Golden Maple Pecan Scones are flakey, buttery, and tender with a delicious nutty flavor from the toasty pecans and real maple syrup. A fun bake, perfect for special gatherings, and holiday mornings. With a video.
Holy Scones, these are good! A bit too good if you ask me. 😉 These Maple Pecan Scones are meant for sharing because they are just too tempting to have around. One is perfect. More than one feels over-indulgent. So make a batch for a special gathering, or Christmas morning, or holiday brunch and if there are any left, send them home with people. But make sure you fully enjoy one. A little indulgence is good for the soul.
And besides, January is coming soon, and this is when I try to do a month of clean-eating (Plant-based January -feel free to join me!). So this is how I justify it. I want to experience everything! Taste all the cookies, and all the treats. It’s such a pleasurable season and made guilt-free knowing that I will again find the balance in January. Listen to your body and do what is best for you.
Maple Pecan Scones | video
What is the secret to a good scone?
- Use high-quality ingredients: organic pastry flour and organic grass-fed butter. Yes, you can use all-purpose flour, but pastry flour is finer and produces a beautiful texture.
- Use cold butter.
- Add the perfect amount of liquid– not too dry, not too wet.
- Don’t over mix.
- Don’t bake ahead– best fresh out of the oven.
Maple Pecan Scone Ingredients:
- Pastry Flour and All-purpose Flour (or try mixing in a little spelt, einkorn, etc.)
- Cold butter
- Salt
- Baking soda and Baking powder
- Toasted Pecans
- yogurt or sour cream
- cream or half and half
- vanilla
- Maple syrup
How to make Maple Pecan Scones:
Step One:
Preheat the oven, gather ingredients, toast pecans, weigh or measure flours. ***Use a mix of pastry flour and All-purpose flour (half and half).
Stir in the salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Step Two:
Slice the cold butter and add it to the bowl. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut it into the flour.
Work it with your fingers, so butter is no bigger than the size of a pea. It is good to have different-sized clumps of butter- that’s why I don’t use a food processor here.
Add the toasted pecans and stir.
Step three:
Stir the wet ingredients together: sour cream or yogurt, cream, maple syrup and vanilla.
Step four:
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.
Stir to combine.
Add a tablespoon of cream at a time until the mixture just clumps together. Be careful here. Too much cream will make the scone chewy. So add just enough to barely moisten all the flour.
Step five:
Place on a floured surface, and kneed just a few times- do not over-knead! Pat into a ball, then flatten into a 7-8″ disk or a 6×9″ rectangle, roughly 1 1/2- 1-3/4 inches high. Feel free to press in a few more pecans into the top.
Shore up the edges with a dough scraper or chef’s knife, so the edges are nice and straight, and the disk is the same height from center to edges.
Note: So my dough here has a few cracks in the edges- a sign of slight dryness. Ultimately, you want the dough to not have these, but without being overly wet. It is a fine balance… I get it right, about every other time. 😉 The dough is forgiving though.
Step six
Cut into 8-12 equal pieces.
Place on a parchment-lined sheet pan, 2-3 inches apart.
Bake at 350 until puffed, golden and internal temp reaches 200F. I highly recommend checking the temp- they often look done, when they are not!
Step Seven:
Make the Maple Glaze. Mix powdered sugar and maple syrup over heat until just combined.
Once the scones have cooled 15 minutes, pour, drizzle, or spoon the glaze over top. It will harden as it cools.
And there you have it. Fresh baked Maple Pecan Scones! Such a treat….. and oh so gratifying to make.
Enjoy them, friends! Have a happy Sunday morning!
xoxo
You may also enjoy:
Sourdough Scones with Lemony Glaze
Cheddar Scones with Caramelized Onions
Banana Bread (Vegan and Sourdough!)
Meyer Lemon Loaf Cake with Pistachios
Mother’s Day Brunch Ideas!
Maple Pecan Scones
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Baked
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Golden Maple Pecan Scones are flakey, buttery, and tender with a delicious nutty flavor from the toasty pecans and real maple syrup. A fun bake, perfect for special gatherings, and holiday mornings.
Ingredients
- 3 cups pastry flour (or sub-AP flour), spooned and leveled
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup cold butter (12 tablespoons, 1 1/2 sticks, or 6 ounces)
- —-
- 1 cup toasted pecans
- —-
- 1/2 cup half and half, more as needed
- 1/2 cup sour cream (or buttermilk, kefir or full-fat yogurt)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Maple glaze:
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon maple extract- optional
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Preheat oven 350 F oven
In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Cut cold butter into thin slices and add to flour. ( You could also freeze and grate). Using a pastry cutter, or two knives, begin cutting butter into smaller pieces into the flour. Feel free to use your fingers, breaking apart the butter into pieces no bigger than a pea. Having ununiform pieces is nice here. Add the pecans.
