Starbucks Pumpkin Scones Copycat Recipe
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These pumpkin scones are a Starbucks copycat recipe! They’re budget-friendly and easy to make right at home (and even better when homemade!).
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why you’ll love Starbucks Pumpkin Scones
- Starbucks copycat recipe. This is a complete copycat of the most beloved Starbucks bakery item that has since been discontinued! Except you can easily whip this up right at home with better taste and better texture without breaking the bank.
- An irresistible fall treat. These pumpkin scones pair so well with your morning cup of coffee or pumpkin spice latte, giving you your fall dose in every single bite. Not to mention, these make for a hot-selling ticket item at your next bake sale.
- The signature double glaze. The dual-layer icing is pure gold, featuring a sweet white glaze which is then topped with a warm-spiced drizzle.
- No mixer needed. Believe it or not, this is an incredibly easy, no-fuss recipe. There is no mixer required, and you can even make these ahead of time and freeze as needed (without the glaze).
What are starbucks pumpkin scones?
This was their iconic fan-favorite seasonal item that has since been discontinued in 2023, featuring a moist, cake-like scone flavored with pumpkin puree and a strong blend of warm, autumn spices, topped with a white glaze first, then finished with a pumpkin-spiced glaze.
How to make Starbucks Pumpkin Scones
- Mix the dry ingredients. Combine the all-purpose flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.
- Cut in the butter. Add the cold, cubed butter, using a pastry cutter or your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse, pea-sized crumbs.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Whisk together the pumpkin puree, milk, egg, and vanilla.
- Form the dough. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, stirring gently with a rubber spatula just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix.
- Shape and cut. Knead the dough 3-4 times onto a lightly floured surface, rolling the dough into an 8-inch circle, about 1-inch thick. Cut the dough into 8 equal triangles.
- Bake. Place the triangles onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Bake at 400°F for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden and the centers feel set and firm to the touch. Let the scones cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.
- Make the glazes.
- For the first glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and milk, whisking until smooth.
- For the second glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and milk, whisking until smooth.
- Glaze and serve. Once the scones are slightly cooled, spoon the first glaze on top of each scone and let it set. Then drizzle or pipe the second glaze in a zigzag pattern over top and let it set.
freezing and storage
Make-ahead
Place the assembled unbaked scones in the fridge overnight, then bake as directed.
Storage
Leftover baked scones can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Freeze before baking
Place the scones on a baking sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper, freezing for 1 hour until solid. Transfer the scones to an airtight, resealable freezer bag. Label, date, and freeze up to 2 months. To bake, thaw overnight in the fridge and bake as directed.
Freeze after baking (without the glazes)
Let the scones cool completely. Transfer the scones to an airtight, resealable freezer bag. Label, date, and freeze up to 2 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in the oven at 350°F, covered in aluminum foil until warmed through, about 5-10 minutes. Drizzle with glazes when serving.
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Tools For This Recipe
Starbucks Pumpkin Scones Copycat Recipe: Frequently Asked Questions
Starbucks officially discontinued their pumpkin scones in 2023.
The signature double glaze, of course!
Unfortunately, no. Pumpkin puree contains 100% unsweetened cooked pumpkin whereas pumpkin pie filling contains pumpkin and various additives such as sugar, water, and spices.
Cold, cubed butter will create tiny pockets of fat, yielding tender, flaky scones.
Yes! Pumpkin scones will hold up very well in the freezer both before and after baking (without the glazes), keeping in the freezer for at least 2 months.
Starbucks Pumpkin Scones Copycat Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the glaze
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons milk
For the spiced glaze
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Add cold butter, using your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, milk, egg and vanilla. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula until a soft dough forms.
- Working on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough 3-4 times until it comes together. Using a rolling pill, roll the dough into an 8″ circle, about 1-inch thick, and cut into 8 wedges.
- Place scones onto the prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- When the scones are done, cool for 10 minutes and spoon the glaze on each scone before drizzling with spiced glaze.
- Allow glazes to set before serving.
For the glaze
- In a small bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar and milk. Whisk until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, add more milk as needed.
For the spiced glaze
- In a small bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and milk. Whisk until smooth.
Equipment
Notes
- Avoid pumpkin pie filling. Canned pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie filling are not the same, and are not interchangeable. Be sure to use 100% pure pumpkin as pumpkin pie filling comes pre-mixed with sweeteners and spices.
- Use cold butter. The cold butter will create pockets of steam that will lift the dough, yielding light, airy scones.
- Do not overmix. Overmixing the dough will result in tough, dense, rubbery scones. Handle the dough as gently and as little as possible until it just comes together.
- Sift the confectioners’ sugar. Sift the sugar before mixing the glazes to prevent any unwanted lumps in the smooth, glossy icings.
- Adjust the consistency. If the glaze is too thick, add a splash of milk. If the glaze is too runny, add more confectioners’ sugar.
- Freeze without the glazes. When planning for leftovers to freeze, hold off on glazing or they will turn sticky and grainy upon thawing.
Did you make this recipe?
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This was easy and worked out really well.
My daughter is hooked on the Starbucks scones but loved these even better as they are lighter and fluffier…yet have all the taste and satisfaction of the original.
It’s a keeper!!
