Pumpkin Scones with Cinnamon Chips

Many of my regular readers will know how much my husband loves pumpkin.  I've spoken about this many times.  Well, last year, suddenly he tells me that he's "off" pumpkin.  I apparently had made too many pumpkin things the year before and so he wasn't really feeling it.  I actually felt his forehead - I thought he was sick!  We have been together for seven years now (gee, where did the time go?) and he has always been, "Oh I love pumpkin!", "Make me something pumpkin!"  So you'll see why I wondered if I needed to rush him to the emergency room.  Or knock some sense into him... I wasn't really sure which.  So my mother-in-law (Hi!) calls me around a week ago asking if her son is still "off" pumpkin - she was as concerned as I was over that little development last year - and I was happy to report that he was, in fact, back in love with pumpkin!  We could all breath a little easier now.

Once my husband had made his happy announcement that he wanted pumpkin once more, off I went in search of recipes.  It had been a really long time since I'd made scones so I really wanted to make a pumpkin scone.  Apparently the recipe gods heard me because the very next day, my November issue of Bon Appetit magazine arrived in my mailbox and there it was:  Pumpkin Scones.  And as luck would have it, I actually had all the ingredients!  Oh happy day!  The original recipe included a cinnamon butter recipe and mixed cranberries into the scones.  Well, the husband doesn't like cranberries so I decided to meet-in-the-middle of this recipe and mixed in cinnamon chips (which are probably one of my favorite ingredients EVER).

I love making scones, almost as much as I love making cookies.  But scones can be deceiving.  When you add in your liquid ingredients, your dry ingredients look like they will never come together.  But PLEASE don't add in any more liquid.  Everything will come together, I promise.  I made the mistake of adding one tablespoon of extra liquid and it made my scones too sticky.  You want your dough to be on the dry side.


Pumpkin Scones with Cinnamon Chips
adapted slightly from Bon Appetit (Nov. 2014)

1/2 c. Sugar
2 tsp. Baking Powder
2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
2 c. All Purpose Flour
3/4 c. Butter, unsalted (1 1/2 sticks)
1/2 c. Cinnamon Chips
1 Egg
1/2 c. Pumpkin (Libby's canned pumpkin)
1/4 c. Buttermilk

In a large bowl, whisk together your sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking soda, and flour.
Using the large holes on a box grater, grate in your butter.  (Placing your butter in the freezer 30 minutes prior to grating and it'll go so much easier.)
Toss the butter in the dry ingredients to coat.
Mix in your cinnamon chips.
Now add your egg, pumpkin, and buttermilk, stirring to combine.  (Remember this may not look like enough liquid but keep going - it'll all come together.)
Transfer the dough to some parchment paper that's been lightly floured and pat into a 1 1/2" thick disk.
Cut into 8 wedges.
Freeze until firm, around 25 to 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Pumpkin-y goodness.