Grain-Free (Paleo-ish) Pumpkin Spice Scones

The past week and a half has been what is know as exam week around UCCOM. It consists of exams on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Monday. It consumes all of our time and energy. It is brutal. And when it rolls around to the Saturday between the Friday and Monday exams, I am pretty burnt out. Add to that the jealousy of seeing EWeage post on the blog the pumpkin spice latte/ chai cupcakes, and you can only imagine the yearning I had to get back into the kitchen. So, as a study break, I decided to try my hand at grain-free pumpkin scones.

But here is the deal with these scones. I had to develop my own recipe because I couldn't find a recipe online for these puppies made with almond flour. So what follows is my first plunge into the world of recipe development. I had about five tabs open on my computer looking at different recipes, trying to deduce the best ratio of almond flour to pumpkin to egg to spices.

I ended up with what follows. But before that, I will say that, while they do taste pretty good, they are not perfect. I am definitely going to be fiddling with this one in the future. (For example, I would add more spices. Its hard to get enough cinnamon for me, but I was worried about going overboard)

Grain-Free Pumpkin Scones

2 1/2 c. + 3 Tbs almond flour

1/2 c. pumpkin

1 egg

2 Tbs honey

1/3 c. chopped toasted pecans

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix all of the ingredients together. The dough will be slightly moist, but you should be able to form it into a circle and cut it into 8 pieces like a normal scone. If not, add a bit more almond flour. Bake at 350 F for 20-30 minutes. I think I took mine out a bit too soon, but that just meant that they turned out perfectly when I reheated them in the mornings in the toaster oven.

Spiced Glaze

2 Tbs pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 Tbs honey

1/2 c powdered sugar (this is the not-so-paleo part...)

Mix up the ingredients, and then I poured them into a plastic bag, cut the corner off, and used it to drizzle.

**As a side note, as with any grain-free baking that I have done, these are very absorbent. Unless you are going to eat them right away, I would suggest not glazing until when you want to eat them. Second option is what I did, glaze them all, and then put them in the toaster oven to warm up when you want to eat them.