Makeover Monday: Pumpkin Scones with Maple Spice Glaze

Happy Halloween!  If you haven't already, I would encourage you to look at my post on Having a Healthier Halloween.

Now, onto today's makeover!  I am continuing with my pumpkin obsession.  But that seems appropriate given the holiday today.  Last weekend I had some leftover pumpkin and a craving for a tasty breakfast treat.  So I made pumpkin scones.  I will confess that I had my first scone ever about a year ago, and this is only the second time I have made them myself.  But since I had my first one I have been gathering various scone recipes and I imagine they will become a regular in my weekend rotation.  They are pretty easy to put together and oh-so-yummy!

So what makes these particular scones a Makeover Monday recipe?  As usual, just a few simple changes transformed these scones from something I would almost consider a dessert into a hearty breakfast treat I could feel good about eating.  Here are my changes:

• I used 3/4 whole wheat flour, and 1/4 all purpose flour.  That added 20 grams of fiber!
• I used Spenda instead of sugar, which saved about 300 calories.
• I used skim milk instead of half-and-half.  There was only 3 Tbsp of half-and-half in the original recipe, so this only cut out 45 calories.  But just so you know, you don't have to buy a container of half-and-half just to make these!
• The original recipe had both a plain glaze, and a spiced glaze over the scones.  I thought double glazing seemed excessive so I got rid of the plain glaze.  I also made the spiced glazed a maple spiced glaze.  But just because I felt like it!  Using only one glaze save about 400 calories.  My husband and I both agreed that one glaze was plenty.
• You might note that my recipe includes butter.  Because this dough requires rolling out, I didn't want to mess with the butter.  See Food Science 101: Margarine vs Butter for more information on this topic.

 So, let's make some scones!  Start by mixing the dry ingredients.  I love the spices!

Then whisk together the wet ingredients.

Add the butter to the dry ingredients.

And cut in the butter until it is combined.

Now mix in the pumpkin mixture until dough just sticks together and spread out into a rectangle.

Cut into individual scones.  A pizza cutter works great for this!  The directions say to make your rectangle about three times longer than it is wide.  I didn't really pay attention to that.  Then when I cut the scones I realized they weren't all the same size and shape.  I am sure you will do better than me.  But if you don't, I assure you they will taste just as good!

Then just move your scones to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet to bake them.  I sprinkled some oatmeal on my scones just for decoration.  I'm fancy like that!

You'll want to brew some coffee at this point because these babies are delicious with a hot cup of coffee.  Ah, fall!

To make the glaze simply whisk together all the ingredient until they are smooth.  If it is too thick (which mine was) continue adding water until it is the consistency you want.

As you can see in the picture at the top, I initially drizzled the glaze over each scone.  Then I had a ton of glaze leftover so I went ahead and just covered the scones with glaze.  Yum! 

Pumpkin Scones with Maple Spiced Glaze

For the scones:

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Splenda

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

6 Tbsp cold butter

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

3 Tbsp skim milk

1 large egg

For the Maple Spiced Glaze:

1 cup plus 3 Tbsp powdered sugar

2 Tbsp light maple flavored pancake syrup

2 Tbsp water (plus more if needed)

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Pinch of ground ginger

Pinch of ground cloves

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine flours, Splenda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger in a large bowl or food processor.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, milk, and egg.  Set aside.

Using food processor or fork, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly.  Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, and form the dough into a ball.  

Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1" thick rectangle about 3 times as long as wide.  Use a large knife or pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions.  Cut each of the portions in an x pattern (4 pieces) so you end up with 12 triangular slices of dough.  Place on prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until light brown.  Place on a wire rack to cool.

To make the glaze: Whisk all the ingredients for the glaze until smooth.  Spread glaze over the scones when the scones are cooled.  

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker