Homemade cranberry orange scones are deliciously flaky and tender with bright orange flavor and pops of juicy cranberries. Crunchy coarse sugar and orange glaze are the perfect finishing touches!
Scones. They can taste REALLY good or they can taste REALLY bad. It all depends on the recipe and mixing method.
I learned how to make absolutely delicious scones a few years ago when I attended a cooking event in the Panera Bread test kitchen. Turns out that I had been making all the wrong scones up until that point! Since that fateful afternoon, I’ve mastered chocolate chip scones, cinnamon scones, apple cinnamon scones, and blueberry scones. I use the same basic scone recipe for each flavor. By the way, I wrote an entire post devoted to my favorite base recipe for scones.
Today we’re making cranberry orange scones, flavors perfect for fall.
Why You’ll Love These Cranberry Orange Scones
- Sweet crumbly edges
- Soft, moist centers
- Crunchy golden brown exterior
- Bright flavor from orange zest and orange juice (a tasty addition we use to make the best cranberry sauce, too!)
- Pops of juicy cranberries (just like biting into a piece of cranberry cake!)
- Drizzle of orange glaze on top
Cranberry Orange Scone Ingredients
- Flour: 2 cups of all-purpose flour is my standard amount for homemade scones, but set extra aside for the work surface and your hands.
- Granulated Sugar: Stick with around 1/2 cup of white granulated sugar for this dough. Feel free to slightly decrease, but keep in mind that the scone flavor and texture will slightly change.
- Baking Powder: Adds lift.
- Salt & Vanilla Extract: These kitchen staples add flavor.
- Cold Butter: Besides flour, cold butter is the main ingredient in cranberry scones. It adds flavor, flakiness, crisp edges, and rise.
- Heavy Cream: For the best tasting pastries, stick with a thick liquid such as heavy cream. Buttermilk works too! For a nondairy option, try using full-fat canned coconut milk. Avoid thinner liquids such as milk or almond milk—the result is often dry, bland, and flat scones.
- Egg: 1 egg adds flavor, lift, and structure.
- Orange Zest: The zest from one orange provides bright flavor and pairs perfectly with the tart cranberries. Don’t leave it out!
- Cranberries: I prefer to use frozen cranberries because they keep the scone dough super cold. Fresh or even dried works too. Use the same amount.
Before baking, brush the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. These extras add a bakery-style crunch and lovely golden sheen.
Frozen Grated Butter
I’ve learned that frozen grated butter is key to scone success.
Like when we make pie crust, work the cold butter into the dry ingredients. The cold butter coats the flour. When the buttery flour crumbs melt as the scones bake, they release steam which creates pockets of air. These pockets add a flaky center, while keeping the edges crumbly and crisp. Refrigerated butter might melt in the dough as you work it, but frozen butter will hold out until the oven. Timing is KEY! And the finer the pieces of cold butter, the less the scones spread and the quicker the butter mixes into the dry ingredients. Remember, you don’t want to over-work scone dough.
I recommend grating the frozen butter with a box grater.
How to Make Cranberry Orange Scones
Since there’s no yeast, these cranberry orange scones go from the mixing bowl to the oven relatively quickly. First, mix the dry ingredients together. Second, cut cold butter into the dry ingredients. You can use a pastry cutter, 2 forks, or your hands for this step. A food processor works too, but it often overworks the scone dough. To avoid overly dense scones, work the dough as little as possible. I always use a pastry cutter.
Next, whisk the wet ingredients together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the cranberries, then gently mix together. Form the dough into a disc on the counter, then cut into 8 wedges.
One of my recent tricks! To obtain a flaky center and a crumbly exterior, scone dough must remain cold. Cold dough won’t over-spread either. Therefore, I highly recommend you chill the shaped scones for at least 15 minutes prior to baking. You can even refrigerate overnight for a quick breakfast in the morning.
After that, bake the scones until golden brown.
