Iced Gluten Free Pumpkin Scones

These gluten free pumpkin scones are crisp-tender and flaky, with deep pumpkin flavor, warm fall spices, and a sweet double layer of icing.

They’re made with rich, concentrated pumpkin butter instead of plain pumpkin puree, so you get plenty of pumpkin flavor while keeping the scones pleasantly crumbly and still tender.

Why this recipe works

Pumpkin can be tricky in scones because plain puree adds a lot of extra moisture. Baking with pumpkin butter instead gives us the ideal pastry-style scone texture, plus deep pumpkin flavor and aroma without sacrificing texture. You can make it yourself or buy it ready-made, especially in the fall.

Cold butter creates flaky pockets as the scones bake, and a quick cut-and-stack of the dough adds even more layers without complicated lamination. The result is a true pastry-style scone with crisp edges and a tender center.

The scones themselves are only lightly sweet, so the simple icing doesn’t overwhelm them. A smooth white glaze adds sweetness, while a second drizzle of maple and cinnamon gives them another layer of fall flavor.

Recipe ingredients

Here’s what you need to make these special, fall-inspired scones:

• Gluten free flour blend: Provides the structural support for the pastry and most of the bulk. My favorite blends are Better Batter’s original blend and Nicole’s Best multipurpose with 1 teaspoon xanthan gum as directed in the recipe. Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten free flour should also work, but it has some xanthan gum but not enough, so I recommend adding another 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum.
• Baking powder: The leavener that helps the scones rise in the oven.
• Salt: Brightens all other flavors and balances sweetness.
• Granulated sugar: Adds sweetness, and locks in moisture so the scones never taste dry.
• Pumpkin pie spice: Adds the flavor and aroma that we associate with pumpkin itself, which is really mostly just earthy. To make your own homemade spice blend, combine 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger + 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice + 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves + scant 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg.
• Butter: Adds buttery flavor, and when kept cold, releases moisture as steam that makes the scones expand rapidly in the oven, pushing apart the layers of dough for a flaky texture.
• Cream: Adds richness without added flavor that could compete with the pumpkin flavors, and just enough liquid to bring the pastry together without any wateriness that would make the scones cakey.
• Pumpkin butter: Since texture is most important when baking pastry, I like to make these scones with pumpkin butter to main texture. That’s just a thickly concentrated mixture of pumpkin puree, maple syrup, spices and a touch of apple juice (since there’s no pumpkin juice!). I make a huge batch of my easy pumpkin butter recipe every so often, and it keeps in the refrigerator for weeks. You can also buy it pre-made; my favorite brands are Stonewall Kitchen and Trader Joe’s.

For more scones, try our classic gluten free scones recipe for plain pastries with or without mix-ins, or our gluten free bluberry scones.

How to make gluten free pumpkin scones (step by step photos)

This is an overview of how to make these scones step by step, with an explanation of the reason behind each step. For the full recipe including ingredient amounts, please see the recipe card below:

Combine dry ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour blend including xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice and granulated sugar. This ensures even distribution of all ingredients throughout the dough, avoiding bitter pockets of leavener or over- and under-spiced portions.

Add cold butter
Chop cold butter and toss it in the dry ingredients so each piece is coated in the flour mixture, making it less likely to melt as it’s handled, which would lead to dense, flat scones. Use clean fingers to flatten each piece of butter into shards to scatter it throughout the dough. This also prevents the butter from poking through the dough as you roll it out in the coming steps.

Add wet ingredients
Create a well in the center of the ingredients in the mixing bowl, and add the cold pumpkin butter and cream. Mix to combine and bring the dough together into moist, stiff clumps.

As the dough begins to combine together, it can be useful to moisten the dry ingredients by pressing down on the mixture with the bowl of your mixing spoon. If any spots of the dough don’t hold together well, which can happen if you’ve measured by volume instead of weight or used a very starchy flour blend, drizzle in a few drops of water just on those spots.

Chill?
If your dough seems sticky or at all warm, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and chill it for up to 30 minutes. Then, pick up the recipe where you left off.

Press and roll
With clean hands, gather the dough together and press it into a disk. Sprinkle lightly with more flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/4-inch thick.

Cut and stack
Using a metal bench scraper or sharp knife, cut the rectangle from one long side to another into 3 equal rectangles. Stack the 3 pieces on top of one another.

This will laminate the dough slightly, multiplying the layers of dough by 3, to help create flaky layers without much effort. For extra flakiness by a factor of 3 (for a total of 9 layers), repeat the process one more time.

Shape and cut scones
Press down on the stack of dough to help the layers stick to each other, then press and roll it into a disk about 7-inches in diameter. It should be about 1/2-inch thick. To create the trademark scone triangle shape, use a sharp knife or bench scraper in swift downward strokes to cut the dough into 8 equal pieces.

The first cut is across the center and the second cut is perpendicular to the first, creating 4 equal quarters. The final cuts are at an angle to cut each quarter in half for a total of 8 triangles. Sharp edges help the scones rise tall without spreading wide.

Bake, cool, and ice
Place the raw shapes on a parchment-lined baking sheet for even baking, spaced 1 to 2 inches apart. They won’t spread much at all, but you want hot oven air to circulate all around them for even baking. They’re done baking when they’re risen to about 1-inch tall, firm on top to the touch, and lightly brown around the edges and bottom

Let them cool briefly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Don’t decorate them with icing until they’re completely cool, or the icing will melt instead of set. Thicker icing will take at least 12 hours to set fully.

Ingredient substitutions

Dairy free

Use a block-style vegan butter like Melt or Miyoko’s in place of butter. For the cream, try using full-fat canned coconut milk to mimic the fat and moisture content of heavy cream. For the milk in the icing, you can use any sort of smooth nondairy milk that has a similar consistency to whole milk, or water.

Pumpkin butter

If you don’t have and don’t want to make pumpkin butter, try using plain pumpkin puree in its place, but the scones will have a very different, fluffier texture and will have much less flavor. I would recommend at least blotting the puree before measuring it by weight, replacing about 1 ounce with maple syrup, and adding some more spice blend.

Pumpkin pie spice

If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, or you don’t have all of the ingredients to make your own, you could use all ground cinnamon for a less complex taste, or 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg. You could also use apple pie spice, if you have it, which is very similar.

Storage instructions

If you’ve added the icing, be sure to let it dry overnight so it’s very stable, then store the scones in a sealed glass container at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet, then wrap in freezer-safe plastic and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature.

You can also make and shape the raw dough up to 2 months ahead of time and freeze it on a baking sheet, then wrap tightly in freezer-safe plastic. Bake it right from frozen, and mix up the icing while the scones cool.