Pumpkin Scones Galore!

So it's been quite the busy month with all the fam visiting, but do not fret... recipes and much more will be coming your way soon! I found this recipe the other day, and although I have so many other dessert/treat recipes on my mind (vegan rice crispy treats and some yummy vegan chocolate coconut cookies!) I just had to try it out (I am ADDICTED to the pumpkin scones at Starbucks... but this recipe is gluten free, vegan and much much much healthier!).

It is honestly a very simple and easy recipe to make. Obviously because it's vegan and gluten-free (and a 'healthier' recipe) the ingredients are more obscure and hard-to-find. I ended up finding everything I didn't have (I have a lot of random baking ingredients, but some of these I had to search for) at Bulk Barn! After getting all the ingredients together, the recipe is super simple! It took me a little longer than it would usually because I always take more cautions and extra time the first time I try a recipe... I wanted to get it just right!

I found the recipe on another blogger (where else? of course):

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

Pumpkin Scones with Maple Nutmeg Icing

Makes: 6 Scones

Ingredients

-1 cup sorghum flour
-1/2 cup organic millet flour
-1/2 cup tapioca or potato starch (not potato flour) (I used tapioca)
-1 tablespoon baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
-1 teaspoon xanthan gum
-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
-4 tablespoons organic light brown sugar

-7 tablespoons cold shortening (I used Earth Balance Vegan Butter)

-1/2 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
-1 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 2 tablespoons warm water till frothy
-3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
-3 tablespoons rice milk whisked with 1/4 teaspoon mild rice vinegar

-Extra rice milk to brush scones with

Maple Nutmeg Icing

-1 cup confectioner's or powdered sugar
-2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
-1/2 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract
-1 tablespoon rice milk
-Pinch of nutmeg, to taste (start tiny, you can add more) (I added a lot!)

Method

Whisk together the scone dry ingredients in a large bowl. Beat in the cold shortening until the mixture gets crumbly. Beat in the pumpkin, egg replacer, maple syrup and rice milk (mixed with rice vinegar) until the dough comes together as a smooth mass (do not overbeat). To make the scone 'wedges', you must grease (use cold shortening) a glass pie dish and place the dough into the dish. Smooth the dough to fit the dish (grease your hands as well). Use a flat knife to cut the 'pie' into 6 pieces and use a spatula to scoop out each piece (place onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper). Feel free to use a knife or flat surface to reshape the scones into nice-looking triangles/wedges once they're on the parchment. Brush the tops with plain rice milk (don't drench them, but properly cover them with the rice milk).

You have the option of sprinkling the scones with raw sugar crystals if you don't want to squiggle them in icing.

Place them in the oven at 350 F for ~20 minutes and they should be done. Cool them on cooling racks (make sure they are FULLY cooled before you add the icing). To make the icing just beat all the ingredients together... and as usual for icing, if you want it thicker, just add more icing sugar... and so on! Add icing any way you want (slather it on... or do what I did: put the icing in a ziplock back, cut off a tiny bit of the corner and use this as an icing bag to squiggle the icing on!). Enjoy!

Notes: They taste delicious, but I prefer a stronger pumpkin taste, so next time I will add a little more pumpkin than this recipe calls for. An although I took my scones out at exactly 18 minutes, they weren't necessarily dry, but they weren't the consistency I'd like. So I would suggest if you don't add more pumpkin to check them around 16-18 min to see if they are ready, but if you add some more pumpkin than 18 min will probably work just fine!

Mouth... watering... mmm...