Cranberry Orange Scones Recipe (2024)

Bursting with cranberries and bright orange flavor, these sweet buttery little scones are my new favorite winter treat. They are easy to put together and perfect to share with friends and family.

Recently, my friends Alisa and Enriqueasked me to collaborate on a little recipevideo forFresYes, a local blog that focuses on cool stuff happening around the valley. I’m a big fan of Enrique’svideo workand have been really been enjoying Alisa’slocal food posts,so I created this cranberry orangescone recipe and invited the two of them into my kitchen for a night of take-out pizza and scone making.

Despite my huge fear of being on camera, we had a lot of fun and the resulting recipe and cute little videoweredefinitely worth the discomfort.

Since it’s December, I decided to make these slightly sweeter than my other scone recipes. With their beautifulsweet orange glaze, these petite scones can easily take the place of fancy cookies on a gift plate.

As you’ll see in the video, these scones really are quick and easy to put together. The photos below show you how to shape them once the dough is mixed.

Since these are small scones, the dough needs to be divided into two piecesbefore being sliced into triangles.

It’s really easy to shape these scones. Just cut them up like pies and they’re ready to bake.

Once transferred to a parchment-lined baking sheet, the scones are ready for the oven. Make sure you preheat the oven before you begin, because this recipe goes pretty fast!

My oven bakes these scones perfectly in 12 minutes every time. But it’s always good to check them a little early since every oven is different.

Once they have cooled completely, it’s time to mix the glaze and dip the scones right in the glaze. As long as you dip only the tops of the scones, you should have just enough glaze to cover all of them. Make sure you lay some waxed paper or newspaper under the rack before beginning the dipping process. This makes cleanup much easier!

Enjoy!

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 52 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• scant 1/2 cup half and half
• zest of one orange, divided
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut in small pieces and well chilled
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped

Glaze:

• 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons orange juice (from the zested orange)
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest (reserved from above)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
3. In a separate small bowl, whisk together egg, half and half, and most of the orange zest (reserve about 1/2 teaspoon for the glaze); set aside.
4. Rub cold butter pieces into the flour mixture with your fingertips (or use a pastry blender) until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chopped cranberries.
5. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture all at once and stir until the mixture clumps together. Dump mixture out onto a floured countertop and, with floured hands, gather into a ball and knead once or twice to combine everything. If it’s quite sticky, just sprinkle some extra flour on the counter and on top of the dough to keep it from sticking. Cut dough into two equal pieces and pat each into a circle about 3/4 inch thick. Cut each circle like a pie into 8 slices. Arrange scones on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
6. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely before dipping in the glaze.
7. Glaze: Put some waxed paper or newspaper underneath the cooling rack to catch dripping glaze. In a small bowl that is wide enough to dip a scone, combine 1 cup sifted powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons orange juice and the reserved orange zest. Whisk until smooth. Dip tops of the scones in the glaze and place them (glaze side up) on the cooling rack. Once glaze is dry, scones can be stored in a container or covered in plastic wrap. They are best eaten the day they are made, but will stay somewhat fresh for a day or two if carefully wrapped.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 185Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 138mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 1gSugar: 16gProtein: 2g

Related Recipes:

• Buttermilk Cranberry Scones
• Pumpkin Spice Scones
• Apricot Cream Scones
• Cherry Banana Muffins with White Chocolate Chips
• Cheddar, Parmesan, and Cracked Pepper Scones

Around the Web:

• Ginger Sconesfrom Simply Recipes
• Fresh Cranberry Scones from The Kitchn
• Raspberry Almond Scones from Two Peas and Their Pod
• Cinnamon Sugar Scones from Brown-Eyed Baker
• Persimmon Scones from Lemons and Anchovies

Big thanks to Enrique atMeza Filmsand Alisa fromFresYesfor coming to hang out in my kitchen for a delicious night of scone making. Here are a few behind-the-scenes photos from the videoshoot taken by my husband Phil.