Baked with an aromatic Indian spice and topped with a sweet pear drizzle, these spiced scones are bursting with flavor.
Pear Chai Spiced Scones with Spiced Pear Glaze
Makes 8
Ingredients
- Scones:
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15 grams) baking powder
- 2 teaspoons (6 grams) kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon (1 gram) grated fresh nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon (0.5 gram) ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon (0.5 gram) ground black pepper
- 5 tablespoons (70 grams) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 small pears, cored and chopped
- 1 cup plus 1 teaspoon heavy whipping cream, divided
- 1 large egg
- Spiced Pear Syrup:
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 pear, sliced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- Pear Glaze:
- ½ cup (60 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoons Spiced Pear Syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray an 8-inch round cake pan with baking spray with flour. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- For scones: In the work bowl of a food processor, place flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, and pepper; pulse until combined. Add cold butter, and pulse until mixture is crumbly.
- Transfer dough to a large bowl, and fold in pears and 1 cup cream, stirring until combined. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly, just until dough comes together. Press dough into prepared cake pan. Turn out, and using a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut into 8 wedges. Transfer wedges to prepared baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, whisk together egg and remaining 1 teaspoon cream. Brush tops of scones with egg wash, and bake until golden brown, 12 to 16 minutes.
- For spiced pear syrup: In a small saucepan, bring sugar, ¼ cup water, pear, cinnamon, and star anise to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool completely. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids.
- For pear glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar and Spiced Pear Syrup until smooth. Drizzle over warm scones.
Hi! What kind of pears would you recommend for this recipe? I can’t wait to try it…the recipe looks awesome!
Amy
Amy,
Thanks for reaching out! You could use any types of pears that you would like, but we recommend using a Bartlett Pears.
Happy Baking!
Thank you so much for the reply….I didn’t get it tal after I got some Anjou pears to try LOL……I made the recipe today and wow, just wow. What an amazing result!! Absolutely stunning taste. thank you for sharing such a great recipe!!
These are fantastic!! Just the right texture, with the pears adding a little moisture. I used anjou pears (unpeeled) and they are delicious!
Probably would be good if the flavor wasn’t overwhelmed by salt. I might try this again and cut the salt in half.
My favorite annual fall-kickoff recipe! The recipe rides a bit on the salty side, like another person mentioned, so I would be light handed with the pour.
Overall, though, it’s an easy-to-follow and easy-to-make recipe with a result that could trick people into thinking you spent all day on these scones! I cannot recommend this recipe enough, although I try to not mention it too often so people don’t know my secret for fabulous and flavorful scones! 😉
For those bakers having a problem with the salt, it could be the brand. Most bakers and recipe developers use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt, which is nearly half as dense as Morton Kosher. I don’t know why they don’t specify the type, especially when there is such a huge difference! I finally just bought the DC Kosher and always use it, especially when baking.
Looking forward to trying this recipe!
I take the sliced pears from the syrup to decorate the top of the scones – this is by far my favorite scone recipe.
Made this for the first time today; it was also the first recipe I’ve ever made from Bake From Scratch. I’m a reasonably experienced home-cook baker, but even though I measured everything precisely by weight, I found the dough to be incredibly wet and difficult to work with. The scones spread considerably on the baking sheet, and looked very spongey instead of that thicker, more biscuit-like consistency I was expecting. I also found the glaze to be only very lightly flavored; not really worth the trouble and expense of making the syrup to mix with the confectioner’s sugar. Not sure if it’s something I’m doing wrong, or if it’s the recipe that’s faulty–the good results others are having in the comments leads me to believe it’s me, but given that I followed everything so precisely I have to wonder. Would love any pointers to make this one better.
Hi,
It could be that there is too much liquid in your dough. Since the recipe calls for a food processor, cutting the butter in too small can start hydrating the flour, which means you would need less liquid. It could also be more flour was kneaded in after mixing when they were developed. If you decide to make it again, you could add more flour once you turn onto the surface if you think they are too sticky. It is ok to knead scone dough some, unlike biscuit dough. Hope this helps and happy baking!
Do these freeze well?
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for reaching out. Yes, scones usually freeze really well. They can be shaped and then frozen before or after baking. Hope this helps! Happy baking!