Forget trick or treat. This year, make it tea and treats instead. A Halloween afternoon tea is the cosiest way to celebrate the most bewitching time of year, with flickering candles, a table piled high with savoury bites and sweet treats, and a proper scone or two. Delicious, a little bit spooky, and perfect for settling in as the evenings draw in.
Our spiced pumpkin scones are the star of the show. They’re gently spiced and made for a generous dollop of Cornish clotted cream. Below you’ll find the recipe, plus easy ideas for hosting your own Halloween afternoon tea at home, little ghouls included.
Table of Contents
What is a Halloween afternoon tea?
A Halloween afternoon tea is a traditional British afternoon tea with an autumnal twist. Think finger sandwiches, warm scones with jam and clotted cream, and a few spooky sweet treats, all served with a pot of tea. It’s a little bit playful and easy to host at home.
Afternoon tea goes back to around 1840, when the Duchess of Bedford’s afternoon pick-me-up of tea, cake, and bread and butter caught on with her friends. We like to think she’d approve of the pumpkin addition.
Spiced Pumpkin Scones Recipe with Cornish Clotted Cream
These pumpkin scones start with our proper Cornish scone recipe. We then fold in pumpkin purée and mixed spice for a warm, autumnal flavour and a lovely golden-orange crumb.
Makes 8 · Prep 20 mins · Bake 15 to 18 mins
Ingredients
- 350g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 85g cold Golden Cornish unsalted butter, cubed
- 3 tbsp caster sugar
- 150g pumpkin purée, tinned or homemade
- 50ml Cornish whole milk, plus a little extra if needed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- A squeeze of lemon juice
- 1 egg, beaten, for glazing
- 1 tbsp demerara sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
- Blackberry jam and Cornish Dairy Co clotted cream, to serve
Method
- Heat the oven – Set it to 220°C (200°C fan/gas mark 7) and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Mix the dry ingredients – Tip the flour, baking powder, salt and mixed spice into a large bowl and stir.
- Rub in the butter – Use your fingertips to rub the cold butter into the flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs, then stir through the sugar.
- Mix the wet ingredients – Gently warm the milk until it’s just warm, not hot. Whisk in the pumpkin purée, vanilla and lemon juice.
- Bring the dough together – Make a well in the dry mix and pour in most of the pumpkin mixture. Use a butter knife to bring it into a soft dough. Add the rest of the mixture, or a splash more milk, if it feels dry.
- Shape gently – Turn the dough onto a floured surface and pat it together without kneading. Pumpkin dough is a little stickier than usual, so dust it with flour rather than adding more liquid.
- Roll and cut – Pat the dough out to about 4cm thick. Stamp out rounds with a 5cm cutter (or a pumpkin-shaped one for extra Halloween-y fun), pressing straight down without twisting. Gather the offcuts and repeat.
- Glaze and bake – Brush the tops with beaten egg, sprinkle with demerara and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until well risen and golden.
- Cool slightly – Leave them on a wire rack for a few minutes, then serve warm, split and ready for jam and a generous dollop of clotted cream.
Made our spiced pumpkin scones? We’d love to see your spooky spread. Tag us @cornishdairy on Instagram.
No proper Halloween cream tea is complete without the good stuff. Pick up a pot of our award-winning Cornish clotted cream at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and more. Find a stockist near you
Tips for perfect pumpkin scones
- Tinned or homemade pumpkin purée? Both work. Tinned is consistent and easy to find around Halloween, but check it’s 100% pumpkin and not sweetened pie filling. If you’re making your own, roast and blend the pumpkin, then leave it in a sieve for 30 minutes so it isn’t watery.
- Mixed spice or pumpkin spice? Mixed spice is the British cupboard staple and does the same job. If you have American pumpkin spice, swap it in one for one.
- Keep a light touch – Don’t overwork the dough, press the cutter straight down and get the scones into a hot oven quickly. That’s the secret to a proper rise.
Can you make pumpkin scones ahead of time?
Yes. They’re best eaten on the day, but they’ll keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Warm them through before serving.
To get properly ahead, freeze the baked scones for up to a month. You can also freeze the unbaked rounds and bake them from frozen, adding a couple of extra minutes. You can even freeze clotted cream too.
