Alice's Teacup Pumpkin Scones

You read that correctly. This is the recipe for Alice's Teacup Pumpkin Scones. As in, the actual Pumpkin Scone recipe from the famed New York bakery and tea-parlour, Alice's Tea Cup.

I love Alice's Tea Cup. I am pretty sure that every woman loves Alice's Tea Cup. What's not to love? As an Alice in Wonderland lover, I love not only the spectacular creations that come from the kitchen--from their famous scones to crisp tea sandwiches, tea-infused cocktails, and grilled items-- but also love the decor, ambiance, and whimsy of the place, which welcomes children of all ages for tea, parties, lunches, and dinners. It is a decidedly feminine environment, great for a girls' night or tête-à-tête with a friend, but it's also lovely for couples' lunches and brunches, as well as drinks. I have brought members of the male sex to Alice's and, despite their apprehensions, they survived and emerged pleased and well-fed.

The standard order from Alice's is a pot of tea and two scones. You choose from any of their hundreds of varieties of teas and from their daily selection of scones, which includes standard and novelty flavors. Old-faithfuls include buttermilk, pumpkin, ham and cheese, and some kind of berry, whereas novelties range from coconut to oatmeal cranberry and various chocolates.

Pumpkin is one of my, and everyone's, favourites. It's just so good. And here it is, courtesy of my friend Liz who obtained it by clandestine measures (or perhaps just read the Alice's Tea Cup Cookbook which I should have bought ages ago).

Just in case you're interested, here's the Amazon product page:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061964921/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=8537715684&ref=pd_sl_j1i67kwfs_b


Tea and scones from a recent Alice's visit.

The Recipe:

The scones:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsps ground ginger
2 tbsps ground cinnamon
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1-1/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (all pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling)
2 tbsp pure vanilla extract

The glaze:

2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, and cinnamon. Then, with clean hands, work the butter into the dry mixture until it is thoroughly incorporated and has the consistency of fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour the buttermilk, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract into the well. Still using your hands, combine the ingredients until all the dry mixture is wet, but do not knead!

I am warning you now: you might want to get some disposable latex gloves for when you're handing the dough. It is, without exaggeration, the most unruly dough I have ever encountered--very sticky, impossible to work with without having it attach itself to you, and hard to flatten into a disk in the next step.

Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and gather the dough together, then gently pat the dough to make a disk about 1 1/2 inches thick. Make sure you four the surface well, or it will be hard to work the dough. Using a 3 or 3 1/2 inch biscuit cutter (or an upside down glass or cup), cut out as many scones as you can and lay them on a nonstick baking sheet. Gather the remaining dough together lightly to cut out more scones--just don't knead the dough too much, and make sure to keep it floured. You will be rewarded with the lovely scone texture when they're done!

Bake the scones for about 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let the scones cool slightly on the baking sheet (about 20 minutes) before glazing them.

While the scones are cooling, prepare the caramel glaze: Place the butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, and salt in a saucepan over medium head and whisk gently until the mixture is smooth. Just as the mixture comes to a light boil, add the heavy cream and reduce the heat to low. Whisk well for 2 minutes, or until the glaze is thickened and smooth; then remove the pan from the heat.

To glaze a scone, hold it by the bottom, dip the top in the warm caramel glaze, and place it back on the baking sheet.