These Best Ever Starbucks Pumpkin Scones are everyone’s favourite fall treat for pumpkin season! And they taste even better than Starbucks’ Pumpkin Scones – they’re more moist and tender, and even more delicious!
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If I had to nail down my favourite fall recipe of all time it might have to be these Best Ever Starbucks Pumpkin Scones. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not much of a coffee fan, but that didn’t stop me from frequenting the Starbucks drive through several times a week on my way to work (in my previous life when I had a “real” day job, that is). Aside from their Pumpkin Spice Lattes, their Pumpkin Scones were the real reason I went so often. That is, until I started making these delicious scones at home myself!
Love pumpkin spice anything? Try my Easy Slow Cooker Pumpkin Spice Latte (Starbucks Copycat Recipe)!
I’ve been making these Best Ever Starbucks Pumpkin Scones for years and years and funnily enough they were actually what prompted me to start this blog in the first place! Yes, you read that right…I made these scones for some friends one day and one of them remarked that I needed to start a food blog to share all my delicious recipes like this. Almost 4 years later, here we are and I’m FINALLY getting around to sharing these amazing Best Ever Starbucks Pumpkin Scones with YOU!
Trouble in scone paradise? Try my BEST tips for delicious, flaky, moist scones every single time:
- Use COLD butter! – Cold butter straight from the fridge is what helps create those flaky layers you see in bakery scones. Using warm or room temperature butter will cause your scone dough to be too liquid-y and you’ll end up with a mushy mess!
- Use your HANDS! – The best way to combine the dry ingredients and the butter is with your hands, using quick rubbing motions. Pick up a handful and rub it once between your hands to create small sheets of butter instead of tiny clumps. This will help create those flaky layers!
- FOLD, don’t knead! – When the dough is just about mixed (when you still see flour!), pour it out onto a work surface and fold it in half, and in half again (and again…) until everything is combined. This will also create those delicious layers and prevent the dough from becoming dry.
- Don’t over-mix! – Nobody likes a tough, dry scone. Mix just until the flour almost disappears and you’ll be left with flaky layers and a nice, tender scone!
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I hope you love these Best Ever Starbucks Pumpkin Scones as much as we do! Let me know in the comments below, what’s your favourite fall recipe? I’d love to know!
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Recipe Video
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Best Ever Starbucks Pumpkin Scones

Recipe: Ingredients
For the scones:
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin puree is best)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup whipping cream
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/3 cup cold, unsalted butter
For the glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons whipping cream
- 2 pinches ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch each of ground cloves and ground nutmeg
Recipe: Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare a large baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, egg and whipping cream with a fork. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves with a wire whisk.
- Cut the cold butter into cubes and add to the flour mixture.
- Using your hands, pick up a handful of the flour mixture and butter cubes and rub your hands together only once before dropping the mixture back into the bowl. Repeat this process until all the butter has turned into thin sheets distributed throughout the flour mixture.
- Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour and butter mixture and mix together with a rubber spatula gently until it's mixed about half way.
- Dump the half-mixed dough onto a floured work surface. Using your hands, pick up half the dough and fold it over the other half. Continue working the dough in this folding motion, very gently, until almost all the flour is incorporated. As you do this, slowly create a round shape about 2 inches thick.
- Slice the round dough into 8 triangular pieces and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for about 20-22 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, or until the scones have puffed up slightly and are firm to the touch. If the scones start to brown on top, remove them from the oven so they don't over-bake.
- Let the scones cool on the pan for a few minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While the scones are cooling, make the glaze by combining the powdered sugar and whipping cream in a medium bowl. Add the powdered sugar first and whisk while adding the whipping cream one tablespoon at a time until a thick glaze forms.
- Divide the glaze into 2 separate bowls. Leave one bowl aside (this will be the white glaze) and to the second bowl add the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg and whisk to combine (this will be the spice glaze).
- When the scones are cool, dip them upside down into the white glaze until the glaze coats the top of the scones.
- Set on a plate or cooling rack and let the glaze dry for about 5 minutes.
- Add the spice glaze to a small piping bag or ziploc bag and snip off the end. Pipe the spice glaze on top of the white glaze to create a lined pattern, or any pattern you wish.
- Discard any remaining glaze and allow the scones to sit for about 15 minutes before enjoying, so the glaze can harden just slightly.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days, or enjoy them while they're fresh for best results!
Recipe: Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
With finally here I will be using this recipe a lot thank you for sharing!
Thanks!Enjoy!
This is making me hungry! Looks so good!
Thanks so much!
thank you for your wonderful recipe. I can hardly wait to try.
Elizabeth from Kitchener ON
Thanks so much!
This makes me so excited for the pumpkin season!
Me too! 🙂
You’re speaking my love language here! These pumpkin scones look over the top AMAZING!
Haha! So glad you like them!
Copycat recipes are the best! I love when you can eat things at home rather than going out! Love when I can eat at home rather than going out!
Thanks! I hope you give them a try!
I made a double recipe for supper (cause I feeeze my pumpkin in 1 cup baggies) and they turned out beautifully! It would definitely cook better with canned pumpkin. I did have to add about 3-4 extra minutes to the cooking time. The texture was perfect, but the top got a little more brown because of the extra cooking time. Still beautiful and delicious! One recipe of drizzle covered two batches of scones for me! And don’t skip the drizzle, it’s to-die-for! 🙂 this is going into regular rotation, fall or not!!
I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
These are the best! I love these from there so I cannot wait to make them at home!
Hi there, do you think replacing the whipping cream with 2% or whole milk will have a large effect on the scones?
