of space between them. When the scones bake, they’ll puff up and crash into each other.
Then you’ll grab your knife and gently cut the baked scones and pull them apart again.
Spiced icing is added next. It’s a mix of powdered sugar, cream and pumpkin spices. You’ll spoon the icing into a zip baggie and snip the corner. Then you’ll squeeze the baggie and drizzle the icing over each scone and give the icing a chance to set.
And there they are- ready to eat with your coffee. Or to nibble as a mid-day snack with milk. Or eat them as breakfast for dinner. They are tender and delicious, which is what a coffee shop scone usually isn’t. They’ll be a little more cakey than flakey. They’re definitely an amazing fall treat!
Freezing tips:
These Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Scones freeze well. After the icing has set, wrap each individually in foil and just pop them into your freezer. They defrost quickly in the microwave (minus the foil).
So I’ve shown you how to make a Pumpkin Spice Latte and an Iced Coffee. And you can also make my Copycat Starbucks Egg Bites and Copycat Starbucks Vanilla Bean Scones. Now you’re all set to “coffee shop it” at home!
Here are a few more recipes for scones you might like to try:
- Whole Wheat Cranberry Scones
- Double Orange Scones with Orange Butter
- Blueberry Lemon Scones
- Copycat Starbucks Vanilla Bean Scones
- Apple Pecan Scones
- Strawberry Buttermilk Scones
- Triple Chocolate Scones
- Fresh Peach Scones
Starbucks Copycat Pumpkin Scones
Recipe Details
Ingredients
SCONES:
- 2 cups (+ more) all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
- 3 tablespoons half and half cream
- 1 large egg
- 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
ICING:
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- ½ to 1 tablespoon half and half cream
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch of ground ginger
- pinch of ground cloves
Instructions
PREPARE THE SCONES:
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Give it a light dusting of flour on top of that.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients- flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, half and half cream and egg.
- Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. Continue cutting until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. (You may also use a food processor for this step. Pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs).
- Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and stir until the dough comes together. The dough will be wet- just go ahead and sprinkle a little more flour into the dough until it's easier to handle (you'll be working in 1/4 to 1/3 cup additional flour to get the right consistency). Remember, you want it to be somewhat sticky, and that's okay- but you also don't want it to stick to the baking sheet. Pat out the dough onto the lightly floured baking sheet and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle that is about 9-inches long and 5-inches wide. Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough in half horizontally. Cut 5 triangles on one side and 5 on the other. Gently pull the triangles apart, leaving about ½-inch space between each one.
- Bake 14 to 16 minutes on the prepared baking sheet. The scones should begin to turn light brown.
ADD THE ICING:
- When the scones are cool, use a knife to cut them apart and then pull them apart so that they are ready for the icing.
- Prepare the icing by whisking the icing ingredients together in a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth. Spoon the icing into a zip baggie and snip the corner. Squeeze the baggie and drizzle the icing over each scone and allow the icing to set before serving.
Can I use just heavy cream instead of half and half and how much.?
Equal sub, perhaps?
These taste exactly like the old version of the Starbuck’s pumpkin scone that I loved so much. I’m so glad I found this recipe, it was really easy to make and so delicious!
I have this in the oven now! I did sub heavy whipping cream for half and half… and of course needed to use a little more than 3 tbs.. I used 4. I’ll report the outcome! Can’t wait for them to come out of the oven! 🙂
I have been making these for the past 3 years. Every time I share a batch with friends they can’t get over just how good they are. This is an amazing recipe and it works EVERY SINGLE TIME! My little guy, who has a peanut allergy, LOVES these and these have become his very special treat…. he loves them so much we had scones instead of a birthday cake for him this year! Thanks for this amazing recipe!
My daughter wanted to make pumpkins scones. We found this recipe, and they were DELICIOUS!! We added pecans. Followed the recipe exactly, and they turned out great. This is a keeper!
I made the pumpkin alternate recipe to your banana scones in “The Recipe Girl Cookbook” last night and they were amazing! I’ll make the few adjustments I see in this recipe next time…I imagine they’ll only be better. Thanks for the terrific recipe!
Lori:
Thank you for sharing this recipe. My wife likes and enjoys the pumpkin scones at Starbucks; I’m not that big of a fan, I can take them or leave them, but this recipe is incredible and I bake them about every two or three months. In fact, I’m baking them to take to our church this Sunday.
Rather than AP flour we use white whole wheat.
