Nutritious, delicious and vegan, these healthy pumpkin scones are just the thing for pumpkin season. They’re incredibly quick and easy to make, unless you take the longer route and make your own pumpkin purée. Spread with butter for a semi sweet treat or go savoury and serve with soup. Either way they’re both tender and tasty.
Healthy Pumpkin Scones
My pumpkin scones are more of a traditional Australian bake than an American one. In the US, they’re baked as triangles, are quite sweet and often covered in a glaze or icing. Australian pumpkin scones, on the other hand, are more like a traditional British scone. They’re not as sweet, have no icing and are cut into small rounds prior to baking.
However, these healthy pumpkin scones are a little different; they’re vegan. Thus unlike traditional British scones they contain neither egg nor dairy.
To be fair most simple scones don’t add egg anyway, but the more elaborate ones do. To make these vegan, I’ve replaced butter with olive oil thus cutting out the usual saturated fat element.
These vegan pumpkin scones are surprisingly good all on their own. But if you choose to spread them with butter, vegan or otherwise, well, I won’t tell.
As you’d expect from one of my bakes, I’ve made these pumpkin scones with wholemeal spelt flour. This gives them heaps of fibre and other nutrients which are mostly lost in plain wheat flours. It also adds a certain nuttiness to the flavour which makes them even more wholesome and delicious.
Sugar is entirely optional. You can make these healthy pumpkin scones with or without. Both are equally tender and delicious. Those without sugar make a great accompaniment to soup, especially pumpkin soup. They’re also good spread with butter and jam.
But if you like a semi-sweet scone, add a little unrefined brown sugar to give some caramel notes and additional flavour. Spread with butter and serve warm for a comforting and exceptionally tasty bite.
I’ve given both options in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
To Make Healthy Pumpkin Scones You Will Need
Main Ingredients
- Pumpkin purée
- Wholemeal flour (I use wholemeal spelt flour)
- Pumpkin spice mix or British mixed spice
- Plant milk
- Olive oil
- Unrefined brown sugar such as muscovado (optional)
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Measuring jug
- Flat bladed knife
- 6 cm ring cutter
- Baking tray
Healthy Pumpkin Scones: Step-by-Step
As I’ve already stated these healthy pumpkin scones are incredibly quick and easy to make. You don’t need much in the way of either ingredients or equipment. In fact you can get these scones on the table in well under half an hour. And that’s from start to finish.
Step 1. Whisk Dry Ingredients
Place flour, raising agents, salt and spices into a large mixing bowl. Then use a whisk to combine and get rid of any lumps.
If you’re using sugar, add it at this point and whisk again to combine and remove any lumps.
Top Tip
These healthy pumpkin scones are not meant to be loaded with sugar. However, if you’d like a little sweetness add one tablespoon of brown sugar. For something more obviously sweet add two tablespoons.
Step 2. Add Pumpkin Purée
Make a well in the middle of the flour and spoon the pumpkin purée into it.
Step 3. Add Remaining Ingredients
Measure the plant milk and olive oil in a measuring jug and pour into the well.
With a flat bladed knife, stir from the inside outwards until everything is just about combined and you’ve formed a dough.
The dough should be soft and damp, but not too sticky. A dry dough will produce dry scones that won’t rise as well.
Top Tip
Hold a little milk back to avoid a wet dough. If it needs it, you can add it as you mix. If the dough is too dry, you may need to add even more, but go carefully.
Step 4. Cut Scones
Bring the dough together with your hands into a ball. The less it’s handled the lighter the finished scones will be. Over handling can result in a tough scone – nooooo!
On a lightly floured surface, pat the dough out with your hands to form a round about 2 to 2 ½ centimetres (¾ to 1 inch) thick.
Use a round cookie cutter or glass with a diameter of 6 centimetres (2 ½ inches) to cut out the scones.
Combine the leftover bits, pat and cut again until you’ve used all of the dough. You should get nine scones, although this will depend on how thick you make them.
Top Tips
Although you can use a rolling pin to flatten the dough, it responds better to a lighter touch. There is a bonus to using your hands instead; it means less washing up. Win win.
Dip the cutter into a bag of flour before each cut to prevent the dough sticking to it.
I always roll the last bit of dough by hand and form it into a scone shape. It’s likely to be an odd size.
Step 5. Bake Scones
Place the cut pumpkin scones onto a greased baking tray. Pop onto the middle shelf of your preheated oven and bake for twelve to fifteen minutes.