They won’t be quite as rich, but using 2% or half and half is just fine. 🙂
Made them today ♡ they are tasty! But… having trouble with the glaze… must be doing something wrong… 2 cups of powdered sugar to 2-3 tbsp of whipping cream didn’t sound right… can you help? Tried to find a video… is there one?? It’s basically a big thick ball….
Feel free to add a little more liquid until you get a thick glaze consistency. Every brand of powdered sugar is different, so adding a little more liquid might be necessary. Glad you liked them!! Sorry no video yet, but hopefully soon!!
Had a potluck at work yesterday and someone brought these. They were amazing. I am definately making these soon.
So glad you liked them! Thanks!
I love this recipe. LOVE it. FYI, whole milk works quite nice in this recipe (on the off chance you find yourself with an empty whipping cream carton and your baby is napping so you cannot run to the store and you absolutely MUST have a pumpkin scone). And for the record, when you forget to remove your scones from the oven and they burn, they still taste awesome! (Yes, I’ve made this recipe a few too many times…) Thank you, Chrissie!
Thanks so much Heather!! Glad you like them 🙂
I make other scones and use buttermilk or sour milk. Could the same be used here?
Yes, absolutely! 🙂
Hi! My dough doesn’t seem to be working…I am not sure what I am doing wrong. How big is the can of pumpkin puree? Mine is 796 ml.
The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, not half a can. I’m sorry, but it seems like you’ve added far too much pumpkin puree. 1/2 cup is approximately 175 ml.
I just made these and.. oh my god they’re delicious!! Thank you so much for the recipe! Keeping this close by!
I’m so glad you like them! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment! 🙂
I was really excited about these but sadly they are nothing like the ones from Starbucks. They lack flavor and the texture is completely different. 🙁
Sorry you didn’t love the recipe 🙁
Hi, just thought I’d mention that these are what Starbucks scones were like before they changed the recipe in 2017. I’ve been using a similar recipe since 2012 or so and it is faithful to the old one.
While their new recipe is okay, I find it’s far too sweet and laden with icing. Unfortunately is in the business of selling sugar more than coffee now.
These look so yummy! A good friend of mine loves scones, and this would be perfect to give as a gift!
Thanks! I hope you give it a try!
Just tried this recipe, turned out amazing! Super tasty and made 10 scones (bonus!) I would suggest halting the drizzle recipe as I had way too much and ended up using it to ice cookies.
Glad you liked them! Thanks!
I’ve made these three times and they’re amazing! I put the flour and butter mixture in the freezer for 15 miutes before adding wet ingredients and it gave the scones extra lightness. I also substituted 2 tablespoons of honey for sugar and skipped the glaze. Perfect – for me! : ) Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed them! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment! 🙂
I just had my first one.. it was delicious!
I couldn’t wait for the frosting, just warm ou of the oven with sweet butter and a cup of tea.
Fantastic!
Pat, Toronto
So glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! 🙂
Can I make the dough the night before and refrigerate it and bake the scones in the morning?
Yes!
In self isolation during Covid-19 in Canada…I am not a baker, and just made these. They are fantastic. I could not get whipping cream, but used 5% instead. Worked beautifully. Thanks for the lovely recipe. Delighted to have found your site.
Thank you Lisa! Glad to hear they turned out delicious! Happy you found my blog too😊
Could I use whole wheat flour?
You could but I don’t actually recommend that as the scones will come out dry. You could maybe just substitute half of the flour with whole wheat flour. Happy baking!
Made these today and they turned out amazing! I needed to more than double the liquid for the glaze and next time I’ll just half the powdered sugar because there was ALOT of glaze. But everything tasted delicious and this is definitely going to be my new go to pumpkin scone recipe!
Thanks so much for your feedback Kate!!🙂
Can you make this recipe gluten free?
I’m sorry, i couldn’t tell you as I never tried it but it should work with a gluten free flour that performs similar to all purpose flour. Happy baking! 😊
So I collect recipes and this is an excellent recipe. So tender…a perfect scone! I have made it twice in two days so I could share the love with others. The first batch, I refrigerated before baking and, like most doughs with cut-in butter, it worked perfectly so it is a great recipe to make the night before for weekends/holiday breakfasts or company. I did do my own thing with the glaze. I thinned powdered sugar/cinnamon with maple syrup for mine. It is a good option and it makes a nice consistency.
So glad to hear that Elizabeth!! Thanks for the feedback!🙂
Perfect! Great taste, and when blending the cold cubed butter with my hands, and then folding in the rest of the flour, my scones were flaky for the first time ever! I decided to use maple flavored glaze. Loved it.
So happy to hear you like the recipe!! Love the maple glaze addition!!
Very balanced flavors. Glaze was a little thick. Delicious
Thanks for your feedback Heidi!!
Excellent scone!
I did require a bit more moisture for my glaze mixture, but that was easy to modify.
I get rave reviews every time I make these for friends and family year round.
I have even frozen them in slices with parchment paper and let them thaw before I bake. Works like a champ to have them on hand whenever I have unexpected company or just the need for a pumpkin scone!
THANK YOU!
You’re welcome Lisa!! Glad everyone loves the recipe!🙂
Recipe came together beautifully. I did substitute pumpkin pie spice for the individual spices and used egg nog instead of heavy cream as it’s what I had on hand. Definitely a recipe I will remake for family & friends.
The egg nog substitution sounds amazing! I’m happy you enjoyed them!
So much better than Starbucks!! Yummy. And seriously don’t skip the spice drizzle. To die for. 🤤
Thank you for your feedback Chris! I’m so happy to hear that you like our recipe!
How do I get the glazes to firm up like Starbucks has? I haven’t been able to ever make that successful 🙁
The glaze in this recipe will firm up after you put it on your scones.