Everybunny’s Favorite: Carrot Cake Scones with Cream Cheese Glaze

Calling all carrot cake lovers, find a recipe for everybunny’s favorite Carrot Cake Scones with a tangy Cream Cheese Glaze! Enjoy these tender scones fresh the oven; make ahead and reheat; or freeze them unbaked. They can go directly from the freezer to the oven with just a few extra minutes of baking time to enjoy for a spring or Easter tea or brunch. You’ll also find the perfect tea pairing and more teatime inspiration.

Welcome to the March edition of Tea on Tuesdays,

a celebration of all things ‘tea’

on the third Tuesday of the month!

Pam and I are happy to welcome back special guest,

Nancy from Two Trails One Road.

If you don’t know Nancy, we’re excited for you to meet her!

She enjoys the best of all four seasons,

calling Arizona home in the winter and enjoying lake life

in the summer in Pennsylvania.

Pam and I are happy you’re here too, pour yourself a cuppa and join us. ☕

This post contains affiliate links. For more information see my disclosure policy. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase anything through an affiliate link, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Join me for the perfect spring or Easter tea pairing . . .

Carrot Cake Scones and Harney & Sons Chai Tea!

Harney & Sons Chai Tea features black tea from India, blended with cardamom seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and natural cardamom and vanilla flavors. The warming spices complement the spices found in carrot cake, or carrot cake scones.

These Carrot Cake Scones are tender, flaky, and filled with shredded carrots, toasted pecans, topped with a tangy cheese cheese glaze!

 They can be made ahead and frozen, ready to pull out and bake for a warm fresh-from-the-oven teatime or Easter brunch treat!

This recipe is adapted from King Arthur Flour. 

I used my food processor to make quick work of shredding the carrots and incorporating the butter into the flour mixture, but you can use a box grater and pastry blender to cut in the butter if you don’t have a food processor.

Carrot cake is typically made with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger; the same blend of spices found in pumpkin pie spice, which I substituted for the ground ginger and cinnamon in King Arthur’s scone recipe. I also used my easy ‘go-to’ cream cheese glaze for the scones that doesn’t require a mixer or butter.

Carrot Cake Scones with Cream Cheese Glaze

Makes 8 scones

2/3 cup pecans, toasted, see below

2 medium carrots

2 1/3 cups unbleached *all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold; cut into pieces

1 large egg

1/2 cup heavy cream, cold; plus more for brushing on top

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

Coarse sparkling sugar, for sprinkling; optional

*To make gluten free, substitute King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten-Free Flour

Cream Cheese Glaze

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 – 4 tablespoons cream (or milk or half and half), thinning to desired consistency

Toasting nuts releases the oils and boosts their flavor. You can toast nuts in the oven or in a dry skillet on the cooktop. I find myself less likely to forget and burn them if I use the cooktop. ;) To toast pecans, add them to a large dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often for even toasting and until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Alternatively, spread nuts out in an even layer on a sheet pan in a 350° oven for 6-8 minutes or until fragrant. Transfer nuts from pan to a bowl to cool before adding them to your recipe.

Here are a few tips when making scones:

🥕 Overworking the dough will make scones tough and chewy instead of light and flaky. Work the dough just until it comes together.

🥕 Keep your scone dough as cold as possible. Pat out your round of dough, cut into triangles and place scones in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before baking. Chilling the scone dough after forming helps keep the butter cold that creates that flaky texture.

This bunny teapot, cream and sugar and teacups hopped in my cart while shopping at HomeGoods a couple of weeks ago!

🥕 🥕 🥕

Do yourself a favor and your make own Homemade Vanilla Extract!

It’s more affordable than store-bought and comes together in five minutes, ready to use in two months, improving as it ages!

Baking essentials:

Ovens can vary by 50 degrees higher or lower than the desired temperature. Use an inexpensive oven thermometer to get the most accurate reading. This oven thermometer has 4.4 out of 5 stars with 23,098 global ratings.

If you need to upgrade your baking sheets, I highly recommend this set of Chicago Metallic Non-Stick Cookie and Jelly-Roll Pans  that come with a cooling rack.  I use them for everything from baking cookies to roasting veggies, or cooking bacon. They have wire-rod reinforced rims to prevent warping and flexing in the oven.

I’m a big fan of this precut parchment paper. It’s unbleached, available in four different sizes, is greaseproof, waterproof and withstands oven temps up to 425°F.

Need a new box grater? This one has a handy detachable measuring cup.

If you’re in the market for a food processor, this GE food processor was rated ‘best value’ by Good Housekeeping. It can slice, chop, blend and hold up to 12 cups, with three pulse speeds, low and high.