As a former Starbucks employee, I can tell you these seriously stack up. I made these for my husband who LOVES the Starbucks pumpkin scones but kept getting told they were sold out. This recipe saved the day!! I made 16 scones from this recipe as I like to have a smaller portion for myself and our kids. Also… Super duper easy. Thanks for including the spice icing recipe! Nice touch.
Loved these! We added mini chocolate chips per my 3 & 5 year olds request and all 8 were finished my lunch time! Thank you!
I love to bake and this recipe looks delicious! I have never attempted scones before, but since I love them, I would really like to try baking them on my own. I have two questions though. Could I freeze the scones after baking and icing them? Will they taste okay thawed? Also, could I add something like cinnamon chips/morsels without compromising the recipe? Thanks!
The Starbucks ones are often frozen for remote stores that can’t get pastries delivered daily. They freeze and thaw beautifully! You’d never know the difference!
It’s better to freeze the scones raw. Some people do this all the time – it helps the scones be flakier.
When you are ready to bake, put the frozen scones in the preheated oven, and bake a munute or two longer than you would for non-frozen.
I still am claiming that I am NOT a cook…no creativity in the kitchen. But thought I would try these scones. Though my DH kept telling me that he didn’t really like scones, my sister and I carried on with the process. And now DH keeps begging for more. Damn Delicious is slowly turning me into a better cook. I keep trying recipes and keep having success. Amazing! My family thanks you 🙂
Oh my! These are BEAUTIFUL scones!
I am not usually a fan of scones because I’ve usually found them to be too dry. This recipe has the perfect spice blend that isn’t overpowering and prior to putting on the icing, I tried one and found them to be the perfect sweetness. With the icing, still not overbearingly sweet. I will admit that I added a bit more pumpkin, simply because I didn’t want to waste the bit of fresh pumpkin I had remaining. The only “issue” was that the dough was then a bit too wet (my fault, of course), but they still turned out perfectly, I just had to flour the dough a bit to make it workable and easy to cut into triangles.
Made these and they are flavour bombs! Maybe use a bit more baking powder, but otherwise make the recipe as is.
Do you use light brown or dark brown sugar?
Light.
Hi, Chungah! I made this last night and had one this morning. The flavour is quite good, but the dough was really hard to work with, and the scones turned out wet without the glaze actually setting. I think I’ve figured out the issue though. I used handmade pumpkin puree. I bet that canned puree is a lot easier to work with. Perhaps I needed to strain it through a cheesecloth first! What are your thoughts?
That’s probably the reason. The canned puree just doesn’t have as much liquid as the homemade. Sorry this didn’t turn out! We hope you give it another go. This is another pumpkin scone recipe of ours that I have made myself many times and always turns out perfectly and is super easy as well (I use canned pumpkin). https://damndelicious.net/2017/10/31/pumpkin-spice-latte-scones/
Hi Jana! I decided to recycle the scones by chopping them up into bite-sized pieces and leaving them exposed to the air. Then I whisked together a cup of milk and an egg, threw it all into a small pan, and made it into bread pudding. The sugar and spices were already present, so it turned out rather well and nothing went to waste. I will definitely give this recipe another go, because the flavours were rather good.
—the only thing I would change is the spicy icing. I will instead make a small amount of maple icing
Hello! Please, could you give me the measurements in metrics?
Thanks,
Sílvia.
Hi Silvia! There are many metric conversion calculators available online. 🙂
Love your blog! I’m not much of a baker, but love reading your recipes. Thought I would give your Starbucks copycat scones a try. Any way to make them
with more low carb friendly ingredients? i.e.,
swerve, Stevia, flour substitute? Thanks!
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Could you make these without rolling them out? For instance, could you use a cookie or ice scream scoop and make them like drop biscuits?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Scones are traditionally hard as rocks. My grandmother taught me to never put my hands on the dough when making scones as the secret to making softer scones is keeping everything cold. If the butter becomes too soft, stick the dough in the freezer for a few minutes. I’m looking forward to making this recipe.
My dough came out so wet, I couldn’t roll it or shape it or anything! Just kinda threw them on the tray and shaped it the best I could. What am I doing wrong?
Bailey, you can always add a little bit more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. 🙂
Just made these today and they were so delicious! Mine didn’t come out with a scone texture though, more of a muffin almost. I’m curious, when measuring your flour did you use a spoon to spoon it into the measuring cup or did you scoop and level it? Either way it was tasty! Just want to perfect the texture!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these, Shanthi! To answer your question, I leveled out the flour. 🙂
These are so moist and delicious. I’ve made them three times already. My drizzle is not pretty, but nobody has complained yet. I will definitely buy a squeeze bottle before I make these again.
Doesn’t have to be pretty as long as it’s delicious!
Hello
My dough was a bit moist when I went to kned it. I used the exact measurements stated in the receipt. What do you think happened?
Mary
Mary, you can always add a little bit more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. 🙂
This looks delicious! What would you recommend for a substitute for the butter since I can’t eat dairy? I’ll use vanilla almond milk as a substitute for the milk. Thank you!
I’ve used coconut oil before myself. But please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Just made these with home grown pumpkin, DELISH!!! How do you recommend storing leftovers? These will be for my husbands on the go breakfast for the week! Thank you in advance for the advice!
You can store the glazed scones covered with plastic wrap. You can also store them in the refrigerator if they will not be consumed the same day. Hope that helps!
YES!!! Pumpkin scones! Starbucks discontinued them or ran out or something. And I have CRAVED them. This recipe looks fabulous! Thank you!