Pumpkin Scones

I love the pumpkin scones at Alice's Tea Cup. The slightly spicy pumpkin-y goodness and the sticky caramel sauce that soaks into the top and drips down the side of each scone is addictive. I always wanted to know how to make them so I bought the Alice's cookbook as soon as it came out. Of course I was busy and have only just made the recipe. It did not disappoint--much.

I made the scone sans sauce--as is typical of a sauce, it is applied after the scones are baked, so leaving it off doesn't affect the baking process. The scones rose properly and were flaky and light inside. I've had trouble with a few of the Alice's scones coming out flat, dense, and a bit damp, so I was thrilled that these didn't give me any of those problems. Of course the dough was extraordinarily sticky and I had to add quite a bit of flour to make it workable--so that could be why they worked well (and came out a bit dry, as mentioned below.) The pumpkin flavor was just as I remembered: pumpkin, spice, and a hint of baking soda (in a good way...rather like a baking soda biscuit).

As I said, I did not make the caramel sauce. I love it and from glancing at the recipe it seems simple and probably perfect, but I was out of heavy cream and didn't want to go out for it. In any case, I wanted to keep the scones to munch on for a few days and I figure the caramel sauce will make them soggy if they sit overnight. Obviously this did change the taste of the scone, since the caramel sauce soaks into them at the restaurant, but it wasn't much of a difference--since their scones are very large, much of the middle and bottom of their scones remains untouched by the sauce. It did render them slightly drier than they should have been, so I whipped up a pumpkin and mascarpone cream. The dainty scone cream with a healthy dollop of the cream and a little raspberry jam spread was delicious! (I can't wait to try it with the glaze.)