Delicious Cranberry Orange Scones Brunch or Afternoon Tea!
Home » COOK » Recipes » Recipes By Course » Breakfast & Brunch »These Cranberry Orange Scones, filled with the flavors of Christmas and drizzled with an orange glaze are out of this world delicious! Make them for brunch or afternoon tea during the holiday season, or enjoy them as a mid-morning treat with a cup of tea!
This post is part of Create the Holidays (formerly Create Christmas) – a series of festive recipes, crafts, printables and more on The Purple Pumpkin Blog!

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Cranberry Orange Scones
The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions; to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required, and to understand the steps and timings involved.
This recipe for Cranberry Orange Scones is American, and if you’re a Brit you may well be wondering why they are triangular in shape, rather than round!
Well, they’re both delicious baked goods that can be enjoyed for afternoon tea, with a cup of coffee, at brunch, or even breakfast.
However, it’s the texture that’s different. American scones are denser than the British version, come in all sorts of flavors, and you could liken them to British Rock Cakes.
British scones are generally plain, or come with raisins or sultanas in them and served with clotted cream and jam. There are savory versions too – cheese scones anyone?
American scones are generally eaten “as is” and often come with a glaze drizzled on top.
To learn more about scones, Wiki has a whole page about them!
But back to this recipe…
Cranberry and orange are classic flavors for this time of year, and work perfectly in this scone recipe.
Make them to enjoy on Christmas morning, or for a holiday brunch!

Ingredients & Equipment Used In This Recipe
You may already have some of the basic ingredients for this recipe – the full list with measurements is found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
For your convenience, any specialized or notable ingredients and equipment needed for this recipe have been listed below and linked to Amazon if available online.
- All-Purpose Flour – also known as plain flour.
- Baking Powder
- Vanilla Extract
- Orange Extract
- Craisins – also known as dried cranberries.
- Powdered Sugar – also known as icing sugar.
Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog use both cup measurements and/or weighted measurements. American cups and kitchen food scales are handy pieces of equipment to have in your kitchen as it means you’ll be able to make all of the different recipes on my blog! I try to give American, imperial, and metric measurements in my recipes. You can mix cup measurements with weighted measurements, but never imperial (pounds, ounces, pints, etc.,) with metric (kilograms, grams, liters, etc.,).

More Recipes Using Cranberries
One of the hero ingredients in this recipe is cranberries, so here are some more recipes using the same:
- Cranberry, Almond & Orange Fruit Loaf
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cranberry Bread
- White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies
More Holiday Baking Recipes
Looking for more goodies to bake during the holidays? Check these recipes out next:
- Gingerbread Loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting and Gingersnap Crumbles
- Holiday Spice Cookies Covered with Powdered Sugar
- Reindeer Cookie Bars
There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy – please feel free to check them out too!

How Do I Make Cranberry Orange Scones?
Just check out the recipe card below with full ingredients, instructions, and demonstration photos. You can print the card out too (don’t worry, the pics don’t print to save your ink!).

Cranberry Orange Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plain flour + ¼ cup for dusting
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter
- ½ cup heavy cream double cream
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp orange extract
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1 cup craisins dried cranberries
For the Glaze
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar icing sugar
- 1-2 Tbsp fresh orange juice
Instructions
- Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat. Set aside.
- Mix the 2 cups of flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Cut in the butter with a fork until butter is in pea-sized pieces.
- In a separate bowl, combine the heavy cream, sour cream, egg, vanilla extract, orange extract, and orange zest. Whisk to combine.
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Stir in the craisins until just mixed.
- Sprinkle ¼ cup of flour onto a clean work surface.
- Transfer the scone batter onto the floured surface and lightly knead into a ball.
- Press the dough down into a ½”/1cm high rectangle (approximately 6” x 10”/15cm x 25cm).
- Cut in half lengthwise, and then each half into 3 rectangles.
- Then, cut each rectangle diagonally to create triangle-shaped pieces.
- Transfer the scones to the prepared baking sheet, leaving 1-2”/2.5-5cm between them. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before baking.
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6, then place the scones in the oven to bake for 18-22 minutes, or until they are nicely golden brown and cooked through. Remove from oven and cool for 5-10 minutes.
- While the scones are cooling, prepare the orange glaze by stirring the powdered sugar and orange juice together in a small bowl until thoroughly combined.
- Serve the scones warm drizzled with some of the orange glaze on top.
- Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.