The scones are WONDERFUL right out of the oven, but taste even better with an orange glaze on top—a must on cranberry scones. 🙂 Or try a swipe of homemade honey butter or the cranberry curd from this cranberry curd tart. You can’t go wrong!
More Cranberry Orange Recipes
- Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake
- Orange Cranberry Bread
- Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Cranberry Orange Icebox Cookies
These scones should most certainly be on your Thanksgiving breakfast menu! A perfectly festive prelude to all those Thanksgiving pies later in the day. 🙂
Print
Glazed Cranberry Orange Scones
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 large or 16 small scones
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These cranberry orange scones are buttery and moist with crisp crumbly edges and soft flaky centers. Crunchy coarse sugar and an orange glaze are the perfect finishing touches! Read through the recipe before beginning. You can skip the chilling for 15 minutes prior to baking, but I highly recommend it to prevent the scones from over-spreading.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons orange zest (about 1 orange)
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, frozen
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 heaping cup (125g) frozen cranberries*
- optional: 1 Tablespoon (15ml) heavy cream and coarse sugar
Orange Glaze
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2–3 Tablespoons (30-45ml) fresh orange juice*
Instructions
- Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest together in a large bowl. Grate the frozen butter using a box grater. Add it to the flour mixture and combine with a pastry cutter, two forks, or your fingers until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs. See video above for a closer look at the texture. Place in the refrigerator or freezer as you mix the wet ingredients together.
- Whisk 1/2 cup heavy cream, the egg, and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Drizzle over the flour mixture, add the cranberries, then mix together until everything appears moistened.
- Pour onto the counter and, with floured hands, work dough into a ball as best you can. Dough will be sticky. If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour. If it seems too dry, add 1-2 more Tablespoons heavy cream. Press into an 8-inch disc and, with a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut into 8 wedges.
- Brush scones with remaining heavy cream and for extra crunch, sprinkle with coarse sugar. (You can do this before or after refrigerating in the next step.)
- Place scones on a plate or lined baking sheet (if your fridge has space!) and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. After refrigerating, arrange scones 2-3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet(s).
- Bake for 22-25 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and lightly browned on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes as you make the glaze.
- Make the glaze: Whisk the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice together. Add a little more confectioners’ sugar to thicken or more juice to thin. Drizzle over scones.
- Leftover iced or un-glazed scones keep well at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Notes
- Freeze Before Baking: Freeze scone dough wedges on a plate or baking sheet for 1 hour. Once relatively frozen, you can layer them in a freezer-friendly bag or container. Bake from frozen, adding a few minutes to the bake time. Or thaw overnight, then bake as directed.
- Freeze After Baking: Freeze the baked and cooled scones before topping with icing. I usually freeze in a freezer-friendly bag or container. To thaw, leave out on the counter for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Warm in the microwave for 30 seconds or on a baking sheet in a 300°F (149°C) oven for 10 minutes.
- Overnight Instructions: Prepare scones through step 4. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Continue with the recipe the following day.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Box Grater | Pastry Cutter | Bench Scraper | Pastry Brush | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper
- Over-spreading: Start with very cold scone dough. Expect some spread, but if the scones are over-spreading as they bake, remove from the oven and press back into its triangle shape (or whatever shape) using a silicone spatula.
- Cranberries: I prefer to use frozen cranberries because they keep the scone dough super cold. Fresh or even dried works too. Same amount.
- Orange Juice: I prefer fresh orange juice. You’ll have an orange anyway—the one you zested for the scone dough! Store-bought orange juice works too, of course.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Another great scone recipe! Thank you, we love them! My husband won’t touch cranberry sauce but he thought these were just as good as the blueberry scones. And I thought they would all be mine after he tried one.
Can almond flour be substituted for all-purpose flour?
Hi Lisa, We don’t recommend almond flour as it has very different baking properties and is not always a 1:1 swap. We haven’t tested it, but you might have success experimenting with a gluten-free all-purpose flour like Bob’s Red Mill or Cup4Cup. If you give anything a try, we’d love to know how it goes for you!