How to serve them the proper Cornish way
Split them while they’re warm, spread with jam first, then top with a generous dollop of clotted cream. That’s the Cornish way, and we’re sticking to it. (Our Devon neighbours do it the other way round, but we’ll let it slide for Halloween.)
The cream is what makes it, so look for a thick, golden crust. Genuine Cornish clotted cream like ours has protected status, which means it can only be made in Cornwall with Cornish milk. Ours comes from local Cornish farmers, just as it should.
Make it a Halloween cream tea
Short on time? A Halloween cream tea is just scones, jam, clotted cream and a pot of tea, with a seasonal twist.
- Swap strawberry jam for blackberry, plum or blackcurrant for a deep, inky colour.
- Serve on dark plates or a slate board with a few mini pumpkins dotted around.
- Save any leftover scones for breakfast with a smear of cinnamon butter. Our flavoured butter recipes show you how.
How to host a Halloween afternoon tea at home
To host a Halloween afternoon tea at home, keep it simple: one or two savoury bites, a couple of sweet treats and a batch of warm scones. Bake ahead where you can, dress the table with pumpkins and candles, and bring out the clotted cream as the scones come out of the oven.
Set a spooky (but cosy) table
You don’t need cobwebs everywhere. A few mini pumpkins and squash, some candles or fairy lights and a scattering of autumn leaves go a long way. Mismatched teacups and a tiered cake stand give it a proper afternoon tea feel, and black or orange napkins tie it all together.
Plan your menu: something savoury, something sweet and a proper scone
A classic afternoon tea has three tiers: sandwiches at the bottom, scones in the middle and sweet treats on top. As a rough guide, allow three or four savoury bites, one or two scones and a couple of small sweet things per person.
What to serve at a Halloween afternoon tea
Serve the classics (sandwiches, scones and something sweet) with a seasonal twist: pumpkin, warming spice, dark berries and a few spooky shapes. Here are some of our favourites.
Savoury bites
- Pumpkin soup in teacups – Our pumpkin and carrot soup is just the thing on a chilly October afternoon.
- Spooky sandwiches – Use Halloween cutters to make cheese and chutney bats or ham and mustard pumpkins.
- Sausage roll mummies – Wrap sausages in thin strips of puff pastry, leaving a gap for two little eyes.
Sweet treats
- Fudge tombstones – Cut our clotted cream fudge into rectangles and pipe on a spooky epitaph or two.
- Mini crumbles – Bake our apple and blackberry crumble in ramekins and top each one with clotted cream.
Something warming to sip
A pot of strong tea is non-negotiable, and Earl Grey or a spiced chai both work nicely. For the kids, or anyone who’d rather skip the tea, our Cornwall Gold hot chocolate is a proper treat.
Halloween afternoon tea for kids
Kids love a Halloween afternoon tea, especially when they’ve helped make it. It won’t be tidy, but that’s half the fun. Give little hands a few simple jobs:
- Stamping out scones with a pumpkin-shaped cutter
- Brushing on the egg glaze
- Decorating the fudge tombstones
- Laying the table with napkins and mini pumpkins
For more ideas sorted by age, see our guide to baking with kids.
The finishing touch
No proper Halloween afternoon tea is complete without a generous dollop of the good stuff. Our award-winning Cornish cream is rich, golden and made the traditional way.
Looking for more seasonal inspiration? Browse our autumn and Halloween recipes.
Halloween afternoon tea FAQs
What’s the difference between a cream tea and an afternoon tea?
A cream tea is simply scones, jam, clotted cream and a pot of tea. An afternoon tea adds sandwiches and cakes. If you’re short on time, a Halloween cream tea is every bit as much of a treat.
Is afternoon tea the same as high tea?
Not quite. Afternoon tea is a light spread of sandwiches, scones and cakes served mid-afternoon. High tea was traditionally a heartier evening meal, though lots of places now use the two names interchangeably.
Can I use pumpkin spice instead of mixed spice?
Yes, swap it one for one. Pumpkin spice is the American blend, usually cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, so the flavour is very similar.
Where can I buy Cornish clotted cream?
Our Cornish clotted cream is stocked in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Ocado, as well as Spar stores across Cornwall. Our guide on where to buy clotted cream has more options.