Meadow Bunny Teapot

Meadow Bunny Tea Cup and Saucer with Gold Trim

Print Recipe

Carrot Cake Scones with Cream Cheese Glaze

Find a recipe for everybunny's favorite Carrot Cake Scones with a tangy Cream Cheese Glaze! Enjoy these tender scones fresh the oven; make ahead and reheat, then glaze them; or freeze them unbaked. They can go directly from the freezer to the oven with just a few extra minutes of baking time to enjoy for a spring or Easter tea or brunch.

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time35 minutes mins

freezer time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course: tea

Cuisine: American

Keyword: carrot cake scones, cream cheese glaze, Easter, spring, teatime treat

Servings: 8 scones

Ingredients

Scones

• 2/3 cup pecans *toasted, in notes below
• 2 medium carrots
• 2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter cold; cut into pieces
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup heavy cream cold; plus more for brushing on top
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• coarse sparkling sugar, optional for sprinkling on top of scones before baking

Cream Cheese Glaze

• 4 oz. cream cheese softened
• ½ cup confectioners’ sugar sifted
• 2 - 4 tablespoons cream (or milk or half and half)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

To make scones:

• Peel the carrots and grate them on the large holes of a box grater or use shredding disc on food processor (you should have about 1 1/4 cups of grated carrot).
• In bowl of food processor, pulse together the flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice briefly to mix.
• Add cubed cold butter to processor and pulse until mixture resemble pea-sized crumbs. (If you don’t have or want to use a food processor, cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry cutter or two knives.)
• Transfer flour/butter mixture to medium bowl; add the toasted pecans and carrots to the bowl. Stir until incorporated.
• In a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the egg, cream, vanilla, and sugar until well-combined. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the egg mixture; stir to incorporate the wet ingredients just until combined.
• On a work surface or in the bowl, fold the dough over onto itself using floured hands or spatula to incorporate any dry floury patches.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; sprinkle a bit of flour on parchment paper.
• Transfer the dough to the parchment. Use floured hands to pat into an 8 to 9-inch disc, about 1" thick. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes (this helps firm up the dough for cleaner cuts).
• Using a bench scraper or knife, slice each circle into 8 wedges. Separate the pieces so that there is at least 1" between them. Brush the top of the scones with cream and sprinkle with coarse sparkling sugar.
• Place the pan into oven preheated to 375°F. Bake, rotating the pan once halfway through, for 25 to 30 minutes, until the scones are golden brown.
• Remove from the oven. Transfer scones to wire rack to cool. While the scones are cooling, prepare the glaze.

To make glaze:

• Combine softened cream cheese with powdered sugar and vanilla, mixing until smooth. Add 2 - 4 tablespoons of cream, milk or half and half, thinning to desired consistency. Drizzle over scones.

Notes

• To toast pecans: Toasting the nuts releases their oils and boosts the flavor. You can toast nuts in the oven or in a dry skillet on the cooktop. I find myself less likely to forget them and burn them if I'm using the cooktop. Add your nuts to a 10 – 12 inch dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often for even toasting, until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Alternatively spread nuts out in an even layer on a sheet pan in a 350° oven for 6-8 minutes or until fragrant. Transfer nuts from pan to a bowl to cool before adding them to your recipe.
• Carrot cake is usually made with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger, the same spice blend that pumpkin spice is made of. Use the combination of individual spices of your choice if you prefer to make 1 ¼ teaspoons.
• When measuring flour, use the ‘spoon & sweep’ method: Use a spoon to fill measuring cup with flour to overflowing, then sweep with knife edge to level. Scooping flour directly from the bag or canister will yield a heavier cup and larger amount that can negatively affect your recipes.
• You can freeze scones unbaked and pull out one or two at a time to bake as needed, up to 2 months. Flash freeze unbaked scones, then wrap well in plastic wrap and place in freezer bag. When ready to bake, brush tops with cream and sprinkle with sparkling sugar. Bake from frozen as directed, adding a few minutes extra to your baking time, until scones are golden.
• To make these scones gluten free, substitute King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten-Free Flour for all purpose flour. If you’re on a strict gluten-free diet, you’ll need to consider your other ingredients beyond your flour as ingredients that are naturally gluten-free, may come in contact with gluten during processing or packaging
• Store any leftover scones with cream cheese glaze in an airtight container in the refrigerator; unglazed scones can be kept at room temperature.  

Details:

Bunny Cake Plate / Bordallo Pinheiro, HomeGoods, several years ago

Bunny Tablecloth / HomeGoods, last year

 Join Pam and Nancy for tea:

Pam at Everyday Living

Nancy at Two Trails One Road

Thank you for your visit, I’m joining:

 Metamorphosis Monday