| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 55 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Inactive: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 14 to 16 scones |
Ingredients
- 4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
- 3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
- 4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup cold heavy cream
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
- 4 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.
- Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn’t stick. Flour a 3-inch round plain or fluted cutter and cut circles of dough. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Collect the scraps neatly, roll them out, and cut more circles.
- Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. The scones will be firm to the touch. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 15 servings |
| Calories | 434 |
| Total Fat | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 16 g |
| Carbohydrates | 46 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 17 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 122 mg |
| Sodium | 262 mg |
Reviews
Just made my second batch of these scones. First batch were awesome, loved flavor and texture. My second batch is sitting in freezer waiting to be baked. 2nd batch dough very hard to work with, maybe overworked it in stand mixer?! I only had Large eggs, so I used 4 Large eggs instead of the 4 XLarge it called for. Do you think that was the issue? I’m almost afraid to bake them, they are for a brunch Sunday. I always love Ina’s recipes so when people say she uses too much salt, I think they should realize the big difference between Mortens kosher and Diamond. Mortens is almost twice as salty so beware.
These are excellent! I’m not a scone fan, but these could make me one! I made a few changes…
– Halved the amount of salt (ina’s recipes are too salty for me)
– 1.5 times the amount of zest in the dough
– 1/2 teas. Zest in the glaze
The glaze needed FAR less than 4 Tbl. of OJ.
These are holiday gifts for neighbors, and I’m sure they’ll be a hit.
Amazing and simple. Follow the directions exactly. I freeze half of the recipe uncooked and use them as want them. I put them in the fridge the night before and finish with egg wash and bake. They come out beautifully.
AWESOME!!!!!
Made a half recipe today. They were outstanding. Excellent flavor and texture. I will definitely make these again.
Made these today. I should have grated frozen butter instead of dicing it. Had to break out the pastry knife and use my impeccably clean hands. These are DELICIOUS. Made them with Stevia instead of sugar and didn’t glaze and they are fantastic. Thank you for this recipe. Best scones I ever made. I would give it 5 stars but I can’t get the site to register my rating.
My go-to scone recipe for company. Flaky with a tiny bit of sweetness and so delicious! Never disappoints.
These are absolutely delicious!!! Thank you Ina!
Turned out excellent, i will plan to use the base of this recipe for various other scones for the future
Yes these are delicious! I don’t have a mixing stand and the amount of ingredients called for would definitely not fit in my ninja food processer. I read a lot of reviews and I borrowed bits from a few of them. I grated frozen butter with a box grater and kept the grated butter in the freezer until I needed it. I tried to keep all of the ingredients cold so it wouldn’t melt too fast in the oven and burn. I had to mix the dough by hand in a metal mixing bowl with a wooden spatula, that was quite a bit of work because the batter is thick. I knew I was on the right track when I could see the bits of butter in the dough. Everything came together in a nice big dough ball and I rolled half of it and used the ring from a canning jar to cut out the rounds. I have a convection oven so they came out beautiful golden brown. I used some orange zest in the glaze and wow! These are the best orange cranberry scones I’ve ever tasted.