Brad
I made these this morning, and resisted the temptation to taste until this evening. OH, MY WORD, are these good! I mixed up all of the ingredients as per the instructions, patted the dough out, and then left it in the fridge for a half an hour while I made my breakfast. It definitely made it easier to cut them cleanly. Once I cut the triangles, I staggered the pieces slightly so that they’d bake somewhat separated. Next time, I’ll refrigerate the dough before I pat it out onto the baking sheet. I think it will help with the stickiness.
Thank you!
You know what’s funny, I swear the SBux Pumpkin Scone in Canada is different than the ones in the U.S The Canadian ones are less sweet and have less glaze, making it so much more easy to eat the whole thing and not feel like you had cake! I’m so happy to find a homemade recipe now so I can make it to my liking!!
Lori, just made these and they are amazing! I’m not sure whether to be happy or mad about that. Happy to have found a homemade (and more delicious) substitute for the Starbucks version, but afraid I’ll have to display an incredible amount of self-control to not make these all the time. Delicious! Thx!
Thank you SO much for sharing this recipe!
I made these scones last year and I’m making them today to take to the hospital for when my new Granddaughter is born! These are the best scones!
Can the spices be substituted for pumpkin pie spice? If so, how much do I use?
I guess I’d use 1 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.
I cut the butter in (by mistake) after I had folded in the wet ingredients (I also substituted heavy cream as that is what I had on hand). I only needed a couple sprinkles of flour on my hands to keep from sticking as I worked the dough into my rectangle. Very easy to work and sliced nicely. I have long been searching for a recipe that is crisp on the outside and not “cakey.” I baked it in a convection oven for 12 min @ 400 and then let it sit in the oven with the door ajar (oven off) for a few more minutes. My family isn’t much for glaze so I whipped up some heavy cream and stirred in some pumpkin to make a creamy topping for the scone. Heaven!
I am making these now and they are turning out great! Because you use milk in the icing, do the scones need to be refrigerated if they are not going to be eaten right away? I am making them today for a coffee date tomorrow. Thanks!
Hi Kristin, I would ice them in the morning! Otherwise though, yes- probably keep them in a covered container in the fridge overnight.
The scones are super tasty and they were easy and quick to make. The only thing that I changed about the recipe was that I substituted the milk with pumpkin purée when making the spiced frosting… it pumped up the pumpkin flavor and gave the scones a nice color accent.. Thanks for sharing this yummy treat.
Great idea!
Just made these for a group of people and EVERYONE loved them! They were so delicious! I didn’t have any ginger but it turned out great anyway!
Made these tonight and they were delicious!! Thanks so much for this recipe!!!
I put the dry ingredients into my food processor and gave
it a couple of pulses then added the butter and pulsed until
it resembled crumbs, I then added the wet beaten mixture
and pulsed until it formed a loose ball. Turned the dough
onto a floured surfaced and shaped into a flattened round
about 1/2 inch thick and cut into 8 pie shaped pieces.
These more than doubled in height after baking about 16
minutes. This is a super fast, easy, moist and DELICIOUS
Scone!!!! I will be doubling the recipe tomorrow. Thanks Lori
I love, love, love Starbucks pumpkin scones and I can’t believe they are not available everyday, outside of holidays! I am so thrilled to have this recipe!
I had leftover fresh pumpkin from Thanksgiving, so decided to surprise the family with some fresh pumpkin scones for breakfast. These were fabulous!!! I used Eggnog instead of half-n-half. Also used eggnog and powdered sugar for the icing. In 30 minutes I had an amazing breakfast treat for the family.
These are amazing. I just made them for my neighbor (secret santa). Thank You so much for the wonder spot – on recipe.
These are great. I made it exactly as the recipe states, with the addition of the suggested 1/2 tsp baking soda. They are in a whole different class then the ones at Starbucks. These are light and moist, the spices are wonderful. Mine rose more then the picture suggests. i cut the “middle” rectangle i to 4 triangles because my middle was a little too big. The “small” ones are even very large, when baking again I would do all the thirds into four pieces. The suggestion to drip the spice glaze looks lovely. Thanks for this recipe.
oop! forgot to comment that we used non-dairy creamer instead of half-n-half and it was TOTALLY fine. Richness was all in there!
Wow! Googled for a similar recipe & stumbled in here. Looked good, so my 11 yr old and I whipped up a batch for Thanksgiving Brkfst this AM. They were super sticky, so we floured a lot. I was a little worried about that, but they turned out ridiculously yummy!!! So moist and just the right amount of sweet for us. Strbux can’t touch these babies. All the kids loved them as much as the adults. None of us could stop nibbling! Thanks for this one. It’s going in the keeper file! My tea kettle’s whistling. Off for a cup and another scone, while he kids are asleep- ha!