Pumpkin Apple Butter Scones

Autumn is here and I am all the way ready for it. This really is one of my favorite times of year.

The intense heat of the summer finally starts to ease up, but the frigid cold of the winter hasn’t quite got here yet. It’s a perfect sweet spot for the weather–and for baking.

I know that pumpkin and pumpkin spice flavored things sometimes tend to get a bad or at least a good natured ribbing, which can be well warranted (I mean honestly, WHO thought up things like pumpkin spice body wash, and for WHAT reason exactly?), but I personally think that pumpkin spice is right where it belongs when it’s in baked goods.

One thing’s for sure and two things are for certain: this is a pumpkin loving blog. I look forward to baking with it every autumn and every year, I’m usually extremely pleased with the results.

Three years ago, autumn brought this pretty loaf of sourdough pumpkin-ginger bread and bakery-style pumpkin swirl cookies.

Two years ago it brought this pumpkin granola quick bread.

Last year we were really busy making these pumpkin apple butter sandwich cookies, this colossal mile high pumpkin cake, and pumpkin apple butter.

Apple Butter is a condiment that I like to think of a very smooth and very very rich apple sauce. You make it by cooking down apples for a very long time with either apple juice or water and spices until it’s caramelized, the flavor is concentrated, and the apples are completely broken down into a smooth(ish) sauce/spread.

Apple butter is one of those Blank Canvas recipes that once you understand the basics of, is very easy to customize according to personal taste or sense of adventure. We put this to the test last year by giving it a pumpkin spice makeover; adding both raw pumpkin and pumpkin spices (cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, sometimes even black pepper) to absolutely delicious results. And as it turns out, it makes a pretty awesome baking ingredient too.

I went to a very famous mainstream bakery a few weeks ago and bought one of their seasonal pumpkin flavored scones. It was…underwhelming. That irritated me and made me resolved to get what my taste buds were initially looking for from a pumpkin/autumn flavored scone-even if it meant that I just had to make it myself.

These definitely made up for the lackluster scone from the bakery. The pumpkin apple butter doesn’t just give them great flavor; it ensures that they stay soft and moist on the inside. The flavored granola on top gives them a pleasant textural element of crunch. They also rose beautifully, which made them perfect for splitting, spreading with butter, and even using to make a pretty killer savory-sweet autumn flavored breakfast sandwich.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Apple Butter Scones

Recipe Adapted from Musselman’s

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, frozen
2 cups fresh apple, finely diced
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups Pumpkin Apple Butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Apple or pumpkin flavored Granola, for sprinkling, optional (I used Trader Joe’s Honeycrisp Apple Granola)

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices together and set aside.

Use the large holes on a box grater to grate the frozen butter directly into the dry ingredients. Add the diced apples. Stir together until well blended.

In a separate medium bowl combine the eggs, vanilla, pumpkin apple butter and vanilla extract. Lightly beat together.

Make a well into the dry ingredients and pour the pumpkin apple butter-egg mixture directly inside.

use a fork to combine, just until the dough starts to clump together.

Turn dough out onto a clean and lightly floured work surface, and knead once or twice until it comes together; flour your hands if needed. If there are any loose bits, add them to center of dough and knead once more to incorporate.

Pat dough into a rectangle, about 1.5 inches thick. Working from a short side, fold dough in thirds as you would a letter. It doesn’t need to overlap perfectly. Pat dough into another rectangle, then fold dough in thirds like a letter one more time. (You’ll have done the folding procedure two times total.) Pat dough back into an rectangle and straighten up with your hands and/or your bench scraper.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge overnight.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a shallow pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour and unwrap the scone dough out onto it. Use a bench scraper or very sharp knife to trim the edges of the rectangle. Use a square cookie cutter, or a knife to cut the remaining dough into squares, about 2″ each.

Remove the cut scones to the baking sheet you’ve lined with parchment paper, placing them rather close to each other (it will help them rise higher). Freeze until cold, about 15 minutes.

Spray the tops of the scones with cooking spray, and then sprinkle with the granola if desired.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, until scones are golden brown and cooked through at the edges (they should not look wet).