Pumpkin Pecan Scones with Maple Glaze
Incredible pumpkin scones made with whole wheat flour and coconut oil, topped with maple glaze and pecans. These healthy pumpkin scones are vegan, too!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on July 9, 2024
On the evening of Halloween, I found myself stretching at a familiar pace during my regularly scheduled yoga class. Arms up, forward fold, flat back, jump to plank. Somewhere between upward dog and downward dog, my mind started wandering. What happened to my favorite holiday? Why hadn’t I dressed up this year? Inhale, exhale. Where are the Halloween parties? If I’m not hearing about the parties, does that mean I’m doing something wrong with my life? Or am I just too old for them?
There I was, hanging upside down on my hands and feet, flashing back to college. At this time five years ago, I thought, I’d be asking my roommate Grace for help with my Princess Leia buns. Later that night, I’d be dancing around to Thriller with my friends—each a different character with a sloshing red Solo cup in hand.
I went home feeling all stretched out and sentimental. I poured myself a glass of wine and nibbled on a dark chocolate mini peanut butter cup. That wasn’t cutting it. I missed my roommates and our three-day Halloween extravaganzas. I briefly considered taking a shot of whiskey for old time’s sake (bad idea). Then I recalled that Grace wanted a pumpkin scone recipe. She mentioned it when I went to visit her in Minneapolis this summer. Grace loves to spend quiet mornings with a cup of black coffee and a scone.
I set down my glass of wine, got up and made pumpkin scones at midnight. Two batches later, I ended up with a simple whole wheat, vegan pumpkin pecan scone topped with a sweet maple glaze. I opted for coconut oil instead of butter in this scones, which is even easier to work with than butter and works just as well. I think you’ll like these, G.
I know some people try to avoid powdered sugar, whether it’s because the store-bought kind is usually cut with corn starch or simply because it’s refined sugar. I thought you might like to know that you can make your own powdered sugar in a blender or food processor. I used fine organic cane sugar (see above photo, left side) but read that you can also make it with turbinado sugar or sucanat. Just pulse the sugar until it’s nice and fluffy (see above photo, right side)!
More Pumpkin Treats to Enjoy
- Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pancakes
- Healthy Pumpkin Bread or Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
- Perfect Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
- Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes
View more pumpkin recipes here.
Pumpkin Pecan Scones with Maple Glaze
Vegan (or not), whole wheat pumpkin pecan scones topped with a delightful maple glaze. This healthy pumpkin scone recipe will be a hit with your family and friends!
Ingredients
Pumpkin scones
- 1 cup raw pecan halves
- 2 cups (250 grams) white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- ⅓ cup solid coconut oil* or 5 tablespoons cold butter
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup milk of choice (almond milk, cow’s milk, etc.)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Maple glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon fine salt
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil or butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup maple syrup, more if needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the nuts in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Toast the nuts in the oven until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Reserve the parchment paper for later, and chop the nuts into fine pieces.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, three-fourths of the chopped nuts (reserve the remaining nuts for topping), baking powder, sugar, spices, and salt in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Use a pastry cutter to cut the coconut oil or butter into the dry ingredients. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, use a fork to cut the coconut oil into the flour, or use a knife to cut the butter into tiny pieces and mix it into the flour.
- Stir in the pumpkin puree, milk, and vanilla extract. At first, it will seem like there isn’t enough liquid to wet the dough, but keep mixing until you have thoroughly incorporated the wet and dry ingredients. If you must, use your hands to knead the last of the flour into the dough.
- Form the dough into a circle about an inch deep all around. Use a chef’s knife to cut the circle into 8 even slices.
- Separate the slices and place them on the baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
- While the scones are baking, whisk together the glaze ingredients in a small bowl until smooth and creamy. Let the scones cool until they are lightly warm to the touch. Drizzle the glaze generously over the scones (I preferred mine with a solid layer across the top). While the glaze is wet, sprinkle it with the remaining chopped nuts. Enjoy!
Notes
Recipe adapted from my blueberry lemon scones . Glaze and chopped nut combination was inspired by Laura’s gorgeous baked maple doughnuts.
Change it up: You can modify this recipe by omitting the nuts altogether and/or adding chopped dark chocolate. If you want a heartier, less sugary topping option, try serving the scones with pecan butter and maple syrup instead of the glaze.
