Tired of discarding your sourdough discard? Bored of making discard cracker? These Pumpkin Spice Sourdough Discard scones are quite easy to whip up and come together very quickly. Did I mention they are delicious?
First of all, if you came here and you're wondering what sourdough discard is, let me give you a brief primer. The process of feeding a sourdough starter involves discarding a portion of it. Folks will usually throw it away or compost it. There is a growing trend to find interesting ways to use up this discard rather than, well, discarding it. The go-to recipe is usually crackers, and recipes for sourdough discard crackers are plentiful. However, I'm bored. There are only so many crackers a human can consume! There has got to be a better way!
I made discard biscuits before and even discard pancakes. Never scones though. In keeping wit the autumnal vibes, I thought why not experiment with pumpkin spice flavor (I also happened to have some leftover squash puree in the fridge that needed to be used).
I like to pair the pumpkin spice flavor with a maple glaze, but you can change it up. Add walnuts or pecans to your mix. Try a cinnamon glaze. This recipe should be considered a starting point for your decorating and garnishing creativity.
These scones will keep for 3 days, covered on the counter. If you don't finish them within 3 days (highly doubtful), you can try to freeze them, however the texture of the icing will definitely change. You can also half the recipe and make a small batch of scones.
I use homegrown squash puree that I prep myself, but canned pumpkin puree is more than adequate.
Recipe Card
Pumpkin Spice Maple Sourdough Discard Scones
Ingredients
Scones
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
- 3 tablespoon Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Ginger
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoon Butter
- ½ cup Sourdough Discard
- ½ cup Pumpkin Puree
- ½ cup Heavy Cream
Maple Glaze
- ⅔ cup Confectioners sugar
- 5 tablespoon Maple syrup
Toppings
- Toasted pumpkin seeds (optional)
Instructions
Make Scones
- Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt in large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or use your hands. You're looking for a texture like coarse sand.
- Combine sourdough discard, pumpkin puree and cream in a small bowl. Pour over dry mixture and combine well. Turn over on clean surface and bring together. Don't over-work the dough. If the dough is too wet, add some flour.
- Flatten dough into a 1 inch thick circle. Cut circle into 8 wedges.
- Preheat your oven to 425F (220c)
- While your oven is heating up, place your cut scones into a the fridge so that the butter can harden. This helps ensure you get nice and tall scones.
- Before baking, brush scones with heavy cream or egg wash. Sprinkle sugar if your heart desires. Bake for 13-16 minutes. Keep an eye on the scones, as every oven is different and timing may vary.
Make Icing
- While your scones cool off, combine confectioners sugar with maple syrup. Whisk well. This takes some elbow grease!
- Decorate your scones as you see fit. Get creative. I like to add some pepitas (pumpkin seeds) as a nice finishing touch.
Nutrition
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Hanna says
These scones were delicious and mild in flavor, but lacked the traditional firm, yet semi-crumbly texture of traditional scones. Instead mine turned out light and fluffy, which isn’t bad, but is worth noting.
Luay Ghafari says
Thanks for the feedback. This is correct, the texture of these scones is more cakey as the yeast in the sourdough discard acts just like yeast in a cake or bread. I will make sure to update the post so it is more clear.
Ken Fricklas says
Little too much baking powder - I'd drop this a teaspoon if you have active sourdough starter.
Also, make sure you add enough flour if it's wet until the firm become cuttable - otherwise you'll get much more of a cake consistency than a scone one.
Luay says
Thanks for the input Ken. They are deifinitely more cakey than scone-y. Similar in texture to "coffee house" scones than traditional crumbly scones. I am planning to beef up the blog post with more information and will include more information on that.
Stephen Stupak says
Have you ever tried this recipe with Vegan friendly almond flour or other flour substitutes? Thank you, Skip
Luay says
I have not. If you're looking to veganize this, you can certainly replace the butter with vegetable shortening or a vegan butter and you can replace the cream with a nut milk (although I would probably start with half the quantity as nut milks will be runnier than cream). I haven't tested any of this, so if you do try it, let me know how it goes.
Stephen Stupak says
Whoops, I misspoke. I meant Keto or Gluten-free friendly. I used Almond Flour, honey in place of sugar. Used a little extra starter and pumpkin purée and omitted the cream. I’ve made the little crystallized maple syrup chips like in McD’s McGriddle sandwiches and added some of the crystals in the batter. Made a drizzle of syrup infused chopped pecans on top at the end.
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!! 5 star recipe. Thank you!
Erin says
A doubled batch of these is about to go into the oven! Thrilled to find another way to use up my discard, and I had exactly the right amount of leftover pumpkin puree from a different recipe. A match made in heaven.
Curiosity: do you do both sugar and glaze on top? Or sugared instead of glazed?
Luay says
So glad you like the recipe. You can add a little sprinkling of sugar for that added texture and crunch, and then glaze. Or you can omit the sugar and just do the glaze. You can also just do sugar and omit the glaze entirely. It's really up to you and your mood.
Abby says
Amazing! Absolutely loved them. I didn't have enough starter for the full recipe, so I cut it in half and still had 8 scones, just a little smaller than what's pictures. Highly recommend! Not too sweet, just right!
Luay says
Great! Thank you for sharing!
Muna Oto says
These were the best scones I have ever made! Loved them and my family did too, will definitely make these again.....and often!! thank you!!
Luay says
Thank you!
Jennifer says
Lovely.My daughter loved them!
Luay says
Thanks! Try out some of our recipes and let us know what you think!