This festive quick bread recipe goes together fast and freezes well so be sure to make extra to have on hand. If you like the ones at Starbucks you'll love how easy these are to make!
Table of Contents
🗝️ Key takeaways
- These easy orange cranberry scones are the perfect make-ahead sweet treats for the holiday season!
- Enjoy a couple of homemade scones for breakfast or as an afternoon snack with a hot cup of coffee or mug of tea.
- The key to achieving tender scones is handling the dough as little as possible—I'll show you what that means!
Tart cranberries, orange zest, a sweet orange glaze, and buttermilk combine to create a delicious balance of sweet and tangy flavors.
Turn your kitchen into a fancy coffee shop with homemade cranberry Starbucks scones—at a fraction of the price!
🧾 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
📖 Variations
- Feel free to replace the vanilla extract with orange extract or orange liqueur to amp up the citrus flavor in your scones.
- If you can’t find fresh cranberries at your local grocery store, use canned or frozen cranberries. Make sure you thoroughly drain canned cranberries before adding them to the batter, though.
- Keep the dough wedges touching if you want soft sides, or spread them apart if you want crispy sides.
- Add a couple of teaspoons of maple syrup to your sweet orange glaze for another layer of flavor.
- In some copycat Starbucks cranberry orange scone recipes, you add dried cranberries and a drizzle of melted white chocolate chips on top. You can do this if you're not a fan of glaze.
🔪 Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Grate cold butter into the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Stir the orange zest and fresh cranberries into the flour mixture.
- Add the buttermilk, large egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Stir together with a fork until a soft dough forms.
- Pat dough into a 1-inch thick disk, cut into equal wedges, and bake on a prepared baking sheet.
🎥 Video
🍴 Equipment
You’ll need a good, metal grater to shred the cold butter and a citrus zester to zest the orange peel.
I recommend using a Silpat baking mat to make these cranberry scones—it's reusable, so you cut down on waste and prevent sticking!
🥫 How to store leftover cranberry scones
Homemade scones are best eaten fresh the same day you bake ‘em. This is when they have that perfect crumbly, yet soft texture.
However, you can tightly wrap leftover scones in plastic wrap or store them in an airtight container for up to two days.
For longer storage, flash-freeze the cooled scones on a large baking sheet for two hours. Then, transfer them to an airtight container and freeze them for up to two months.
To enjoy, let frozen scones thaw in the fridge overnight. Then, reheat the scones for 10 seconds in the microwave if you like them warm.
💭 Things to know
Expert Tip: Freezing the stick of butter makes it a whole lot easier to grate. This way, it won't melt as quickly or smush through your fingers.
- Use a fork or pastry blender to mix the wet ingredients. I don’t recommend using a food processor because it’s easy to overmix the dough that way—you’ll end up with tough scones!
- For best results, use real buttermilk in your baking recipes! DIY buttermilk will sometimes do the trick, but doesn’t have the same thick texture or tangy flavor as the real stuff.
- Use a pastry cutter, pizza cutter, or sharp knife to easily cut the dough into separate wedges.
- Don’t use a rolling pin to flatten your dough! Gently pat the dough by hand to make sure you don’t activate the gluten in the all-purpose flour.
- Shape your scones with floured hands on a lightly floured surface—the dough is super sticky!
- Let the scones rest for 20 minutes before baking, either at room temperature or in the fridge if your house is too warm. This allows the gluten to relax and helps make tender scones.
- Brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream or an egg wash before baking to give ‘em a pretty shine.
- You know your sweet treats are done baking when the tops turn golden brown. Don't overbake them!
- Let baked scones cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before drizzling on the orange glaze. Otherwise, the glaze will quickly melt off.
- Use just enough juice to make a pourable glaze. Add more powdered sugar if your glaze is too runny or more orange juice if it’s too thick.
👩🍳 FAQs
I wouldn’t. Fresh cranberries provide a burst of tart juice in every bite and help keep your scones moist. Dried cranberries can dry out your scones and make them too crumbly. Feel free to sprinkle some dried cranberries on top of the scones, though!
