Cranberry Orange Scones

A few weeks ago I had a cranberry orange scone at my local coffee shop.  It was good, but I kept thinking, "this could be SO much better".  I've been plotting my campaign ever since.  This recipe started with this one and this one, which I sort of mixed together and added to.  The result, if I do say so myself, is yummy to the max. 

Yummy.  To. The. MAX.

These scones are moist and sweet.  Sweeter than some folx might like, especially with the orange-sugar topping, but they're just to my taste.  And of course, the flavored butter takes them to the next level, taste-wise.  If you're looking for the perfect scone recipe for your afternoon tea party, try this one.

Cranberry Orange Scones
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp grated orange peel
3/4 cup chilled unsalted butter
1 cup dried orange-flavored cranberries (if you can't find the flavored kind, regular will do)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup orange juice - high pulp
3 tsp orange cream yogurt

Preheat the oven to 400°.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  Mix in orange peel. 

Cut the butter into 1/2 inch pieces, and mix into the flour using your fingers.  Rub and mix and mash (with your fingertips) until the mixture looks like coarse meal.  Add the dried cranberries.

Combine the wet ingredients in a small bowl - orange juice, buttermilk, and yogurt.  (Note: the orange cream yogurt was a new item at my grocery store.  If you can't find something like it, mix a few drops orange extract into plain yogurt.)  Slowly add the liquid to the flour/butter, mixing with a fork until you get moist clumpy dough. 

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface.  Knead about 4-6 times, just enough to bind the dough together, then roll/shape it for cutting. 

Instead of the usual "round", I formed the dough into a large log, about an inch and a half thick.  I cut a slice about every 3 inches.  Then I cut these pieces diagonally to form the triangular scone shape.  It was way easier to cut that way, IMO.

Lay the cut scones, about 2 inches apart, on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400°. 

As you can see, mine were a little close together on the sheet.  And they weren't all the same size.  I'm not a very precise cook.  Both these factors made them cook a little unevenly.  I had to remove the littler ones at about 12 minutes, and left the bigger ones in for a bit longer.  If you're a sloppy cook like me, just test with a toothpick to make sure the centers are cooked.  The tops should be golden brown, and the toothpick should come out dry.

Glaze / Topping
While the scones are cooking, mix together 1/2 cup powdered (confectioners) sugar and 1-2 tbsp orange juice.  Drizzle this lightly over the tops of the scones as they cool, when they're fresh out of the oven.

Flavored Butter
This is what puts the Max in the Yummy.  Mix together 1/2 cup softened butter and 3 tbsp orange marmalade. 

This was my afternoon tea today.  G'head, be jealous, it was a little slice of heaven. 

For tea, I had Imperial Red from In Pursuit of Tea, a nice black tea that reminds me of the tea you get in a Chinese restaurant.  (What DO they serve at Chinese restaurants?)  I don't want to do a real critique of the tea because it was my first cup, and I was totally distracted - flavor-wise - by the extreme deliciosity of the scones.  But, it didn't clash or detract, and was a soothing counterpart to the sweetness of the scones.

More on scones:
* Some History of Scones
* Tea Party Recipes
* Pumpkin Scones

Comments

[keewee]

Christine, you have done it once again.
re-worked a couple of recipes to come up with one which sounds heavenly. Tea and scones is one of my Mother's favorite morning or afternoon tea treats.
Have you tried date scones?
A hint to get scones evenly cut, is to shape the dough into a circle, cut once across, then each half into thirds. makes large scones, but I like a good size scone.
I make your recipe for pumpkin scones quite often, and sprinkle the tops with cinnamon and sugar before baking.

[Christine]

Thanks KeeWee! I hope you like these. If you make them, let me know what you think. I'm surprised to say even the hubs liked these. He doesn't like scones, but he ate four!

I haven't tried date scones, do you like those better? And what about nuts? Do you usually like nuts in scones? One of the recipes called for walnuts or pecans, which sounded kind of good, but I didn't have any.

[keewee]

Christine, date scones used to be my favorite, but these days, I like several others just as well. As for nuts in scones, I have never tried them, I prefer to eat nuts by the handful rather than in baked goods.

[Joy]

Wow, you're amazing... the entire office loved these... drool.

[Christine]

I'm glad you enjoyed them, Joy! These are still my favorite, although the pumpkin scones run a close second.

[Kim]

Can you use fresh cranberries instead of dried?

[Christine]

I've never uses fresh or frozen, but I don't see why they wouldn't work. One note, the dried cranberries are a bit sweeter than fresh berries, so if you like sweet, you might want to up the sugar as well.

[Nora]

Tried your cranberry orange scones but with plain yoghurt + orange essence...still tasted great! Will be making another batch very soon. Thanks for this little gem of a recipe!

[Lorraine]

The orange cranberry scones are wonderful. We made them for christmas to give to our neighbors and ate plenty ourselves. I played with your recipe a little and made lemon scones. I followed you recipe but changed the orange juice zest and yougart for lemon and changed the cranberrys for a dried mix made by sun-maid called tropical trio (pineapple, papaya and mango) and followed with lemon icing. It also turned out yummy. thanks for posting your recipe.

[Janet]

Your recipe looks absolutely scrumptuous.

Do you know how many points one of these counts for in weight watchers? What about fiber, sugar, and fat content? I LOVE cranberry orange scones. I go to Starbuck's every morning and get one (bad habit). I'm going on weight watcher's and would love to find out how many points one of these counts for. Maybe it won't be too many so I can have one now and then. I checked weight watchers and Starbucks but neither gives me the points.

[Morna]

Great recipe,
Have your heard of or tried savoury gem scones? I wonder if by adding cheese, onion and bacon and a touch of Lea and Perrins whether that would constitute a savoury gem scone!
Love to hear what you think.

[Morna]

Great recipe,
Have your heard of or tried savoury gem scones? I wonder if by adding cheese, onion and bacon and a touch of Lea and Perrins whether that would constitute a savoury gem scone!
Love to hear what you think.

[Sue Metzger]

THANK YOU for an excellent recipe. this is one of the best scone recipes I habe made. Made them for my quilt group meeting today and they all raved. I will also be making large batches of them for a Ladies tea party of 100 ladies. Thanks for a recipe that brings "wows" and leaves a great impression with all who eat them.

[Bonita]

I just made your scones and they are wonderful. I did not have all the ingredients so .... instead of yogurt, I used sour cream and regular Craisins. I did not have any more orange juice but I had made a wonderful fresh cranberry sauce (Tyler Florence on Foodnetwork.com) and had a small bit of that left. About 1/3 cup. I added powdered sugar to that and drizzled it over the top of the warm scones. OMG
One thing not in your recipe was how thick to roll them out.I think mine was a bit too thick.
Thanks - a craving has now been satisfied, for awhile.