*Coconut oil note: The scones turn out their flaky best when you cut solid coconut oil (or cold butter) into the ingredients (melted oil would not have the same effect). Coconut oil hardens at temperatures under 77 degrees Fahrenheit, so I hope your oil is good to go. If it’s liquid, refrigerate the amount needed just until it turns opaque and solidifies, but not until it’s rock hard.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I make this recipe often, for special occasions or just because. I do cringe at the powdered sugar, mainly because I eat a plant-based diet 95% of the time. I wonder if you can make powdered sugar from coconut sugar, which is what I use in place of the brown sugar. (I add a tablespoon of molasses)
I absolutely love pumpkin and my lovely husband made these to surprise me. They are simply wonderful! I love the texture the whole wheat and nuts gives the scone. The pumpkin and spices are perfect as is the glaze! Well done Kate – this is a keeper!
What a sweet husband! I’m glad this was a tasty surprise :)
Hello, Can I substitute the flour for gluten free flour in this recipe?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure. Sorry!
Kate, I love this recipe!
I split the flour between HodgsonMill Whole Wheat Graham (minus 1 TB) and unbleached bread flour, used butter, and did it all in my food processor. You can chop the 3/4 c nuts first, add dry ingredients, pulse a couple of times . Add the butter and pulse again until cut in. Mix the wet ingredients in a small bowl first, then add to processor and pulse until the dough starts to come together. Worked like a charm. I also cut the dough in half and then made 8 small scones from each half. So it you eat 4 of those, it’s really only 2 :)
For the glaze I added a few drops of orange essence to counter some of the sweetness.
My sister would have loved these. She loved scones and all things pumpkin. We lost her almost 2 years ago, but I know she is smiling that I finally found a great recipe like this!
Isabell, thank you for your feedback! Your version sounds really great. I’ll have to try making them that way. I’m so sorry that you lost your sister. Sending hugs your way!
Absolutely fantastic! First time making scones. Its hard to find pumpkin purée mix here, so I made my own by roasting a kabocha then putting it in the food processor to get creamy. Also, I grated frozen butter into the mix instead of cutting butter real small, it worked great. After I formed dough into a ball I let chill in the fridge for 10 minutes while I cleaned then cut up in 8 slices and baked, came out perfect. For the topping I attempted to make powder sugar with monk fruit sugar, but didn’t powder as well as I anticipated but I still mixed with the other topping ingredients and came out delicious. I only used about 1/4 of the topping mix as I don’t like it too sweet. Crumbled the rest of the pecans on top. Definitely a keeper! Highly recommend for anyone to bake this.
This is one of my favourite recipes! So yummy and easy
:)
These pumpkin scones are DELICIOUS! I wasn’t sure how I would I like the outcome of using coconut oil instead of butter but ohhhhh…they are scrumptious! Great recipe. Thank you for sharing it!
YES coconut oil is our friend in baking :)
I made this and 2 of your other pumpkin recipes. Your recipes are great and so nice that you used whole wheat flour.
“Thus says The Lord YahuShua: Those who knowingly celebrate Easter and its deplorable traditions hate My resurrection. Therefore, join not in the error of the people; have no part in their sin.” Excerpt from: Trumpet Call of God online . com
Hi Kate – I think you should rename this instalment of your blog Game of Scones! I just made them (sans glaze) and they are scrumptious. Will definitely be making them again and again. After all, winter is coming. Thanks for another outstanding vegan recipe!! Now…if they only came with a side of Jon Snow…sigh…
Hahah! I love the name. I’m glad you enjoyed the scones, Rose!
Could i make this with whole wheat graham flour instead? This look so good but I accident bought the wrong flour yesterday and all I have now is coconut flour and whole wheat graham flower :(
My first attempt at scones! Easy enough. Thanks for the great recipe. :)
Thanks, Melissa! I hope this encourages you to try more scones!
Hi! These look lovely, could I use oat flour (ground up oats in this case) for this recipe instead?
Hi Fiona, I’m sorry for the slow response. I’m really not sure; scones are more tricky to make gluten-free than other baked goods. Another commenter reported that a mixture of 1 cup rice flour and 1 cup almond meal worked well, so that might be worth a shot?
No worries at all! Right, thank you very much!
I love this recipe. I make mine gluten-free using almond flour and adjust the recipe to 1 cup of pumpkin (almond flour absorbs the liquids and the extra pumpkin keeps them moist).
Happy to hear it turned out so well gluten-free! Thanks so much for your review!
Delicious & easier than I expected! I even made them with my three year old twins. Thanks, Kate.
Great, Jackie! So happy to hear that. Thank you so much for the review!
I found this recipe a few weeks ago because I was feeling #fallgoals and I’ve been making these weekly since then. I love these scones! I make the glaze with Trader Joe’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup and it just gives it this extra yummy kick. I love it. Everyone who’s tasted these raves about them!
Pumpkin and maple are all about fall! Happy these have met your fall goals :) Thanks so much for your review, Cynthia!