Whisk cream, sour cream, maple and vanilla in a small bowl. Stir this into the flour mixutre. Give it a few extra stirs, and if needed, add a few splashes of cream ( a tablespoon at a time) until the mixture forms a shaggy ball and all the loose flour is incorporated.
Place on a floured surface. Give the dough just a few kneads (15 seconds) then form a ball.
Flatten into a 7-8 inch disk or 6×9 inch rectangle, and shore up the edges, using a dough scraper or chef’s knife- so edges are straight up and down, and the disk is the same thickness throughout. Feel free to tuck more pecans into the top (just for looks).
Cut into 8-12 equal pieces. Place on a parchment-lined sheet pan, 2-3 inches apart.
Bake until beautifully golden, puffed and internal temp reaches 200F ( I highly recommend checking). Larger scones may take 30-35 minutes, smaller scones may take 20 minutes. So watch like a hawk!
While the scones are baking, make the Maple Glaze: in a little pot, heat the maple syrup. When warm, whisk in the powdered sugar until smooth. Add a pinch of salt. Turn off heat, leave on stove.
When the scones are done, let them cool for 15-20 minutes, then reheat the glaze and spoon a little over each one.
Notes
These are best baked the day of serving, but the dough can be made ahead, shaped into the disk and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
The scones are not sweet- so don’t leave off the glaze- they need it! If you prefer a sweeter scone, feel free to add 2-4 tablespoons of sugar to the flour mixture.
For extra maple flavor, add a tiny splash of maple extract to the glaze.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 scone
- Calories: 373
- Sugar: 13.2 g
- Sodium: 188.4 mg
- Fat: 21.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 9.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 42.7 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 4.3 g
- Cholesterol: 39.7 mg
Overall these scones are tasteless. The Maple flavor does not come although the roasted pecans are quite lovely. I wonder if using Maple extract would bring out the Maple flavor within the scone more. The instructions are wonderful but overall the result is for me is not worth the effort. I will find another recipe.
Hi Ani, sorry this didn’t work for you. Yes, adding maple extract in the glaze will bump up the flavor here.
I love the blackberry scone recipe using left over sour dough starter. Now I want to make Maple pecan scones with sour dough starter. Do I substitute the sour cream and 1/2 and half with the same amount of starter ?
any other way you would alter it?
That is what I would do Martha. I haven’t tested it though.
Just made this terrific recipe with some adjustments, turned out beautiful and yummy. Thank you for posting! Adjustments: used 1 cup buttermilk therefore adjusted the b. soda and b. powder to 1 tsp each. Used ~1/3 whole wheat (non-pastry) flour. Cut salt to 1/2-3/4 tsp and used salted butter (what I had on hand). Skipped the maple glaze, instead added ~2 Tbls cane sugar to batter. Did not need parchment paper, did not stick to pan, but does need to be 2-3” apart. Cooked for 25 minutes.
Glad you enjoyed this!
Very very good! Flaky with excellent flavor, and not too sweet. The glaze is a must. I used AP flour and they came out fine.
Glad you enjoyed Lyn!
Hi there, can someone say what a cup is in grams? Thanks!
Lena, it is roughly 120 grams
Amazing scones! I did add an egg as a binder. Tasted amazing and very tender.
Thanks Denise!
Hummm, shoot Linda. Sounds like they didn’t bake long enough. Have you double checked your oven is at temp and that your thermometer is calibrated? Should be cooked though at 200F. They are pretty subtly flavored without the glaze.
These were amazing. Went perfect with a cup of tea…… not too sweet. Will keep this recipe for the future:)
So glad you enjoyed Teri!
Wow! This recipe is wonderful. I normally make Irish scones but don’t do that very often as I have a heavy hand when it comes to pastry making!
This recipe is easy to follow and delicious. I didn’t have pecans so used toasted walnuts instead. I also added a little grated orange zest to the maple icing.
I used local Vermont maple syrup made by friends up the road. I hope my tea time guests will like this tasty treat.
Thanks Fiona- I like you improvised with walnuts and orange- YUM- and happy you enjoyed! That local maple syrup sounds divine.
These are good but better if you add a farm fresh egg to the wet ingredients. Reduce the cream and yogurt to 1/3 cup each.
Thanks Jane! I’ve done it with the egg too. Tell me, just out of curiosity why you like it with the egg better?
Another amazing recipe!! Beyond delicious! Made theses Christmas morning and everyone truly loved them. Received rave reviews! Great pecan flavor without being too sweet. As always, the directions are perfect and easy to follow. Cannot recommend enough. Thank you!!!
Thanks Susan! So happy you enjoyed these!
Hi Sylvia, would love to try these. Any suggestions for a sub for 1/2 &1/2 or cream that are plant-based please?
Hi Stacy, you could try a plant-based cream? Or make a thick cashew cream? Coconut milk? I’ve tried these with almond milk- and they got chewy. It really needs the “fat” here.
Wow these scones rock. Probably the best scones I’ve had. Awesome recipe
Thanks Eric. I like them too. 😉 enjoy!
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