The Best Cranberry Orange Scones

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I am so excited to share the best Cranberry Orange Scones recipe. I love how easy they are to make, and they are amazing!

These Cranberry Orange scones are the perfect blend of sweet with just the right amount of tart, and you can cut them into cute shapes for special occasions. This recipe is one you will want to keep handy!

cranberry orange scones
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cranberry orange scones at tea

Cranberry Orange Scones

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.

I set a table for tea with my girlfriends and knew I wanted to serve some kind of scone. But the problem with scones is that they are often too dry. And too hard.

Nothing is better than a delicious cup of coffee, tea, and breakfast pastry. Scones have always been my favorite breakfast pastries to bake and eat. Today, I am sharing my recipe for Cranberry Orange Scones. This is the best recipe for Cranberry Orange Scones ever!

According to most, you should bake scones until they’re barely done so the inside will be fully baked (not doughy), but still moist. I have a recipe for cranberry orange muffins that is delicious. So I decided to try some experimenting and came up with this scone recipe.

cranberry orange scones recipe

What are Scones?

Scones are known as being part of the British afternoon or ‘cream’ tea. American-style scones are fairly sweet. English scones have a similar structure to our biscuits; both are crumbly, light, and moist.

Scones are a bit crumbly and the opposite of a croissant. Scones are crumbly due to the prevention of what is referred to as a “gluten network”. When making bread, flour and water are typically mixed to create gluten. When you make scones, you coat the flour with butter, preventing gluten formation. Hence, you get more of a crumbly texture, which makes scones so delicious.

The main challenge for making scones is to achieve lightness and crumbliness. A scone should fall apart easily when you pull a piece off, but it shouldn’t crumble apart in your hands.

The dough consistency for scones is sticky but not so sticky that you can’t roll it with a rolling pin. What I love about these scones is that you want the dough to be about one inch thick, which makes for a perfect “biscuit”.

cranberry orange scones for valentines day

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Tips for Making Cranberry Orange Scones

These Cranberry Orange scones are festive and simple to make. The fresh cranberries are tart and add a nice highlight of color. The scones are tender and sweet and will make your house smell amazing. Serve with jam and butter, or dunk them in your favorite tea or coffee.

I included vanilla yogurt, vanilla extract, and egg in this recipe. I think it helped enhance the flavor. Although I made these scones for a Valentine’s Day tea, I think I would probably use my heart-shaped cookie cutter year round. I think they are that cute.

cranberry orange scones 2

When you roll the dough, it should be almost one inch thick. I kept cutting and rolling the dough to make sure I could get as many scones made as possible.

cranberry orange scones 3

Of course, I am neurotic about burning them, so I start checking at least two minutes before the estimated cooking time to pull them out of the oven when they are golden brown.

cranberry orange scones 4

Aren’t these perfect? And trust me, they are scrumptious.

cranberry orange scones 5

Cranberry Orange Scones Recipe

Yield: 16

Cranberry Orange Scones

cranberry orange scones

Cranberry Orange Scones are a delicious addition to breakfast or brunch. The combination of sweet and tart is absolutely wonderful.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter
  • 3/4 cup fresh cranberries, chopped (or dried cranberries)
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
  • 3 tablespoon orange juice
  • 2 tablespoon orange zest

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
  3. Add the cold butter to the bowl and cut in with a pastry blender until the pieces of butter until the flour mixture resembles coarse meal.
  4. Chop the cranberries in a food processor and stir into flour mixture with cream, egg, vanilla, yogurt, orange juice and orange zest.
  5. Flour your hands and work the bough into a large ball. Gently roll with rolling pin until 1" thick. Cut with cookie cutter into desired shapes. Place on lined baking sheet and bake 15 - 18 minutes until golden.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

16

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 184Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 206mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 1gSugar: 8gProtein: 3g

cranberry orange scones 6

I served the scones on my heart-shaped Rae Dunn plate. They disappeared so quickly. And the few we had left over lasted for days in a sealed plastic container.

Everything You Need for Tea Time!

Baking Essentials and Pretty Ways to Display Treats

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Cranberry orange scones on a cookie sheet.

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51 Comments

  1. I have made this recipe 3x since you posted it! Love them! I varied the recipe, using blueberries and another time I used chocolate chips. Family voted chocolate chip ones the best!

  2. I made these scones today for Sunday brunch
    First time ever making scones
    Theyy came out AMAZING
    Thanks for sharing the recipe

    Sincerely Bridget

  3. I made these yesterday and kept thinking that 4c flour to only 1/4 c cream sounded odd. Sure enough, they are hard as bricks!!!

    1. I thought the same thing when I read this recipe. I use 2 cups flour to 1/2 cream in my go to recipe for scones. I dont use yogurt or orange juice which would add more liquid. So maybe that helps. So many people say they loved them, so maybe I’ll give them a try.

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