I love pumpkin season. Pumpkins are the spirit plant of autumn. That’s how I know fall is coming…the pumpkins start appearing at the farmer’s market! There is something magical about pumpkins. Maybe it’s a Cinderella thing. Maybe it’s a Halloween thing. Pumpkins have an unusual and distinctive earthy flavor. Pumpkins are a little bit sweet, as many gourds are but also buttery and nutty. Perfect flavors for autumn, which can be brisk, blustery and dry.
Just like I won’t eat tomatoes in the winter, I would never eat pumpkins in the spring or summer. I refuse to eat pumpkin from a can either. Call me a purist or a snob, but pumpkin really does taste better fresh from the gourd.
I’ve always wanted to make pumpkin scones, but every recipe I found seemed really intimidating and time consuming. Then I found a very simple recipe onCookie and Kate, which resulted in me fiddling a bit with the recipe to come up with these babies.
These are vegan, gluten-light and practically sugar free compared to the 10 or 15 other recipes I looked at. They are light, but satisfying. Sweet, but not overwhelming. And they don’t taste like a pumpkin spice latte. These scones taste like pumpkins. And chocolate chips.
I think you’ll love them.
They were gone within the day in our house!
Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Scones
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup spelt flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup solid coconut oil (heaping)
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used hazelnut, which is what I usually have on hand)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chip cookies
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix well together.
Add the coconut oil into the dry ingredients in chunks. My coconut oil was partially melted (although not yet liquefied), which helped a bit. Mix it in well. The mixture will get a little chunky, which is just fine.
Stir in the liquid ingredients and combine well with the dry. It might take a little muscle to incorporate all of the dry into the wet, but it will eventually. once it’s all well mixed, add in the chocolate chips and make sure they are thoroughly spread throughout.
Form the dough into a circle on your parchment paper. Should be about 1 inch thick. Cut the circle into 8 even triangles. Separate the triangles slightly or entirely (I actually kept mine slightly together, which was fine).
Bake for 22 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, rotate the baking sheet. Test with a toothpick to make sure the scones are finished baking! They should be a slightly golden brown and toothpick should emerge from the center of a scone cleanly.
Serve plain or with pecan honey butter (very simple to make if you have a vitamix: 1 cup pecans and a dash of salt, blend for a few minutes until pecans begin to combine and become buttery. Add in honey towards the end, about 1 Tbs).
Pecan butter with these is divine, but they are magical plain, too. Enjoy!
