Pumpkin Scones Fun Halloween Baking Idea

Hey, it’s fall y’all!!

Hey, it's fall y'all!! Fall brings everything pumpkin, right? 

Our Pumpkin Scones Fun Halloween Baking Idea makes scones with pumpkin and spices into the fun shapes of cats and pumpkins! That covers Halloween, fall, and Thanksgiving coffee and tea parties. 

But most importantly, they are pumpkin and pumpkin spice yummy goodness.

Pumpkin Scones Recipe

The scones recipe that we used in our Tea Party Scones with Lemon Curd for Mother’s Day was where I started for this pumpkin scones recipe.

I’m not typically one that experiments with recipes, but I thought that it was worth it for this idea. The original scones recipe is good any time, but I was hoping to find something a bit different for a tea party with the grands for fall. 

We will add pumpkin, pumpkin pie spices and change the shape of the scone. This is going to be fun.

You may learn some new baking skills

So making scones teaches a couple great baking skills. I’ll tell you the reasons why we do things the way we do in these techniques.

Fun fact: I am also a Home Ec (FACS) teacher so that is Food Science geekiness coming through. 

Read through the recipe and gather up your supplies and ingredients. It’s always good to know that you have everything you need before you start making your recipe.

Full length step by step tutorial video option

If you are wanting to come alongside me as I make these scones step by step you may want to watch the full length tutorial video found here: Pumpkin Scones Fun Halloween Baking Idea Full Length Tutorial.

Let's mix up some pumpkin scones!

Dry ingredients

Start by placing the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. That includes the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. 

When you measure the flour be sure to use a spoon and spoon the flour into the dry measuring cup. When the cup is dipped down into the flour packs it and there is a lot more flour in your recipe. This can make for a product that is dry, not moist.

Time out for a spices story

So before we go on I have to tell you a story about spices. When I was young, we often made a cookie recipe that used these spices. It was my dad’s favorite. 

When I put the spices on top of the flour, side by side, I thought all those shades of brown looked so beautiful! Did you notice that when you put the spices in this pumpkin scones recipe?

Years later I married Papa, and he raised Simmental cattle that were all those same shades of brown. Out grazing on the pasture I thought they were beautiful too! Ha!

Back to our pumpkin scones recipe.

Mix the dry ingredients well with a wooden spoon.

Next, we will add the brown sugar. With brown sugar you DO dip the measuring cup down into the brown sugar and gently pack it in the cup. When you dump it into the mixing bowl, the sugar should keep the shape of the cup. Kind of fun, don’t you think?

"Cut in" the butter...what??

The next thing we do is “cut in” the butter. What, cut in? Let me explain. 

The butter is a solid fat and won’t naturally just mix into the dry ingredients. We don’t want to melt it and mix it as that makes the dough mushy. We want the butter in small pieces that mix through the dry ingredients.

So we cut up the butter. Here’s how it works.

Use a pastry blender for this step if you have one. A pastry blender has several blunt blades that will cut/chop up the butter into smaller and smaller pieces as you use it.

If you don’t have a pastry blender, use two kitchen knives to cut up the butter.

Keep pressing down on the butter over and over with the pastry blender, cutting the butter into smaller and smaller pieces. 

Eventually the ingredients will look kind of crumbly. That is when you are done. 

“Cutting in” butter is used in other recipes like pie crust and some biscuits for example. It helps them to be tender. 

Add the wet/liquid ingredients

Lastly, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. You can mix these in a separate mixing bowl first if you would like. If you are feeling extra ambitious, you can learn how to make your own pumpkin puree here in this tutorial!

Add in the pumpkin, vanilla, and cream. If you want to add some cinnamon chips (optional), do so at this time as well.

Stir with your wooden spoon until the ingredients are mixed. Don’t over mix or over work the dough as it will make the scones tougher (less tender).

OK, I think the next step is fun.

Kneading and pressing out the dough

Place some flour on a clean countertop. Use the spoon to dump the dough onto the floured area. 

The dough is thick but still a bit sticky so use some flour on your hands to knead the dough a little bit. You may have to add a little more flour on the countertop under the dough so it doesn't stick.

Kneading is a pressing down on the dough with a bit of flour to work the dough until it is the right consistency. Again, don’t do this for very long, just until less sticky.

Then press the dough down with your hands until it is about ¾ inch thick.

Shaping the dough- fall & Halloween baking ideas

You can make this a round shape and cut into triangles the same way you cut up a pie. In the picture this made the dough look like Pac Man!

OR you can cut out circles from the dough with a round biscuit cutter. 

Place the shaped dough on a cookie/baking sheet.

I made some of these round scones into cats by adding triangle ears. 

Then some of the round scones became pumpkins by pressing down onto them with a table knife. I pressed down so it looked like they had the ribs of a pumpkin. Then it needed a little piece of dough on top to look like a stem.

To get the ears and stem to attach to the round, kind of pinch the edges together. You can wet the edges just slightly before pinching to make them attach better if you want.

Baking the pumpkin scones

All that’s left is baking the pumpkin scones! Place them in a preheated oven for the length of time recommended. 

Be sure to set a timer. If you're like me you will get busy with another project and forget the scones in the oven! Been there, done that!

Don’t they look and smell good?

Topping and decorating ideas

You can eat the pumpkin scones as they are or add a topping. I love toppings so here are a couple ideas. 

I used a very simple drizzle over the top of the pumpkin scones. It was made from powdered sugar and some orange juice.

Start with ½ cup of powdered sugar. Mix in just enough orange juice to make the powdered sugar mixture run off of the spoon. It was really good with the pumpkin flavor.

Another option is making the lemon curd recipe found in the Tea Party Scones with Lemon Curd recipe post- click here.

The Halloween cat pumpkin scones can be decorated if you want. Use a little frosting made with powdered sugar and just a bit of milk. You want it to be quite thick. 

Use the frosting to attach some chocolate chips or some Skittles candy to look like eyes, nose, and mouth. It is cute to cut up a stick of gum lengthwise into narrow “whiskers” as well.

Time for a fun pumpkin scones party

The grands really liked the cat scones! We had a cat tea party! Give some friends or family a call and have them over for pumpkin scones and juice, tea, or coffee. Enjoy a good visit together.

I hope you enjoy making and eating this Pumpkin Scones Fun Halloween Baking Idea!! 

How about a few other great fall recipes?

• Yummy Caramel Apples on a Stick
• Nana-Great’s Apple Pie with Lattice Crust
• Easy, Cozy Corn Chowder For Supper in the Fall
• Nana's Perfect Pumpkin Pie
• How to Make Pumpkin Puree and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
• Candy Thanksgiving Turkeys
• Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Wraps

Enjoy!

If you try this craft, let me know! Go ahead and leave a comment, rate it, and tag a photo with #WelcometoNanas wherever you post.

Supplies for Pumpkin Scones Fun Halloween Baking Idea

• Ingredient list found in the recipe
• Mixing bowl
• Pastry blender
• Wooden spoon
• Dry measuring cups, measuring spoons, and liquid measuring cup
• Round biscuit cutter
• Cookie/baking sheet
• Baking timer