Cranberry Orange Scones make a quick and easy scone recipe perfect for breakfast or brunch. A delicious combination of sweet and tart!
I love the combination of fresh, tart cranberries mixed with the brightness of oranges. It is a combination I’ve turned to time and again in cranberry orange muffins and even my cranberry orange rolls. The flavor combination definitely doesn’t disappoint in this cranberry orange scones recipe either. It makes for the perfect combination for anytime of year, but especially throughout the fall and winter when fresh cranberries are readily available and oranges are at their peak.
I love them so much that I actually buy fresh cranberries now while they are in season and store them in my freezer so that I can use them anytime of the year for these scones and in other recipes.
How to Make Cranberry Orange Scones
- flour
- sugar + more for topping
- baking powder
- salt
- butter
- cranberries
- heavy cream
- orange juice
- orange zest
Orange Glaze:
- confectioner’s sugar
- orange juice
- orange zest
Step by Step Instructions
- Prep. Preheat oven to 400º F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking sheet.
- Make Dough. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter to the bowl and cut into the flour with a pastry blender until the largest pieces of butter are about the size of a pea and the flour mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in cranberries, 3/4 cup of heavy cream, orange juice, and orange zest. Press dough together between the palms of your hands. If it doesn’t just hold together, add more heavy cream until is just holds together.
- For the Dough. Pour dough onto a lightly floured countertop or a pastry board. Pat dough into a large round disc, about an inch thick. Cut dough into equal sized wedges and place onto prepared baking sheet. Melt about 2 tablespoons butter and brush on top of dough.
- Bake. Bake scones for 20-25 minutes or until they are just beginning to turn lightly brown. Remove from the oven.
- Make the Glaze. Whisk all of the glaze ingredients together in a medium sized bowl until smooth and then drizzle on top of each scone after it has cooled for about five minutes.
Can You Use Dried Cranberries in Cranberry Orange Scones?
Yes! I love to use fresh cranberries in these scones, but if for some reason I don’t have them available, dried cranberries work well, too.
What If You Don’t Have Orange Zest?
To make my cranberry orange scones, I included both orange zest as well as juice in the scone as well as in the glaze to really bring out the orange scent and flavor in these scones. You can adjust the amount to suit your preference by backing off the zest in the glaze if you like, but I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love all that citrusy deliciousness in these!
You can omit it from this recipe if you don’t have it available. The orange flavor will not be as pronounced, but the scones will still be delicious!
How Long Do Cranberry Orange Scones Last?
Store on the counter for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5.
Can You Freeze These Scones?
Yes! Allow to cool completely and then store in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. To serve, allow to thaw and then serve at room temperature or warm in the microwave or in the oven at 350º F for about 5 minutes.
Other Favorite Scone Recipes
Here’s my Cranberry Orange Scones recipe. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
Cranberry Orange Scones Recipe
Ingredients
Cranberry Orange Scone Recipe:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar , + more for topping
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup cold butter
- 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
- 3/4 – 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
Orange Glaze:
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º F. Line a rimmed baking sheet pan with parchment paper or a nonstick baking sheet.
For the scones:
- Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter to the bowl and cut into the flour with a pastry blender until the largest pieces of butter are about the size of a pea and the flour mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in cranberries, 3/4 cup of heavy cream, orange juice, and orange zest. Press dough together between the palms of your hands. If it doesn’t just hold together, add more heavy cream until is just holds together.
- Pour dough onto a lightly floured countertop or a pastry board. Pat dough into a large round disc, about an inch thick. Cut dough into equal sized wedges and place onto prepared baking sheet pan. Melt about 2 tablespoons butter and brush on top of dough.
- Bake scones for 20-25 minutes or until they are just beginning to turn lightly brown. Remove from the oven.
Orange Glaze:
- Whisk all of the glaze ingredients together in a medium sized bowl until smooth and then drizzle on top of each scone after it has cooled for about five minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
I shredded my cold butter first and this being my first experience making scones, they turned out fantastic. My granddaughter kept eating them.
Easy and yummy!
Looking for breakdown of recipe: Calories, carbs, fat etc
The nutrition facts have been added to the recipe, Marty.
Made the cranberry scones. They were a huge hit with my family. Can’t believe they were so easy to make and I avoided making scones for so long. Your recipe was perfect. Used half and half. So delicious!! Making the Lemon Blueberry next.
Thanks, Marion! I hope you like the lemon blueberry ones just as much.
These were perfect! followed the recipe as published except used turbinado sugar instead of glaze. Just sprinkle the sugar on top after you have brushed with melted butter. I freeze my butter and then grate on box grater, works wonderful. I liked this recipe because not as dry & crumbly as more traditional scones, My friend cut one in half and then proceeded to eat the rest of that one & another one after! She loved them, as did I! Thank you, this will be my go to recipe in the future. Looking forward to trying different berries, Blueberries and Lemon next, I will use the glaze on them because I love Lemon!!!
Thanks, Lise. I think you will love my Lemon Blueberry Scones Recipe.
Hi, I love to bake and was dying for a scone, so when I tried these, I had no heavy cream, or whole milk as I use the 2%. The dough was very moist, I had to use flour to handle the dough and get them on the cookie sheet with the parchment paper. Maybe I should try adding more flour?
Hi Cynthia,
It could possibly be that you didn’t use heavy cream – 2% milk has a much thinner consistency and might not have the desired results. Hope this helps! xo
 Thanks for the Recipe! I just baked beans and pop them into the oven at 400°. It looks like the dough is getting watery now, basically the scones are not in the shape that they originally were in. Did I do something wrong here?
Hi Mona,
I’ve never had this dough to get “watery”. I’m sorry if that happened, but don’t know why it did. Thanks!
I wish I could find fresh or frozen cranberries in February. They are gone from our local stores after the holiday season. The scones look fantastic. I printed the recipe and I will make them in November.Â
That is so frustrating, isn’t it?! I like to toss a few bags into the freezer right at the end of December so that I make sure to have some just in case. Can’t wait to hear how you like them when you get a chance to make them!
If I should find frozen cranberries, do I let them thaw before adding to butter/flour mixture?
Hi Robyn,
Mine name is Art. I’m a recent retiree and I’ve been in the kitchen since I’ve plenty of spare time. I’ve made some great things: pot roast, chicken and beef pot pies – family loves them!
My wife Robin, loves scones so I thought I’d try these cranberry – orange scones.Â
Everything went well until I peeked in the oven after 15 minutes and saw one LARGE scone made up of 8 triangles fused together!?  I went through the ingredients to see if I missed anything. I did. I forgot the 1/2 teaspoon of salt — we took them out a little sooner as they were browning a lot at the edges (which had thinned out) We made and applied the glaze – and they are AWESOME. My question, was the omission of the salt the problem?
Hi Art,
It sounds like you’ve been having a great time cooking since your retirement! I’m so happy that you enjoyed the scones! I haven’t had them bake into each other like you describe. Salt does help strengthen the gluten protein in the dough, so it could have possibly have contributed to this.
I also space my scones apart about 1 1/2 to 2 inches on the baking sheet.
I hope this helps! Keep up the baking and cooking and enjoy your retirement!
Thanks!
Robyn….I just made them and my husband just loved them, said it was one of the best scones he has ever had. I told him…thanks to Add A Pinch. Thank you so much for the recipe and for sharing it.
So glad you enjoyed them, Adriana! Thanks!