Perfect recipe and so easy to put together. I loved how subtly sweet these were! It pairs perfect with a coffee or chai tea. Just an all around good recipe. Love it. Thanks for the recipe.
Sounds delicious! Thank you so much, Christine for your review :)
When you say you can eliminate the nuts and sub dark chocolate- is it a 1:1 sub? Don’t see how that would work. Anyway the recipe looks amazing and I hope to make it over Thanksgiving
Hi! You can use 3/4 cup chocolate chips and fold them into the dough in step 4.
Mine don’t look as pretty as yours but they’re my favourite scones now! I’ve made this recipe 4 times in the past month. Thank you so much!
It just matters how they taste :) Thank you for your review!
Hi! Was wondering if i could sub butternut squash puree? Would i have to make any adjustments(as pumpkin is naturally sweeter)? Thanks! Love it w pumpkin but have to use it for a different recipe!
I love your recipes and usually follow them to the T. I’m wondering if I can do a maple pecan spin off of these sans pumpkin. Don’t get me wrong….I love pumpkin! But I’m fresh out and trying to avoid a run to the store for one ingredient. Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thank you!
Hi Texie, banana or maybe yogurt would work!
Hi Kate! Randomly came across your blog few days ago, this is now a third recipe I’ve tried and still got more lined up.
The dough of these scones ended up being a little sticky for me so I just shaped them into flat rounds by hand (especially since husband prefers scones being round) and it came out to 14 servings which were great but I also admittedly halved the sugar in the glaze and there was no lack of sweetness.
Happy cooking! I’m glad you came across, Lucy.
These turned out great. Thank you for the recipe!
You’re welcome!
This is a GREAT recipe! I’ve made these scones so many times for so many different people and they get rave reviews every time. I’ve made them with gluten and without gluten, with dairy and without dairy. Everytime: YUMMY! The only time I thought not so great was when I used buckwheat flour, but everything else, two big thumbs up!! Even with the buckwheat flour, the others eating them still enjoyed them. Thank you for the great recipe and website! Love it! Although, is it any surprise with a dog named Maple that I wouldn’t love them?? :)
Hooray! Love that you have made this so many ways and that it has worked so well gluten free. I appreciate your review!
Actually, i did change the recipe up abit to use ingredients i had on hand. Im very happy with the results. Thanks!
Great, Rachelle! Thank you for commenting. If you would like to leave a star review, I would appreciate it!
Will spelt flour work in this recipe?
I don’t bake much with spelt flour. I would assume not as it isn’t a typical 1:1 substitution.
this is exactly the recipe I was looking for… thank you Kate! Did you let the scones cool before glazing?
You’re welcome! I did it while they were still warm so it they got nice an coated. Hope this helps!
They are delicious! Made the first batch with glaze and no nuts. Second batch with chocolate chips. My family loves them!
I’m glad these were a hit with your family, Heather! I appreciate your review.
I love to put butter with chopped craisins on pumpkin scones.. haven’t made your recipe as yet but plan to soon.
Great! Let me know what you think, Ruthann.
I’m not sure if it was because I used white APF but my dough was way too wet. I could not even shape it much less cut it into triangles. I managed to spread it on the baking sheet to see if the dough could be salvaged. It smelled wonderful but no flavor. I was so sad. Usually your recipes are on point. But i guess i should try again one day with the the whole wheat flour and see if that makes a difference. At least my kitchen smells good.
Hi Julissa, very sorry to hear that you were disappointed by the scones. I believe the issue has everything to do with using all-purpose flour. Whole wheat flour absorbs a lot of moisture, and since scones are so dependent upon the moisture content to maintain their shape, that would explain why yours didn’t work out. If you want to give it a try with whole wheat flour, I think you’ll have very different results! If you want to boost the pumpkin flavor, you can add more spice, too.
You didn’t follow the recipe, making a huge and impactful substitution. You got exactly the results that would be expected for 1:1 subbing of all-purpose for wheat. Seems awfully unfair to leave a one-star review when you didn’t follow the recipe.
I made it as is and thought they were great.
Would the scones still hold together if I leave out the nuts? (I’m allergic …)
Hi Julie, definitely! Nuts can generally be omitted from baked goods without problem (when they’re used as an accent). Hope you love the scones!
Hands down the best pumpkin scones I have ever tasted in my life! My slight modification: 1/4 cup ground flax, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and the rest white flour; for the glaze I halved the sugar, didnt have maple syrup but added rum extract and milk with the coconut oil, and there was still plenty of glaze to go around. Will definitely use this recipe again!
I love it, Kristi! Thanks for sharing your take on this recipe.