Just made these absolutely delicious! 1st time making scones
can you use fresh cranberries?
Hi Sally! Can I use dried sweetened cranberries? If yes, should I soak them before adding to recipe? (How?) Thanks so much! Your website is where I go first when looking for a new recipe, or for tips/substitutions. Appreciate all you do! 🙂
Hi Rachael, you can use dried cranberries—no need to soak them, but you certainly can if you’d wish. Hope you enjoy the scones!
Hi Trina! A quick note to let you know my scones came out divine! Just moist enough on the inside right where it should be …. & crispy enough on the outside edges. Not dry at all. Absolutely perfect & I received rave reviews! Thanks! 🙂
This is one of my favorite recipes! I make these for tea parties, book clubs, or any gathering basically and get so many compliments! Not too difficult to make especially after the first time. Definitely recommend for anyone wanting to impress their loved ones with a new recipe!
Hi,
I made these today and they are so delicious! Any idea how many calories per scone if you divide them into 8 scones? I’m pretty sure I can eat more than 1 at a time!!
My first time using a pastry cutter, but my fingers worked better, for some reason.
Hi Nancy, we don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
These are amazing, and I am definitely adding this to my go-to recipes folder! Thanks for another great recipe!
Would evaporated milk work instead of heavy cream?
Hi Carole, I wish we could help, but we have not tested this recipe with evaporated milk, so are unsure of the results. For best results we would stick with heavy cream or buttermilk here.
These scones are perfect at Christmas. A hit with everyone. I had some cream cheese icing left from your cinnamon bun recipe. Can I use that cream cheese icing?
Love all your recipes.
Thanks.
Ruth, certainly! Note that it will be thicker than the glaze and may be better to spread instead of drizzle.
These were so tasty! I made the dough, froze on the baking sheet overnight, and baked in the morning. For anyone wanting to make these gluten free – I subbed King Arthur’s Measure for Measure flour with no other changes and they worked out great.
OMG! These were amazing! I made them for a neighbour and they almost didn’t get any!
Love these
How would you adjust the baking time if you’re baking in a cast iron skillet?
You can place the cut scones into the individual wells of your cast iron pan. We’re unsure of the exact bake time using that pan, but it should be very similar to the one listed here. Hope you enjoy the scones!
One final question please. I opted to freeze prior to baking. Is it okay to brush them with cream and dust with sugar from a frozen state just prior to baking or thaw them first?
We recommend baking from frozen–don’t let them thaw. Enjoy!
I loved this recipe so much! Would love to make these for holiday gifts. Wondering if you could prepare the dough through step 5 and freeze them then bake them when you are ready to eat them?
Hi Danielle! Yes, absolutely. See recipe Notes for details.
Great recipe. Absolutely Delicious, but they did not rise very much.. I am at 5280 Feet in Denver. I kept butter and bowls cold…. I used “Heavy Whipping Cream” is that the same as “Heavy Cream”? I brushed with cream + Turbinado Sugar, also iced. What can I do for them to rise a bit more?
Hi Kyle, yes, heavy whipping cream is the same as heavy cream. Was your baking powder fresh? That’s the most likely culprit for them not rising. Unfortunately, we don’t have experience baking at high altitude, but readers have had success with this helpful chart: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking. Note that it does recommend reducing the amount of baking powder in recipes. Hope this helps for next time!
Kyle- I have made these several times at 5,666 ft and they are lovely. This may help. I adjust them for High Altitude with the following.
Flour- add 2 tablespoons. Sugar- decrease by 1 tablespoon.
Baking Powder- only use 2 1/4 teaspoons.
After dividing the scones I FREEZE them on the baking sheet for 15 minutes before baking. Do Not over bake! I bake them at 425F for 16-18 minutes. Note: I also freeze cookies for 10 minutes before baking. Try King Arthur and Colorado Extension https://extension.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/High-Altitude-PDFv3.pdf for general help with HA tips.
