Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Drop Scones with Sticky Honey Glaze

So yesterday, my family and I went to the pumpkin patch at Mitchell Farms.  And I must say, I was very, very impressed.  I've never actually been to a pumpkin patch before, and this one had a lot going on for the very reasonable price of $8.00 per person.  Plus, every one of us got to pick out a free pumpkin.

And we decided we would take a picnic lunch, so naturally I wanted to make some goodies made with, duh, pumpkin.  And I had this great idea for a recipe that I just KNEW would work.  It was a bar recipe made with pumpkin, oatmeal, and butterscotch, and everyone would just love them, and I would be the hero of the day and yada, yada, yada.

So I made these *special* bars, and the batter tasted good, and I was all "I am soooo on to something here!"  That was, until I noticed there seemed to be some very weird air pockets forming while they baked in the oven.  I let them cool, then tasted them, and although the taste was not unpleasant, the texture was like, I don't know, rubber.  So I decided to add a quick powdered sugar glaze to distract from the texture. 

I packed them anyway, but my beloved family informed me at the picnic that they did indeed taste and feel like rubber, and what was the wet stuff on them anyway, mom?  (The glaze never did dry like I had planned, either.)

But we still had a great day at the pumpkin patch, and we are definitely putting it on the schedule for next year.  We were all completely zonkered out by closing time, and the joke of the day was "I'm so hungry, I could eat a rubber pumpkin bar!"

Well, hardee-har-har. 

But I would not go down in defeat, so I made another pumpkin recipe this morning.  This one is a tried and true recipe I wrote last year.  No rubbery texture here.  I'm proud to say these won the Better Recipes pumpkin contest last fall.  I hope you like them.

Here are my notes:

-Don't worry if your cream cheese mixture is a little lumpy.  It's supposed to be.

-I used an ice cream scoop to scoop mine out onto the baking sheet.  I only got ten today because my scoop was a little big.

-I used walnuts instead of pecans this time.

-I usually start cutting in the butter with a cutter, then switch to my fingers, then back to a cutter.  It should look like fine crumbs when the butter is cut in:

-These are drop scones.  No rolling out!  Yay!

 -They are awesome just out of the oven.  Yum. 

 -The glaze truly is very sticky.

Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Drop Scones with Sticky Honey Glaze

Printable Recipe

Scones:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces

2 large eggs
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 cup canned pure pumpkin

The zest of one orange
1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans

1 egg, beaten

Glaze:

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

4 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup finely chopped pecans

1.      Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

2.      In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and 1/3 cup light brown sugar.

3.      Cut in butter, using fingertips or pastry cutter, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 

4.      In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, the softened cream cheese, the pumpkin and the orange zest until incorporated.  Mixture will be lumpy.    

5.      Add cream cheese mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until combined.  Add pecans and stir just enough to evenly distribute pecans.

6.      Drop dough into 12 equal mounds on a baking sheet that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray, about 1 inch apart.  Brush tops with the beaten egg.   Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

7.      About 5 minutes before scones come out of the oven, make the glaze.  Place the 1/2 cup light brown sugar, the honey and 4 tablespoons butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil stirring often.  Boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat.

8.      When scones come out of oven, place them on a wire rack over a baking sheet.  Drizzle with the glaze.  Sprinkle the tops with 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans.  12 scones.