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Cranberry Orange Scones are loaded with vibrant orange flavor, fresh cranberries, and topped with a sweet orange glaze! The festive cranberry orange flavors make these the perfect scone recipe for the holiday season. Use fresh cranberries or frozen cranberries!
We Love Cranberry Orange Scones
We finally moved into our new home! It took almost 2 years to get it to this point… but we couldn’t be happier. The first recipe I baked? Cranberry orange scones, aka the perfect treat to enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea! Here’s why they’re the best:
- Loaded with orange flavor thanks to orange juice and orange zest!
- Tart and juicy cranberries in every bite.
- Covered in a sweet tart orange glaze, which further enhances the cranberry orange flavor.
- Cold butter gives the cranberry orange scones the flakiest texture… and ensures they’re not dry.
- No food processor or stand mixer needed! These are the perfect easy holiday treat.
Orange Cranberry Scones: Ingredients
- Flour: For best results, use all-purpose flour and weigh it using a digital kitchen scale.
- Salt: Balances sweetness and enhances the other flavors.
- Baking Powder: Do not sub with baking soda!
- Sugar: This recipe needs granulated sugar, brown sugar, and confectioners’ sugar.
- Orange: Orange zest and orange juice add plenty of orange flavor.
- Spices: Ground cinnamon and ground cardamom enhance the flavor even more. Salt helps balance the sweetness while enhancing the other flavors in these scones.
- Butter: Cold butter is one of the most important ingredients for these cranberry orange scones! Make sure your butter is extra cold before adding it to the dry ingredients.
- Egg: Use large eggs. Make sure they’re cold, not room temperature.
- Heavy Cream: Aka heavy whipping cream, this adds moisture to the scone dough.
- Extracts: Vanilla extract adds rich vanilla flavor while orange extract enhances the orange flour.
- Cranberries: You can use fresh cranberries or frozen cranberries. You can leave them whole or chop them in half.
- Water: You’ll need a splash of water to make the egg wash.
- Sparkling Sugar: This is optional, but adds a gorgeous finish on the top of the scones.
How to Make Cranberry Orange Scones
- In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients. Set the flour mixture aside while you get the butter.
- Work in the cold butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
- In a small bowl whisk together the heavy cream, egg, and extracts. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients, add cranberries, and mix until a shaggy dough has been created.
- Pour dough out onto a lightly floured surface and work into a disc. Be patient, this takes a little elbow grease. Once you have your disc, cut into 8 triangles and place on the baking sheet.
- Brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sparkling sugar. You can also press an extra 1/2 cup of cranberries on top of the scones if desired. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown!
Fresh Cranberries vs Frozen Cranberries
- Fresh cranberries are delicious and work great in baked goods! But since farmers harvest fresh cranberries in the fall, they are seasonal. Meaning you won’t be able to find fresh cranberries year-round.
- Frozen cranberries, however, are quite easy to find year-round. But can leave a slight pink color in baked goods. This is the main disadvantage to using them over fresh cranberries.
- If you use frozen cranberries, don’t thaw them first. Add them to the batter frozen.
- Using frozen cranberries? I suggest roughly chopping them first, then tossing them in a teaspoon of flour. Freeze them for 15 minutes, then add them to the dough. This will help prevent “color streaking”.
Can I Use Dried Cranberries?
While you technically can, I don’t suggest it. Here’s why:
- Dried cranberries often have added sugar, which covers the cranberry taste.
- Dried cranberries won’t give you the large juicy pockets of cranberries you see in my photos.
- Dried cranberries add a chewy texture the scones, which I don’t find appealing.
If you do use dried cranberries, I suggest rehydrating them first. Place them in water or orange juice (for extra orange flavor). Let them soak for an hour then drain before adding them to the batter; this will plump them up. You’ll also want to reduce the amount to 3/4 cup of dried cranberries.
Why Cold Butter is KEY
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when it comes to making flaky scones, cold butter is your best friend!