The tops should be golden, but not brown. Tap the base of one of the scones and if it sounds hollow, it’s done.
Transfer the scones to a cooling rack or devour whilst still warm.
Top Tip
You don’t need to line baking trays for scones. Like bread, they don’t tend to stick. If you have a good non-stick tray you don’t even need to grease it.
Healthy Pumpkin Scones: Ingredients And Alternatives
If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to adapt this healthy vegan pumpkin scone recipe to suit your own tastes and what ingredients you have available to use. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Wholemeal Flour (Whole Wheat Flour)
When it comes to wholemeal flour, I generally prefer to use wholemeal spelt when it comes to baking scones. I find it gives a lighter result. You can, however, use whatever wheat flour you like. You may need to adjust the amount of plant milk you use accordingly.
Straightforward wholemeal flour takes a bit more liquid than spelt and plain flour (all-purpose flour) takes a bit less.
Head over to my recipe post for vegan wholemeal scones for top tips on how to get the best results with whole wheat vegan scones.
Pumpkin Purée
Canned pumpkin purée makes these gorgeous orange coloured scones incredibly quick to make. Tins of it are getting easier to find here in the UK. It was almost impossible a few years ago. However, none of the stores in my local town sell it, so I buy mine online.
Do make sure you buy pure pumpkin purée. There should only be one ingredient listed and that’s pumpkin.
Having said that, it’s actually quite easy to make your own. You can find out how to do this in my pumpkin cake recipe post.
Sweet Potato Mash
Sweet potato makes an excellent alternative to pumpkin purée. Just bake a sweet potato, remove the flesh and mash.
Pumpkin Spice Mix
Pumpkin spice is a mixture of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves and it smells divine. Try to use it if you can. If you can’t get hold of any, it’s easy to make your own.
Mix 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon with ¼ teaspoon of ground ginger, a ¼ teaspoon of ground or gated nutmeg and ⅛ teaspoon of ground cloves. This will give you a bit more than the teaspoon required for these vegan pumpkin scones, but it’s so good, you won’t have a problem using it up.
Alternatively swap it for British mixed spice.
Baking Powder
When I make scones I use a mix of cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) rather than baking powder. I find it gives a better rise and gives a more tender crumb.
However, cream of tartar is generally not a pantry staple, so you might prefer to use baking powder instead. You can substitute 2 ½ tsp of baking powder for the cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda.
Vegan Butter
If like me, you’e not a fan of commercial vegan butters and spreads, how about making your own? I have a recipe for vegan butter which is surprisingly good.
Can You Freeze Vegan Pumpkin Scones?
All scones, including pumpkin scones freeze really well. As soon as they’re completely cool, place into a sealable freezer bag or individual bags and pop in the freezer. Just make sure you don’t put anything on top of them until they’re properly frozen. You can keep them there for up to three months.
When you’re ready to enjoy the scones, take them out of the freezer and allow them to defrost at room temperature in the bag for two to three hours.
To serve warm, place them in a preheated oven at 150℃ (130℃ fan, 300℉, Gas 2) for five minutes. Alternatively pop them into an air fryer at 130℃ (270℉).
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Other Pumpkin Recipes You Might Like
- Orange spiced pumpkin cake
- Pasties with squash, chard and feta cheese
- Pumpkin & goat’s cheese tarragon brunch muffins
- Pumpkin stew with borlotti beans and cavolo nero
- Roasted squash with brown buttered sage and hazelnuts
- Squash and red pepper soup
Other Scone Recipes You Might Like
- Apple cider scones
- Blackberry & apple scones
- Cheese scones
- Chocolate scones
- Matcha scones
- Vegan plain scones
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these vegan pumpkin scones, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?
If you’d like more vegan recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Healthy Pumpkin Scones. PIN IT.
Healthy Pumpkin Scones – The Recipe
Healthy Pumpkin Scones
Ingredients
- 250 g wholemeal spelt flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice mix or British mixed spice
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
- 1-2 tbsp light muscovado sugar optional
- 150 g pumpkin purée canned or homemade
- 50 ml plant milk of choice + a little extra to brush over tops (I used soy milk)
- ½ tsp lemon juice or cider vinegar
- 25 ml olive oil
Instructions
- Set oven to 220℃ (200℃ fan, 425℉, Gas 7).
- Measure your milk and stir in the lemon juice or vinegar. Leave for five minutes to sour.
