Pumpkin Scones #GlutenFree

This is one from the first batch...it taste great but I felt it was too thin.  

I never forget my trips to New York City.  They are always packed with memories, fun and food.  I just spent the day visiting friends and walked away with another fun day emblazoned in my heart and mind.

When you are only in NYC for one day, what do you do?  We shop....and shop and did I mention..SHOP!  Yes, we are women with a mission and we must help the economy some how.  We all work so hard to save and arrange our schedules for this trip to the city.  We leave hubbies, children, work and homes so that we can create the bonds of friendship that can never be broken.  Friends are those that will lift you up when no one else can or will, even family at times.  They love you for being YOU and want to be with YOU and we laugh...OH do we laugh!  Girls just wanna have fun and SHOP and EAT.

This is the scone shape that I went with.  I used the "drop" method and it worked great.

Whenever I visit some place new or even if I have been there before, I enjoy eating at different places each time.  Yesterday I was able to eat at two different restaurants and had a sample of a scone from one cute tea house.  I only risked one bite because it was a scone made with wheat.  I can tell you it took just one bite and I was hooked on making something that I could have more than just one bite of.  I think after today, I should have stuck with one bite....LOLOLOL

Alice's Tea House is very cute.  They host little girl parties, sell cookbooks and have lots of different flavors of loose tea. The tea menu was huge.  They serve it hot and cold.  You can also have lunch with cute tea cakes that arrive to your table on a pretty plate stand.  The walls are painted and written with Alice in Wonderland quotes.  They sell a lot of Alice in Wonderland tea sets.  It's all so magical and the best part is they have more than one store front in NYC..they have three!   NICE.

I know that there is sauce on top of the scone, but you will WANT or NEED extra sauce to eat your scone with.

I am going to share with you where you can find the original Alice's Tea Cup Pumpkin Spice Scone.  It is here.  This batter is very wet and sticky.  I have read through the reviews and most people find that they cannot roll out the batter because it is too sticky.  If you choose to go with the recipe, I would add a little bit more flour (they may weigh their flour instead of using a cup and this is two different amounts) OR generously flour your surface, rolling pin and the top of the mix.  Another suggestion is to use a spoon and  "drop" the batter on to your cookie sheet.  A scone has many looks...cut or dropped.  You choose.

The recipe posted below is for a gluten and dairy free scone.  I was inspired by the scone I ate in NYC, but having only had a small bite I cannot say that it would replace Alice's Tea Cup.  It is delicious on it's own and the caramel sauce will blow you away.  I had the ladies and teachers at Isabella's school (they love being my guinea pigs) test it this morning for me.  They could not tell that it was gluten free.  They loved it too.

Invite your friends over, select your tea, wear your hats and eat PUMPKIN scones!  You don't have to go to New York City to bond with your friends, have tea or eat scones...it just makes it a bigger story. LOL

NOTE:   A scone is not very sweet, that is the job of the caramel sauce.

Recipe:  Pumpkin Scones with Caramel Sauce

2 cup of Almond Meal.  I buy mine at Whole Foods.
1/3 cup of White Rice Flour
1/2  cup of Potato Starch
1 tsp. Xantham Gum
1/2 cup of sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of ground ginger
1 stick of cold butter, cut into slices
1/4 cup of milk
1 egg
1 cup of pumpkin puree.  Do not use the pie filling.
2 T. vanilla extract

Caramel Glaze:

1 stick of unsalted butter ( I only had salted today and it tasted great.)
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup of whipping cream

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine in a large bowl: almond meal, white rice flour, potato flour, xantham gum, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon and ginger.  Use a whisk to blend the dry ingredients together.

I used cold butter, cut into 1/4 inch slices.  Add this to the dry mix and using a pastry cutter, cut the butter in.  The dry mix with the butter should look like breadcrumbs.

In the middle of the dry/butter ingredients, create a well. Add the pumpkin, egg, almond milk and vanilla.

Using a spoon, gently combine the wet and dry.  Do not over blend or beat.  Let rest 15 minutes.

I used a baking stone with Parchment paper to bake the scones on.  The dough is thick and can be spooned right onto the cookie sheet or stone.  I used a spoon and "dropped" the batter.  The thinner you smooth the "drop" the thinner your scone will be.  They don't spread much.

Bake the scones for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the scones to a wire rack to cool.  They should cool for 20-30 minutes before adding the caramel sauce to the top.

Prepare the sauce while the scones are baking and cooling.

In a small sauce pan, add the butter, brown sugar and salt. Your stove top heat should be set to medium.  As soon as you see your first bubble, do not boil, remove from heat and add cream.  Return to heat and stir for 2-3 minutes until thickened.

Sauce will become thick as it cools, but this makes the scone easier to dip into the sauce.  OH YES, you will want more of the sauce than what the cookie will have on top...LOL

When the scones are cool, use a spoon and drizzle the sauce over each scone.  The sauce does run over at first, but does set and then they can be removed to a pretty plate.  Do not stack glazed cookies..that could be tricky and a huge mess.

Oh they were good and so messy.  Sometimes we just need to get messy…ENJOY!

I remade this recipe in August of 2012 and fine tuned the recipe a bit.  This is a new picture.