Quick and easy Homemade Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones mix pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice with tart cranberries into a warm and delicious breakfast or snack.

There it is! The first Jack-o-Lantern on the neighbor's step—a sure sign the holidays are coming. Which means only one thing around here... baking time!  And plenty of it. First recipe of Fall? My Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones.

I don't usually bake much at home. I'm always watching my carb count and, well, cookies and cake make the carb numbers light up like a pinball machine. My family is not very good about helping me eat the goodies, either. They prefer chips and salsa (I can't imagine why) which usually means I eat waaay too many myself or throw the surplus out.

Holiday time is different story. I can bake and bake and have no worries about leftovers. No, I don't eat them... all. I give them to neighbors and friends that have been so nice and have shared loaves of homemade bread and veggies from their garden with me through out the year.

You might be asking yourself, "What on earth do you bake in the Southwest?"

We bake all kinds of things—pumpkin and apples and Mexican cinnamon, chocolate and coffee and citrus and vanilla that we drive to Nogales to buy... and lots more.

Today, I'm starting out easy with Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones. Pumpkin is one of the "Three Sisters" out of Native American lore so it is very, very southwest.

I'm dressing my pumpkin up in a very familiar, but "modern" way in these Pumpkin Spice Scone Recipe with Cranberries and Homemade Butter. These scones are quick and easy. Just throw them together in the food processor if you wish. They keep very well in the refrigerator over night so that you can bake them off in the morning before school or before you start cooking the Thanksgiving Dinner.

The homemade butter is a fun addition. It's something my boys learned in kindergarten and we make it every year. I don't really like the clotted cream that is so traditional with scones (I know, sorry) and processed butter is just too heavy. This old fashioned way of making butter fluffy and light textured and is a great way to help your kids feel involved with baking. In fact, scones are not supposed to look perfect, so let them pat out the dough and cut out the scones themselves.

Tips for Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones

1. Children really like being a part of holiday dinner. Making butter is a fun way to involve them and have a dish that they "made" on the table.
2. Making butter together is a great way to really talk with children about the holidays, the way things were made in the "olden" days, or just talk about anything at all.
3. When I make this with small children, I spread out a comforter on the floor and we sit cross-legged as we take turns shaking the jar of cream.
4. It is helpful to strategically place older children and teenagers between smaller children to help with the shaking and speed the process a little.
5. This is a great activity to let Dad or older teenagers oversee while you are making dinner.

Other great looking scones to try:
Lemon Blueberry Scones by Completely Delicious
Homemade Pancake Syrup and Utah Scones by Barbara Bakes
Savory Avocado Scones by Created by Diane

—posted by Sandy

5.0 from 3 reviews

Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scone Recipe with Homemade Butter

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

17 mins

Total time

32 mins

 

Fast and easy scones that will keep well in the refrigerator overnight so you can bake them in the morning before school or on a holiday morning.

Author: Sandy Hoopes

Recipe type: Baking

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• ¾ cup apple cider or orange juice
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• ¾ cups sugar
• 1½ tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• may substitute 1 teaspoon cinnamon and ½ teaspoon nutmeg)
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, very cold
• 15 ounces pumpkin puree
• ½ cup buttermilk
• ¼ cup whipping cream

Instructions

1. Directions:
2. Heat apple cider in microwave for 15 to 30 seconds.
3. Pour cider over cranberries, set aside.
4. Stir flour with a fork to "fluff" up the flour. Gently spoon flour into a measuring cup and level off with the back of a knife. Measure four cups of flour into a large bowl or food processor.
5. Add sugar, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, and pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon and nutmeg.
6. Cut cold butter into half inch cubes. Use a pastry blender or your fingers to blend the butter into the flour. If using a food processor, pulse the butter into the flour until it looks like coarse sand and has pea-sized lumps.
7. Gently mix pumpkin puree into the flour mixture. Be careful not to over mix and melt the butter.
8. Add buttermilk and whipping cream a little at a time while mixing (or pulsing in the food processor). If your pumpkin puree is very moist, you may not need all the liquid. Mix until the dough begins to come together in a ball.
9. Drain cranberries and fold into the dough.
10. Turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Shape into a rectangle, wrap in plastic and chill at least one hour or over night.
11. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and pat out to about one inch thick. Cut into six squares, then cut the squares in half diagonally to form triangles.
12. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 425 for 15 to 20 minutes until lightly golden brown.
13. Cool on a wire rack.
14. Mix powdered sugar, milk and orange flavoring to make glaze.
15. Drizzle glaze over scones that have cooled.
16. Makes 12 scones

Notes

Homemade Butter 1 to 2 cups heavy cream (make sure it is not ultra-pasteurized, if possible) 1 or 2 jars with a very tight lid (canning jar, mayonnaise jar or other) Directions: Place heavy cream in a jar with a tight lid that can be easily handled by children. A canning jar or mayonnaise jar works well. Make sure the jar is only ⅓ to ½ of the way filled so the cream has room to move freely in the jar. Shake the jar until the solids separate and form a ball in the jar. It took me 20 minutes of constant shaking. It will take less time and have a more "buttery" flavor if you use cream that is only "pasteurized" not "ultra-pasteurized." Pour off any liquid from the butter and chill before dinner.

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