It’s easy to overmix the dough in a food processor, so I don’t recommend using one for this recipe. The thick dough is also difficult to blend with a handheld mixer.
However, you can blend the dough in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on low speed—if you’re careful. Stop your mixer as soon as the dough starts to come together.
If your scones are tough on your first try, that means you overmixed the dough or handled it too much. Next time, make sure you mix the wet ingredients with a fork and gently pat the dough by hand.
The baking powder/baking soda in this cranberry orange scone recipe helps them rise tall. If you flatten the dough thinner than half an inch, the leavening agents won’t be strong enough to make your dough rise.
Sure thing, either option works. Warm scones in a 250-degree oven or air fryer for two or three minutes to make them crisp and flaky again.
📚 Related recipes
- Classic Pumpkin Scones are tender, flaky, and drizzled with an irresistible bourbon maple spice glaze—perfect for fall and winter.
- Rich and bursting with orange/cranberry flavors, Copycat Cranberry Bliss Bars feature tangy cream cheese and sweet white chocolate!
- Lemon Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze are citrusy scones with fresh berries that taste like they’re straight from a fancy coffeehouse.
- These apricot and white chocolate scones are absolutely scrumptious!
🍽️ Serve with...
Enjoy your homemade scones with this Salted Caramel Latte Starbucks copycat recipe. It’s creamy and sweet just like the original—without the expense or time waiting in line!
Add more bright flavors to your breakfast with a bowl of Fruit Salad. Despite the name, it's the perfect brunch accompaniment any time of year.
Finally, round off your morning meal with a serving of Crockpot Christmas Breakfast Casserole. The potatoes, cheese, sausage, and eggs make it both filling and delicious!
📞 The last word
I love the tangy combination of orange and cranberry! These simple scones bring these flavors together in a buttery, flaky quick bread that is as good for a weekend breakfast as it is for a fancy brunch.
Level up your cranberry scones with a spoonful of lemon curd or mock Devonshire cream!
Or both, if you're anything like me.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.
If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Cranberry Orange Scones
Print Pin Recipe Save Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sugar
- zest from 1 orange
- ½ cup butter, frozen
- ⅔ cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract, or orange extract
- 1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons orange juice , more if needed - enough to make a glaze
- ½ teaspoon orange extract, optional
Instructions
- Mix the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar.
- Grate butter into the dry ingredients.
- Stir
- Grate orange zest into the mixture.
- Stir
- Stir in cranberries
- Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg yolk and vanilla extract until blended.
- Add to the flour mixture and stir with a fork until dough forms a ball. Dough will be sticky.
- Place the dough onto a silpat lined baking sheet and pat into a disk about 1-inch thick.
- Cut the dough into wedges with a sharp knife =. Don't separate the wedges if you. like soft sides. Separate them if you like crusty sides.
- Sprinkle top with sugar and let the cranberry scones stand twenty minutes at room temperature. This helps the gluten relax.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 400°F or until golden brown. Interior temperature will be 200℉ if checked with an instant-read thermometer.
Glaze
- Mix the powdered sugar and orange juice (and orange extract if using) until it's a smooth glaze.
- Spoon over warm scones.
Notes
- Use a fork or pastry blender to mix the wet ingredients. I don’t recommend using a food processor because it’s easy to overmix the dough that way—you’ll end up with tough scones!
- For best results, use real buttermilk in your baking recipes! DIY buttermilk will sometimes do the trick, but doesn’t have the same thick texture or tangy flavor as the real stuff.
- Don’t use a rolling pin to flatten your dough! Gently pat the dough by hand to make sure you don’t activate the gluten in the all-purpose flour.
- Shape your scones with floured hands on a lightly floured surface—the dough is super sticky!
- Let the scones rest for 20 minutes before baking, either at room temperature or in the fridge if your house is too warm. This allows the gluten to relax and helps make tender scones.
- Brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream or an egg wash before baking to give ‘em a pretty shine.
- Use just enough juice to make a pourable glaze. Add more powdered sugar if your glaze is too runny or more orange juice if it’s too thick.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
Denise says
Love your recipes!