These delicious orange cranberry sourdough scones combine tangy sourdough, fresh cranberries and orange zest and are topped with an orange glaze for a perfect Christmas breakfast or special afternoon tea or hot cocoa.
I absolutely love creating new recipes that showcase beautiful in-season fruit and veggies. When you bite into these tender scones, you’ll be delighted with the burst of tartness from the fresh cranberries and the bright flavor of the orange zest and glaze.
Cranberries and oranges are both packed with Vitamin C which is especially important during the winter to keep your immune system strong. Cranberries are even considereda superfood.Seasonal Eating Spotlight
Tips for Making Orange Cranberry Sourdough Scones:
- You can make these cranberry scones with sourdough discard or active sourdough starter. You don’t need the starter to be active because the scones will rise with the addition of the baking powder.
- Make sure to use cold butter, cold cream, and cold eggs straight out of the fridge for this recipe. This results in a flakier pastry and helps to prevent the scone from spreading out during baking.
- If you use frozen cranberries instead of fresh, be sure not to thaw them as this will cause the juice to bleed into the dough.
- One large navel orange will give you enough zest and juice for this recipe.
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Ingredients:
Baking powder
Cold butter
Fresh cranberries
Grated orange zest
Heavy cream
Sourdough starter discard or active starter
Egg
Glaze:
Powdered sugar
Freshly squeezed orange juice
Vanilla extract
Coarse sugar for topping (optional)
Tools You May Need:
Non-stick ceramic rimmed baking sheet
Parchment paper
How to Make Cranberry Orange Scones:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and baking powder. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into the dry ingredients until the largest pieces are the size of peas. Alternatively, you can use a food processor to mix the dry ingredients and butter. Stir in cranberries and orange zest.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: cream, sourdough discard, and egg. Pour into the flour mixture and stir gently until the dough begins to come together.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and fold the dough over a few times to finish mixing. Don’t over knead the dough.
Using your hands, form the dough into a square about 1 ¼ inches thick. Using a bench scraper, cut the square into 4 smaller squares. Cut each smaller square in half to form eight triangles. Place the triangles onto the parchment-lined baking sheet.
Brush the top of each triangle with heavy cream. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer the scones from the baking sheet to a baker’s rack.
Meanwhile, make the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar, orange juice and vanilla in a small bowl.
While scones are still warm, drizzle them with the orange glaze and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Storage:
Store orange cranberry sourdough scones in an airtight container or plate covered with plastic wrap for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to 1 week in the refrigerator. For longer term storage, you can freeze the leftover baked scones in ziploc bags for up to 3 months.
Long-Fermented Orange Cranberry Scones:
If you would like to long ferment these sourdough scones for the health benefits, simply follow the steps above up to the point where you have added all of the ingredients and the dough begins to come together. Transfer the dough from the bowl into an airtight container, place in the refrigerator, and allow the dough to ferment for up to 3 days. The longer you allow the dough to ferment, the tangier your scones will taste. Once you have fermented your dough, remove from the refrigerator and move on to kneading the dough and continue the rest of the steps as outlined above.
FAQ:
Can you substitute milk for heavy cream in scones?
If you don’t have any heavy cream, you can substitute it with milk. However, you will need to use less milk and add additional cold butter to the recipe to compensate for the fat you are losing from the heavy cream. For this sourdough blueberry scones recipe, you will substitute the 1/4 cup heavy cream with 2 tablespoons of milk and an additional 2 tablespoons of butter.
Why do you chill scones before baking?
Many scone recipes include chilling the dough before baking the scones. The idea is that if all the ingredients stay cold until baked, then the butter won’t melt until the scones are put into the oven, resulting in a flakier scone. I have never taken the time to chill my scone dough and I still end up with fabulous scones.
Can you over knead scone dough?
It is possible to over knead scone dough, so take caution to stop as soon as the dough begins to come together to ensure your scones will have a tender crumb.
More Christmas Sourdough Recipes:
- Glazed Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies
- Perfect Sourdough Discard Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Orange Cranberry Sourdough Bread
If you make this new recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars!
Best Glazed Orange Cranberry Sourdough Scones
Yield: 8
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
These delicious orange cranberry sourdough scones combine tangy sourdough, fresh cranberries and orange zest and are topped with an orange glaze for a perfect Christmas breakfast or special afternoon tea or hot cocoa.
Ingredients
- Dry Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces
- 1 ½ cups fresh cranberries, rinsed
- 1 tsp grated orange zest
- Wet Ingredients:
- ¼ cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing on top
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- 1 large egg, beaten
- Orange Glaze:
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
- ½ tsp vanilla
- Sugar crystals (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and baking powder. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into the dry ingredients until the largest pieces are the size of peas. Alternatively, you can use a food processor to mix the dry ingredients and butter. Stir in cranberries and orange zest.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: cream, sourdough discard, and egg. Pour into the flour mixture and stir gently until the dough begins to come together.
- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and fold the dough over a few times to finish mixing. Don’t over knead the dough.
- Using your hands, form the dough into a square about 1 ¼ inches thick. Using a bench scraper, cut the square into 4 smaller squares. Cut each smaller square in half to form eight triangles. Place the triangles onto the parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Brush the top of each triangle with heavy cream. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer the scones from the baking sheet to a baker’s rack.
- Meanwhile, make the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar, orange juice and vanilla in a small bowl.
- While scones are still warm, drizzle them with the orange glaze and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Notes
- You can make these cranberry scones with sourdough discard or active sourdough starter. You don’t need the starter to be active because the scones will rise with the addition of the baking powder.
- Make sure to use cold butter, cold cream, and cold eggs straight out of the fridge for this recipe. This results in a flakier pastry and helps to prevent the scone from spreading out during baking.
- If you use frozen cranberries instead of fresh, be sure not to thaw them as this will cause the juice to bleed into the dough.
- One large navel orange will give you enough zest and juice for this recipe.
