Glazed Cranberry Orange Scones

These will be your new favorite. 

I’ve got Thanksgiving breakfast covered for you! And Thanksgiving snack time because glazed cranberry orange scones make a perfectly acceptable snack. Especially with a warm mug of homemade apple cider. Mmm I love the sounds of that. Can I come over? We can be festive together.

I’m super excited to share today’s recipe with you because it is a recipe that you tasted yourselves! Like, these actual scones got your stamp of approval. I baked them a few weeks ago, cut them up real small, and served them at my NYC book signing. Rave reviews, rave reviews!

Basically, if Sally’s Baking Addiction was Us Weekly, these scones would always be on the cover.

If you haven’t caught on by now, I use the same basic scone recipe for every scone I make. Except you, triple chocolate scones. Dare to be different you devilishly delish little numbers! But for every other scone I make, it’s the same base recipe. From there I add flavors, zest, fruit, and/or glaze. I also play around with the type of sugar depending on the flavor of the scone. Like, brown sugar in my apple cinnamon scones (yumm-o) and granulated white sugar in my blueberry scones. I’ll never say yumm-o again, promise.

These ain’t your regular scones. Long gone are dry and bland scones, which is what turned me off of scones for so long! Rather, they’re filled with orange zest, pops of juicy cranberries, covered with ultra crumbly edges, moist interiors, and just melt in your mouth. And then the orange glaze soaks into all the cracks and crumbles. For these reasons, and so many more, I LOVE MY SCONES! And I’m so glad all you in NYC did too. Knew ya would!

To start: cranberries. Fresh or frozen work! Or even dried cranberries, too. I prefer to use frozen because they keep the scone dough super cold. Remember, scone dough should always be cold. Why? Keeps the scones from spreading and also keeps that butter cold.

Speaking of butter, one of the most important steps in this scone recipe is cutting in the butter. It’s imperative to use cold butter in this scone recipe because when the little crumbs of butter melt as the scone bakes, they release steam and create little pockets of air – this makes the scones a little airy on the inside while remaining flaky and crisp on the outside. In my opinion, cold butter isn’t good enough, it must be frozen! Simply place a stick of butter in the freezer for 30 minutes ahead of time.

For the scone dough– make sure you don’t overwork it. It’s fragile, much like bread dough. Try to avoid over-mixing and over-handling. After the flour/butter mixture resembled coarse crumbs, it is time to add your wet ingredients. Fold them in very gently. If you overmix the dough at this point, it will over develop the gluten. Thus resulting in a tough textured scone, which usually just ends up tasting dry. We don’t want that!

The scones get a lot of their bright flavor from orange zest and orange juice. You’ll need the zest from 1 orange and the juice to make the luscious orange glaze on top. Glaze is always a must on cranberry scones.

Look at all those pretty pops of pink and red!

You’re going to love them this holiday season!

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Glazed Cranberry Orange Scones

• 
  Author: Sally


• 
  Prep Time: 30 minutes


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  Cook Time: 25 minutes


• 
  Total Time: 1 hour


• 
  Yield: 8 large or 16 small scones


• 
  Category: Breakfast


• 
  Method: Baking


• 
  Cuisine: American

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Description

These cranberry orange scones are wonderfully festive and ridiculously easy to make at home! You will love their crumbly edges and bright flavor. For some scone tips, make sure you read the post above.

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Ingredients

• 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface


• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder


• ½ teaspoon salt


• zest from 1 orange


• 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, frozen


• 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream


• 1 large egg


• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar


• 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*

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Adjust baking rack to the middle-low position. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.


2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and zest. Grate the frozen butter (I use a box grater; a food processor also works – here is the one I own and love). Toss the grated butter into the flour mixture and combine it with a pastry cutter, a fork, or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside.


3. In a small bowl, whisk the cream, egg, sugar, and vanilla together. Drizzle it over the flour mixture and then toss the mixture together with a rubber spatula until everything appears moistened. Slowly and gently fold in the cranberries. Try your best to not overwork the dough at any point. Dough will be a little wet. Work the dough into a ball with floured hands as best you can and transfer to a floured surface. Press into a neat 8″ disc and cut into 8 equal wedges with a very sharp knife. Place scones at least 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Brush scones with optional 1 Tbsp cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. (Makes them shiny and gives a little extra crunch!)


4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden and cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes as you make the glaze.


5. For the glaze, simply whisk the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice together. Add a little more confectioners’ sugar to thicken or more juice to thin. Drizzle over scones.

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Notes

1. Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Scones are best enjoyed right away, though leftover scones keep well at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 2 extra days. Unglazed scones freeze well, up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then heat up to your liking before glazing and enjoying.


2. Cranberries: I prefer to use frozen cranberries because they keep the scone dough super cold. Fresh or even dried works too. Same amount.


3. Orange Juice: I prefer fresh orange juice. You’ll have an orange anyway– the one you zested for the scone dough! Store-bought OJ works too, of course.

Keywords: cranberry orange scones, scones

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Try my cranberry orange muffins, too!

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