My family LOVES these scones! The recipe is simple, but the results are impressive. I substitute pumpkin seeds for the pecans due to an allergy and they are outstanding! Thank you for another fabulous recipe
You’re welcome, Michelle!
Saw this recipe today and had to make it right away! I was a huge fan of Starbucks maple oat scone and they discontinued it years ago. My own version didn’t quite satisfy but this one does! The coconut oil makes a delicious glaze. This is perfect for back to school breakfasts! Thank you for all your amazing recipes and beautiful pictures!
This was the first time i made scones❤. Turned out perfect. I used solid coconut oil for both dough and glaze. My littles loves them!!.
This is the third time I’ve made these. LOVE them! I made a double batch this time. Has anyone tried to freeze them? Would I glaze them before, if I did freeze them?
Let me know if you freeze them! I bet freezing with the glaze would work too.
Freezing them worked well! I glazed them, froze them on the cookie sheet before covering them, so the glaze wouldn’t stick to the foil. They freeze quite well!
Can this recipe be made with Bob’s all purpose flour?
The gluten-free flour? That should work!
I didn’t have enough whole wheat flour so I did a mix of 1 cup whole wheat and 3/4 cup chickpea flour. I substituted molasses for maple since I dont have it. Excellent and easy to follow recipe.
These are delicious! To make myself feel less guilty for serving them as lunch to my toddler, I subbed 1/4 of the flour for almond flour.
We were out of maple syrup so I tried using honey but thought it was too sweet so we added cream cheese.
Thanks for sharing your variation, Amy!
Gah! These are ridiculously delicious! I’m not much of a baker but I found this recipe easy enough for me to not mess up (which is saying something). I happened to have all the ingredients on hand too– also awesome. That maple glaze takes them over the top.
These scones are fantastic! I substituted all sugar with coconut sugar and they turned out perfect. The glaze is pretty sweet so I might cut back the sugar a bit next time but other than that these are a fabulous fall morning bake.
Easy to make and delicious made the pumpkin pecan I used butternut squash a d slivered almonds with cranberries and used honey instead of maple syrup
Thank you for sharing, Deborah!
I absolutely love this recipe. The scones are so delicious and easy to make. Instead of making the cream myself, I had some maple cream on hand
Thank you for sharing, Megan!
Hi,
I am wondering if you think this can be make gf and if so, which brand of gf flour would you recommend? Or, which blend of flours would you suggest?
Thank you!
Marni
Bob’s Red mill 1:1 Gluten Free seems to work well!
Thank you! Cannot wait to bake this!
Do you suppose I can switch it up with a GF 1:1 flour??
Amazing- as usual! I have your cookbook and it’s my favorite one!
Thank you, Karyn! I’m happy to hear that.
Wow, just made these, fabulous! Used agave instead of brown sugar, walnuts instead of pecans, used the suggested coconut oil. So moist and flavorful! highly recommend, great with coffee or tea!
Hi I’ve been making your banana loaf and made substitutions, for example I sub’d mashed strawberries or plums for maple syrup as I can’t have any form of sugar (due to it causing cluster headaches). Your banana bread by the way….mmmmm! I add dates which spike it with daring sweetness. I was wondering, can I substitute the sugar in this recipe at all? Can’t have coconut sugar either as i react badly to coconuts. Many thanks
Sorry, I don’t have suggestions for substitutes without impacting the recipe.
This is becoming one of my favorite weekend treats. I add dried cranberries and chocolate chips to mine, but this is an awesome recipe!
I’m glad you love it, Margaret! Thanks for your review.
I’ve made this recipe several times and I love it. I just noticed that you don’t provide a temperature for baking the scones. Is it at 425? – same as the nuts? I’ve always turned it down to 375 cause 425 just seemed so high. Still turned out great :)
Hi! You keep it the same the entire time at 425. I hope that helps!
Just made these today. I used All Purpose Flour and Earth Balance butter (vegan butter) since that is what I had on hand. Had to taste one for quality control — delicious! Patiently waiting to serve the rest tomorrow with coffee.
Thank you for sharing, Emily!
These are absolutely delicious! I have made them several times and they are my Sons favorite. Thank you!
Hi Kate, my husband accidentally picked up two cans of pumpkin pie filling instead of pumpkin puree. Can you please suggest one of your recipes that would accommodate the pie filling? Not interested in baking a pumpkin pie right now, but muffins, scones, breads, even waffles would be good. Thank you!
Hey Erin! Easy mistake. :) I’ve not tried pumpkin pie filling in any of my pumpkin recipes, but I imagine it would work pretty well (it will make everything more sweet, so I wouldn’t use it in a savory recipe). You can see all of my pumpkin recipes here—waffles included!