- Place the dry ingredients into a large bowl and whisk to combine and get rid of any lumps. If you're using sugar add it at this stage. If you're after a sweet scone add two tablespoons and if you just want a slight sweetness add one tablespoon.
- Make a well in the centre and add the pumpkin purée. Pour in the soured milk and oil. Stir with a round bladed knife from the inside to the outside until the ingredients are just combined and form a dough.
- On a lightly floured surface. pat the dough out with your hands to form a round about 2 cm (¾") thick. Cut into small rounds with a 6 cm (2 ½") floured cutter. Combine the leftover bits, pat and cut again until the dough has all been used. You should get nine scones, although this will depend on how thick you make them.
- Place onto a greased baking tray and brush with your milk of choice. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the scones are golden and the bases sound hollow when tapped.
- Place onto a cooling rack. Enjoy at least one whilst they're still warm. Serve with vegan butter or any topping of choice. Savoury ones make a good accompaniment to soup, especially pumpkin soup.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
I’m sharing this recipe for delicious and nutritious vegan pumpkin scones with Farmersgirl Kitchen for #CookBlogShare.
Jo says
These look great and have a lovely texture, but unfortunately I had to throw out the entire batch too as they tasted very bitter from the bicarb. I’m in Australia, maybe bicarb is different in the UK?
Choclette says
Hi Jo. Oh no!!! I’m pretty sure your bicarb is the same as ours. Did you use only one teaspoon? It should have been 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda and 2 tsp cream of tartar. This amount should not have given them that horrid bicarby taste, which I don’t like either. If you don’t have cream of tarter then I’ve suggested you use 2 ½ tsp baking powder instead of the bicarb and cream of tarter.
Bonnie-Estelle says
this has far too much cream of tartar, I made them according to the recipe and had to throw away the whole batch because all I could taste was cream of tartar 🙁
Choclette says
I’m so sorry you didn’t like the scones. Personally I can’t stand scones that taste of bicarbonate of soda, so I know what you mean. However, I always add this amount of bicarb and cream of tartar to my scones and I’ve never had any complaints before. Just checking that you used teaspoons rather than tablespoons?
Jill @ MadAboutMacarons says
I love your idea of pumpkin in scones, Choclette – and vegan too. I haven’t made vegan yet so this looks super!
Choclette says
Thank you Jill. Vegan sounds so counter intuitive at first. But I’ve made so many excellent vegan bakes over the years, I no longer think about it.
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie says
Sounds utterly delicious! Eb 🙂
Choclette says
Indeed, they are really good and they keep surprisingly well too.
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
They are such a glorious colour and you can never go wrong with pumpkin!
Choclette says
Indeed, pumpkin is such a good autumnal veg to use. The colour and flavour are spot on.
Johanna @ https://gggiraffe.blogspot.com/ says
Pumpkin scones are one of my favourite scones – we had them a lot in my childhood and I still make them. They always had a little sugar to bring out the sweetness of the pumpkin. And traditionally are made with egg and no spice. And a vegan version is always lovely. If you want an Aussie serving suggestion, I really love eating them with butter and vegemite!
Choclette says
Yay for pumpkin scones. I think you’re right, just a wee bit of sugar enhances them nicely. As for vegemite, I’ll stick to Marmite, but I like the suggestion and haven’t tried it – yet!
Sarah James says
Your scones look delicious Choclette, the pumpkin adds a lovely colour. I like the idea of having a scone with some soup.
Choclette says
Thank you Sarah. I can attest that these scones go really nicely with soup.
Rebecca - Glutarama says
What a fabulously autumnal recipe. I am a bit of a pumpkin fan so always on the look out for more pumpkin recipes to use up carving flesh and the stack of tins I have in storage!!
Choclette says
I do love a stack of tins Rebecca. Hope you get to use them in these pumpkin scones. They come highly recommended 😉
Melissa Altman-Traub says
Wow, I just want to eat one right now and skip the whole baking process. Thanks for explaining how to make them and I am confident I can do it!
Choclette says
I’m very sure you can Melissa, they’re super easy. Thank you.
Lesley says
I love your spiced pumpkin scones, just the perfect bake for this time of year.
Choclette says
They fit so well into autumn – the colour, the warm spices and the pumpkin of course.
angiesrecipes says
Whole spelt and pumpkin are definitely my thing 🙂 These look bakery perfect.
Choclette says
Aw, thank you Angie. I often think I should set up a stall by my front gate 😀