And when I say cold, I mean COLD!!! No room temperature butter will do! I actually suggest you pop your butter in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes before you plan on working it into the scone dough. This reducing the risk of the butter softening too much as it’s worked into the dough. In terms of how you work the butter into the dough, you have options! You can use two forks, a pastry cutter, or your hands!
In addition, I recommend keeping all of your other ingredients chilled until they’re needed. This includes your eggs, cream, and even your dry ingredients and flour mixture! The colder your ingredients are, the flakier your scones will be! Sometimes I’ll even grate my butter into the dough using the coarse side of a cheese grater!
Oven Temperature
Unlike many scone recipes that call for you to preheat the oven to 400 degrees, this recipe will bake at 425! The slightly higher baking temperature gives the scones a rich golden brown color and ensures they’re fully baked in about 20 minutes! Be sure to place the baking pan on the middle baking rack, and as always, keep an eye as they bake.
Can I make these Gluten Free?
Although I tested these with all-purpose flour, I think a GF cup for cup flour substitute would work well! I’ve had good experience with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour and have heard good things about this Cup for Cup Gluten Free Flour. If you try either, let us know how it goes in the comment section!
To glaze or not to glaze…
As the scones bake, you can decide whether or not you want to make a glaze. Personally, I love these scones as is! And don’t feel a glaze is mandatory. That said, an orange glaze really makes the scones pop and cuts the tartness of the cranberries.
And making one is so easy! You’ll simply whisk together a little orange juice, zest, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Then drizzle over the warm scones and tuck in!!!
More Cranberry Recipes:
Cranberry Orange Scones (Bakery-Style)
Ingredients
For the Cranberry Orange Scones:
- 2 and 3/4 cups (330g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 Tablespoon orange zest finely grated
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 10 Tablespoons (140g) unsalted butter VERY cold and cut into tiny pieces
- 1 large egg cold
- 1 large egg yolk cold
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon orange extract (optional but highly recommended)
- 1 and 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, do not thaw
For the egg wash:
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon water
- 2 Tablespoons sparkling sugar, optional
For the Glaze:
- 1 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 teaspoon orange zest, finely grated
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt, optional but recommended to cut the sweetness
Instructions
For the Cranberry Orange Scones:
- Preheat oven to 425°(F). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, granulated sugar, brown sugar, orange zest, cinnamon, and cardamom, mix well to combine.
- Cut the butter into small cubes then, using your fingers, two forks, or a pastry cutter, work it into the dough until it resembles a coarse meal. The chunks of butter should be about the size of peas.
- In a glass measuring cup whisk together the egg and yolk, cream, vanilla, and orange exact.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the center of the flour mixture. Then add in the cranberries. Use a spatula to stir everything together until just moistened. Don’t worry if the dough looks shaggy!
- Empty the loose dough out onto a clean, lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough a few times, then shape it into an 8-inch disc.
- Cut the disc into 8 even wedges and carefully transfer them to the prepared sheet, placing them 2″ apart.
- Lightly brush each scone with the egg wash. Then sprinkle with sparkling sugar, if using.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until light golden brown.
- Allow scones to cool for 5 minutes, then drizzle with glaze (if using), and serve warm!
For the egg wash:
- In a small bowl whisk together the egg and water until well combined.
For the Glaze:
- In a small bowl combine the confectioners’ sugar, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla extract. Drizzle over scones.
Can I use my homemade cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving in these?
Hi Nancy. I don’t think that would work. But if you try, let me know 🙂
These scones look wonderful and I will make them tomorrow. I happen to have cranberries on hand. Always try to this time of year. One thing I do is after making the disk and cutting, I pop them into the freezer, either for 30 minutes, then bake or until frozen, wrap and double wrap. There you have scones ready to pop into the oven at the drop of a Christmas bow. Thanks for the recipe
Hi. I was wondering if you do the egg wash after you freeze, before you bake or before you freeze? I want to freeze the raw dough and bake Christmas am. Thank you.
