These soft and buttery scones are filled with nutty and crunchy pecans and topped with a deliciously sweet maple glaze. The perfect autumn inspired scones to cosy up to November with a nice cup of tea or a coffee.

Pecan Scones with Maple Glaze

I don’t know why, but I am currently obsessed with scones, so when I tried Gail’s amazing pecan maple scones, I knew I had to make my own version of them. I must say, I never really tried scones until I moved to the UK and I am pretty sure that for a good year, I ate a Marks and Spencer scone every day, either a plain one or a cheese one, I guess I had to make up for missing out on having them all those years before!

Anyway, lately I have really been into scones, and after making a strawberry version of them in the summer, I thought I should turn them into autumn, so I did. These scones follow the traditional recipe, but they are filled with delicious pecans. Then, they are topped with a sweet maple glaze for the ultimate autumn treat.

So, what are they made of?

These are super easy to make and require very simple ingredients, all you’ll need is:

• Cold butter
• Whole milk
• Double (heavy) cream
• Flour
• Baking Powder
• Vanilla extract
• Salt
• Icing sugar
• Maple syrup
• Milk

A few tips for success

1. Make sure the milk, cream and butter are cold. This is super important, as warm ingredients won’t great the layers scones are so famous for.
2. Break up the butter with your fingers. Butter is the key to great scones, and it’s important that it’s not fully integrated into the flour, this is why it’s best to mix it in with your fingers rather than using a food processor. When you mix it, make sure that there are still chunks of butter and it’s not fully dissolved.
3. Refrigerate the dough. Before cooking, place the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes so any warmth that has been added to the dough by mixing gets cold again.

Pecan Scones with Maple Glaze

Ingredients (makes 8 scones):

For the scones:

• 380 gr of self raising flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• A pinch of salt
• 55 gr of granulated sugar
• 90 gr of cold butter cut into cubes
• 130 ml of cold whole milk
• 130 ml of cold double (heavy) cream
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 100 gr of chopped pecans

For the glaze:

• 100 gr of icing (powdered) sugar 
• 60 gr of maple syrup 
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract 
• 1 tbsp of whole milk

Method:

1. Make sure your butter, and liquids are cold – this is important to have the right texture and layering.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the salt, flour, baking powder and sugar. Then, add in the butter and rub it together using your fingers until until the mix looks like fine crumbs – you should still have chunks of butter.
3. Fold in the vanilla extract, milk and double cream until you get a soft dough.
4. Finally, fold. in the chopped pecans.
5. Roll out some baking paper onto your work surface and shape your dough into a disk of approximately 4-5 cm thick, I shaped it with my hands working quickly so the butter didn’t melt.
6. Using a sharp knife or a bench scraper, cut the dough in half and press the two halves together by placing one on top of the other until you have a new disk formed, repeat the process one more time.
7. Wrap the dough in cling film and store in the freezer for 30 minutes.
8. After 30 minutes, take the dough out of the freezer and cut it into 8 wedges. Transfer them individually into a pre-lined baking tray, and brush them with some double cream.
9. Cook in a preheated oven at 220 degrees celsius for 12 to 15 minutes until golden on top. Allow them to cool down completely.
10. To make the drizzle, start mix together the icing sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract and milk. Check the consistency of your glaze, if it feels really thick, add milk very gradually until it has the right thickness, if it’s too runny, add more icing sugar.
11. Once the scones are cold, spoon over the glaze and enjoy!