This is my go-to recipe for all types of scones! Excellent results every time. I usually make the dough into 2 discs and refrigerate overnight. In the am I brush with the cream and top with raw sugar then cut into 8 pieces and bake for 14-16 minutes for mini scones. Excellent recipe!
Can I use whole milk instead of heavy cream?
Hi Fati, Heavy cream or buttermilk are really best for scones.
Cranberry orange scones are my very favorite! But to keep from being sick that they flopped, would you please answer a question. I live in N. Georgia and exclusively use White Lily flour, which is made from a soft winter wheat. I have had a coffee cake fail because the flour was too soft to support the filling layer. Would this flour work with these scones or should I use a different type such as Pillsbury or Gold Medal? Thanks!
Hi Jennie, White Lily is similar to cake flour and would be too light for this scone recipe. All-purpose is the ideal choice here. Hope you love them!
I’m excited to try this recipe. Made sandwich bread yesterday and it’s amazing. Will there be any problems using a round cookie cutter instead of wedges?
Hi Coleen, that shouldn’t be a problem!
Hello! We are planning to make this recipe ahead of time and freezing for Christmas morning. Do you recommend leaving the cranberries whole or cutting them in half? I’m asking because I’m wondering if they were whole if they pop is that what we are looking for?
Hi K, We keep them whole but you can chop them if desired.
Your recipe elevated me in scone maker for family gatherings! I am soooo honored ❤️
This is a good recipe. I used GF flour. However, they burned. I caught them just in time so they are still edible. My question is: I have the Cosori oven style. What shelf should they be baked on? Second question: Do I use the AF menu or the Bake menu? Thank you. I look forward to trying these again.
This is our favorite scone recipe . Can adjust to make lemon blueberry too. They are so light and fluffy!
Can these be made 2 days in advance?
Hi Annie, yes they can. See the recipe Notes for make-ahead instructions. Enjoy!
We love these cranberry orange scones! I’m going to make them for our family next week. Question- I want to make them ahead of time. How long, in days, can I keep pre baked scones frozen?
See recipe Notes!
Cranberry + orange is one of my favorite flavor combinations, and this interpretation doesn’t disappoint. I have made it several times, and if I don’t stop myself I’d eat half them warm out of the oven! Just wanted to give my thanks for a wonderful recipe and to let folks know about a substitution that I had to make in a recent batch…
I wanted the immediate gratification, but didn’t have any oranges to zest. I used some LorAnn super strength orange oil in place of the zest–a scant 1/2 tsp added to the wet ingredients along with the vanilla. They were amazing. I think I will just use that instead of zest in the future. It’s easy to keep around as a pantry item, and I’m always a little leery about zesting an orange if I wasn’t able to get an organic one (did I wash it enough??). Also, thinking that the orange oil might not provide enough orange “punch”, I added half a cup of King Arthur orange jammy bits (I froze them along with the cranberries). I had them left on the baking shelf in the pantry from some other recipe and this seemed like a good use for them. Mmmm…I have the butter, cranberries and jammy bits in the freezer now, ready for making another batch in the morning…
Made these for brunch this morning and followed the recipe exactly. These were soooo good!! Perfectly sweet and tender with a good balance of orange and cranberry. I think next time I’ll add a little orange zest to the glaze to add a little color and more orange-y flavor.
All your scone (and in general) recipes are fire. Thank you for your extremely easy to follow instructions.
I made the Cranberry Orange scones, for a brunch party. Followed the recipe exact, only cut them into 2in-ish wedges, checked at 12mins from frozen. They were absolutely perfect. 2 batches made about 50 bites. Stoked for Sweet Potato rolls and pie week!
I made the cranberry orange scones and they came out great. I used bread flour instead of all purpose, but that was the only change. So easy. I would definitely do this again.