How long will these keep for? And how is it best to store them please?
Thank you for the great recipe can’t wait to try them!
Hi Amy. They’re best eaten the day they’re baked. But will keep, wrapped and at room temperature for 2 days and in the freezer for 2 months.
I made this recipe this morning to make Sunday happier-and it worked! The directions were accurate and easy to follow. I didn’t have to use more than one bowl, one measuring cup and a few spoons and a knife. And they are so delicious-I was shocked at how buttery they were, and that the cranberries weren’t too sour. Just wonderful. 6 people/8 scones? It was hard to divide them up the last two fairly! Thanks for a recipe I can use again and again.
Hi Maureen! I’m so thrilled to hear that these made your Sunday morning a happy one! And that you found the recipe easy to follow! Have a wonderful holiday season 🙂
First time I ever tried scones. They came out tasting fantastic, just like the fancy, expensive bakery scones. I followed the recipe to the letter but the dough came out so *dry* it wouldn’t even hold together. I added about 2T of melted butter & it at least held together at least enough to form & cut.
Keeping that in mind, I’ll be making these quite often, with different flavor combinations. Another poster mentioned blueberries & lemon – that sounds fantastic.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Kim! So glad you enjoyed them! The dough shouldn’t be that dry, so I’m wondering if you had a little bit too much flour? You could reduce the recipe by 1/4 cup next time, and then add if needed.
I just made this recipe yesterday and I followed it to the letter. My dough looked like a desert rather than shaggy it was so dry. I ended up adding another 1/3 cup of cream and another egg before it would hold together. It was delicious. But I think I will try easing up on the amount of flour as well
Hi Elizabeth! How do you measure flour? If you don’t already, I would suggest fluffing it up in the bag first, then lightly spooning it into the measuring cup. You could definitely decrease the flour by 1/4 cup, but I wouldn’t suggest more. The dough should be quite dry and shaggy, but as you knead and work it, it will eventually come together.
Be sure to used the spoon into the measuring cup method rather than the scope into the flour method. Also use a dry ingredient measure for flour and sugars, not a liquid measure. I bake a LOT and have learned by much trial and error!
Can the ingredients be TOO cold? I grated my butter into the bowl directly from the freezer and used cranberries straight out of the freezer, too. I made the recipe to the letter using Baking 101 techniques & measuring cups & spoons and had the same problem.
I love them, so I really want to get this problem ironed out.
Just made these delicious scones. I let a couple of pulses in the Cuisinart replace my warm hands incorporating the butter. I did need to add a tiny bit more cream but all eventually came together. Didn’t have orange extract so I used Fiori di Sicilia. Sprinkled with sparkling sugar instead of glaze and they are just yummy. Next time I might do what another baker suggested and cut the frozen berries in half. I think it would make incorporating and shaping a little smoother. Thanks for a great recipe.
So glad these were a hit, Camille! And you can definitely chop up the cranberries for a more uniform dough. But the bursts of cranberry flavor will just be more subtle!
Fiori di Sicilia is AMAZING!
These are the best scones I’ve ever made. They definitely taste like they came from a fancy bakery. I cut the frozen cranberries in half and I cut up the butter into small pieces and then put it into the freezer for the few minutes I was assembling the rest of the ingredients. I’m thinking of making them again with blueberries and lemon zest as I love their texture. thanks for another great recipe
This comment made my day, Mimi! Thank you so much! And I definitely think lemon and blueberry would work beautifully!
I never tried scones, I think it’s time to make some !
Yes! They’re so easy and the perfect breakfast treat!
Hi can I make this with dried cranberries?
Love your recipes xxx
Hi Jane. I don’t recommend it. But if you do, you’ll want to soak them first in hot water so they plump up a bit. Fresh or frozen cranberries work best!
I made them with dried cranberries and they turned out great! I have made them both ways and prefer the dried. The raw are too tart.
Did you soak the dried cranberries first.
Looks delicious. I gotta try this!