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Our Pumpkin Scones bake up tall, tender, and flaky with a double glaze situation, just like Starbucks pumpkin scones! Save yourself some money and make a batch of our pumpkin scone recipe at home.
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This Pumpkin Scone Recipe Is Just Like Starbucks!
One of my favorite fall things to do, aside from hitting up the local apple orchard and being able to wear cozy sweaters outside without sweating my face off, is to visit Starbucks for a pumpkin scone and a pumpkin cream cold brew.
Or at least it was! The pumpkin scones are no longer available as of 2023! 😭
Good thing we have this copycat recipe. My pumpkin scones are about as close as you’ll get to the Starbucks pumpkin scones and they’re fun to make too!
Did we mention the double glaze? Because if some glaze is good, double the glaze is better.
We top these moist, tender pumpkin scones with a simple vanilla glaze and then drizzle on a pumpkin spice glaze to top it off. Not to worry – it’s easy and quick.
If you just love scones check out my blueberry scones, chocolate chip scones, and white chocolate cranberry scones!
♥ What We Love About This Pumpkin Scones Recipe:
- Flaky and Tender: Just like the originals, these scones have that perfect flaky texture that melts in your mouth while still being very moist thanks to all that pumpkin.
- Easy to Make: No need to be a pro baker—this recipe is simple and straightforward and we’ll walk you through it.
- Customizable Flavors: Mix in your favorite additions like chocolate chips, dried fruit, or nuts if you want to liven things up.
- Homemade Goodness: Fresh from your oven, they’re even better than store-bought…and a whole heck of a lot cheaper to boot.
Ingredient Notes:
For the scones:
Dry Ingredients – To prepare the dough for the pumpkin scones you’ll start with some flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cold cubed butter.
Wet Ingredients – You’ll also require milk, an egg, and canned pumpkin puree. Make sure you get pure pumpkin puree and not canned pumpkin pie filling which contains added spices.
Pumpkin Pie Spice – I use this stuff so often I’ve got my own homemade pumpkin pie spice recipe. Make your own to get the spices just the way you like, or use a store bought mix.
For the glaze:
Powdered Sugar – This is the base of most glaze recipes and it’ll melt smoothly into the liquid.
Milk – You can use dairy free milk, whole milk, or 2% milk. We prefer whole milk.
Cinnamon – You’ll mix this up with some of the glaze to add more of the cinnamon spice flavor that goes so well with pumpkin!
My Favorite Vanilla!
A good quality vanilla really does make a difference and this is my favorite brand!
Step by Step:
Whisk together the dry ingredients and use a pastry cutter or two butter knives to cut in the cold butter. You’ll want small, pea-sized chunks of butter throughout.
Stir in the pumpkin, milk, and egg until just combined and then turn the dough out onto a floured counter and knead 5 times to bring it together.
Pat the dough out into a circle about 1 inch thick and use a knife or pizza cutter to cut into 8 wedges.
Bake the scones, let them cool, and then spoon the vanilla glaze evenly over the top. Use a spoon to drizzle each with the cinnamon glaze.
Helpful Tip!
One Bowl, Two Glazes!
Rather than making two separate glazes, just make the vanilla glaze first and use the leftover glaze to make the thicker cinnamon glaze by stirring in some extra powdered sugar and ground cinnamon.
Special Tools & Ingredients:
- Pastry Cutter: A pastry cutter is ideal for cutting chunks of cold butter into flour. It creates coarse crumbs that help the dough bake up tender and flaky.
- Pumpkin Spice: This is just a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. You may make your own mix or purchase a bottle of it already mixed up for you.
Freezing Scones:
You may freeze these pumpkin scones both before or after baking. Place them on a cookie sheet and freeze, uncovered, for 1 hour. Transfer scones to a zip top bag and freeze unbaked scones for up to 1 month or baked scones for up to 3 months.
To bake the raw dough, place directly in the oven from the freezer. You’ll likely need to add a couple of minutes to the bake time.
To warm already baked frozen scones, thaw overnight in the fridge and rewarm in the microwave.
We recommend glazing these after thawing for the best results.
Recipe FAQs:
Starbucks discontinued their beloved pumpkin scones in 2023, but our recipe is a great copycat so you can still get your fix.
The baking powder should help the pumpkin scones rise in this recipe, but you can also arrange them on a baking sheet so they are close together with the sides touching. They won’t have room to spread so they will rise more.
More Favorite Fall Recipes:
Pumpkin Scones
Ingredients
For the scones:
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cold butter cubed
- 2/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 large egg
For the glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar plus 2 tablespoons
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Add the flour, brown sugar, pumpkin spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.2 ¼ cups flour, ¼ cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Add the cold butter to the bowl and use a pastry cutter to cut the mixture together until you have coarse crumbs.½ cup cold butter
- In a small bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, milk, and egg. Stir into the dry ingredients until just moistened.2/3 cup canned pumpkin puree, 3 tablespoons milk, 1 large egg
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead 5 times, just to bring the dough together.
- Shape the dough into a circle about 1 inch thick and cut into 8 wedges.
- Place the scones on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 25 minutes.
- To make the glaze, whisk together the 2 cups of powdered sugar and milk until well combined.2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk
- Remove 1/4 cup of the glaze and spoon the rest over the top of the scones.
- Add the cinnamon to the reserved glaze along with 2 tablespoons of powder sugar to thicken the glaze.1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- Drizzle the cinnamon glaze over the top of the scones by letting it drip off a spoon over the scones.
- Let glaze set before eating or storing.
NanCT says
First time making scones. Simple to make, delicious to eat. Followed recipe just as written. Icing was a little less than stunning in appearance with the second glaze kind of melting into the first, but that was just a small aesthetic issue. It didn’t stop husband from taking a second helping!
Karly says
So glad you ventured into scone making and they turned out! ๐
Dana Leslie says
Fantastic recipe. I have never made scones before but I had just learned about cutting butter into flour so had a stick already frozen. I used a cheese grater to grate the frozen butter and it worked perfectly. I did two rounds of vanilla icing instead of more pumpkin spice but this recipe made it easy to tweak things as necessary!! Would you believe I buy a Starbucks scone every morning with my coffee? I will be searching for your vanilla recipe next ๐ thank you for sharing!
Karly says
Hi Dana! So glad you found the recipe and gave it a try! Our chocolate chip scones are some of our favorites, if you’re going to keep experimenting. ๐
Kris says
Thank you for this recipe Karly! We are still locked down here in Umatilla county in Eastern Oregon. Our town is like a ghost town. I have never baked any scone recipe before, but I miss buying them and these look so good that I am going to try. First I am baking your pumpkin cream pie! ๐
Karly says
Hope you love them both, Kris! Stay safe!