Battle of the Pumpkin Scones

 Well I have a guilty pleasure of going for coffee with my co-workers in the mornings that I'm in the office and last week I saw that they released the Pumpkin Scone but it looks WAY different than it used to...

 VS. 

The photo doesn't do it justice... anyways the new one is a flat square coated with white icing!  Looks pretty gross to me!  

If you have been following me for some time you will know that I love to bake and have made many healthy muffins and scones.  The Pumpkin scone is no exception.  I've been making my own version for years and this time of year always gets me into the mood for a hot cup of tea and a pumpkin scone! But after seeing this icing coated blob of a pumpkin scone at starbucks it got me wondering how my scone compares to theirs nutritionally.  

Maybe I should do a taste test too!

First let me say that the Nutritional Facts table doesn't give you the FULL STORY!  So while I'm going to do a comparison here for those who like that sort of thing, the INGREDIENTS LIST is really where the info is when your eating for a healthy lifestyle!  For example Fat isn't all equal.  I used a Recipe Calories Calculator website to do the comparison for this blog post and because I sometimes use coconut oil for the recipe I entered both versions of the recipe and the fat content in the nutrition facts went up when using coconut oil which is a very healthy fat!

So lets do a little comparison of the current Starbucks Pumpkin Scone  to my Homemade Copycat version!

Starbucks Pumpkin Scone

Ingredients:  icing [sugar, glucose, palm oil, water, contains less than 2% of agar, citric acid, gums (xanthan, locust bean, guar), salt, vanilla extract], enriched flour [wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], pumpkin, sugar, butter [cream, lactic acid], eggs, dry cream [cream, nonfat milk solids, sodium caseinate], palm oil, molasses, pumpkin powder [pumpkin, maltodextrin, corn flour, sunflower lecithin], tapioca starch-modified, cinnamon, salt, baking powder [sodium acid pyrophosphate, corn starch, sodium bicarbonate], natural flavor, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, acacia gum, cloves, colors [carrot concentrate, apple concentrate, hibiscus concentrates, pumpkin concentrate].

Crystal's Homemade Pumpkin Scone 

Ingredients

4 cups Whole Wheat flour
2 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1 cup Butter or Coconut oil
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup whole milk
2 large eggs

Comparison of the two.... 

Using a Recipe Calorie count website I was able to do a comparison of my recipe to the Starbucks Pumpkin Scone. I only use about half of the icing the recipe called for so I just said 1/2 cup but if you really loaded it up there would be more sugar in them.  My recipe also makes 24 Scones.  

	Starbucks Pumpkin Scone	Homemade Pumpkin Scone
Calories	450	181
Fat	21	8.6
Calories from Fat	190	78
Saturated Fat	14	5.1
Cholesterol	60	36
Sodium	390	144
Potassium	0	245
Carbohydrate	64	24.7
Dietary Fiber	2	2.9
Sugar	41	9
Protein	4	3.6

Basically you could have 2+ of my homemade scones for everyone 1 of the Starbucks scones!  But more than that the ingredients in my scones like Honey and whole wheat flour vs. Enriched flour (enriched means that it's been stripped of all nutrition and has vitamins added back into it) and refined sugars make them a much more nutritious option.

There is also 4X more sugar in the Starbucks Pumpkin Scone (41g) compared to the Homemade version (9g)!!! And most of the sugar comes from Honey not refined sugar!  And if you leave the icing off it's even better(6.5g sugar)!

  

Starbucks Pumpkin Scone recipe turned Healthy!

I adapted this recipe years ago from one I found online (don't recall the source), I have nixed all the sugar in place of honey except for the icing and have managed to create a healthy version of the Starbucks Pumpkin Scone!

Everyone usually loves these scones and although they do have some icing they just aren't quite the same with out it!

Honey and Organic Pumpkin Puree!  **No sugar here**

Ingredients

4 cups Whole Wheat flour
2 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1 cup Butter or Coconut oil
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup whole milk
2 large eggs

Directions

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in large mixing bowl.  Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives. Set aside. 
2. Mix pumpkin, honey, milk and eggs together with whisk in small bowl.  
3. Combine pumpkin mixture into dry mixture try not to over mix.  
4. On a clean dry surface spread out a little flour and grab 1/3 of the scone dough and pat flat.  You can either cut the scones with a knife or use a large cookie cutter (I often use a large circle) to cut out the scones to make them uniform.  
5. Bake at 425 Degrees F. for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown.  
6. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. 

Taking about a 3rd of the dough, pat flat and cut into 4 pieces

Cinnamon Spice Icing

Ingredients

1 cup icing sugar

1/4 tsp each of Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger

2 tsp milk (give or take to get consistency just right)

Directions

While scones cool on the wire rack, mix together icing until it is a medium consistency.  Not runny but not too thick because you will be drizzling it on top the scones.  

Once scones are cool, using a spoon you will scoop up a little icing and with a back and forth motion drizzle the icing on top the scones.  Let rest before storing them in a air tight container or enjoy right away!

Fresh out of the oven

Let cool and drizzle with icing

Comment below on how you think these scones compare to Starbucks pumpkin scones!