While I was at the market today, I found beautiful Cara Cara oranges so I made these cranberry orange scones. Cara Cara orange is a type of navel orange with reddish pink color inside. Similarly, they are seedless, juicy and sweet, It’s definitely one of my favorites.
What can be more Christmasy than cranberry and orange? I just love waking up on Christmas morning with the smell of cranberry orange scones baking in the oven. These certainly make the whole family jump out of bed as soon as they get a whiff of it.
Making it is easy, as you will see on the recipe below. Freezing the prepared dough for a short time is most important. Why? For the reason that it allows for the butter to get really cold. And as we all know, very cold butter makes for a flaky scone. Also, the buttermilk makes it soft enough and not dry.
Cranberry Orange Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- ½ cup granulated sugar plus 1 Tbsp
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 2 Tbsp raw sugar
- 1 zest of 1 orange Cara Cara or navel orange
- 2 Tbsp fresh juice of Cara Cara orange
- 1 ½ sticks cold unsalted butter (3/4 cup cubed)
- ¼ cup buttermilk or plain greek yogurt plus more for brushing
- 6 oz. fresh cranberries
- 1 large egg beaten
Instructions
- Pick through the cranberries and discard any soft or wilted ones. Next, wash cranberries with water and dry with paper towel. In a large bowl whisk together flour, 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and orange zest. Cut cold butter in small cubes and add it into the bowl. Use a pastry blender or fork and cut it in the cold butter until it forms coarse crumbs.
- Stir in the cranberries. Add the beaten egg, orange juice and 1/4 cup buttermilk. Then mix it together.
- Lay parchment paper or silpat liner on the counter. Sprinkle some flour on the parchment paper. Transfer the dough onto the floured parchment paper. Dust your hands with a little flour and shape the dough into an 8-9 inch round disk about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Pat the dough making sure the thickness is even. Dip a knife in flour and cut dough into 8 equal wedges.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a flat spatula dipped in flour and transfer dough wedges onto the lined baking sheet. Freeze the dough for 25 minutes.
- Preheat oven 400ºF. Brush scones with buttermilk and sprinkle with a little raw sugar. Bake scones for 25 minutes until light golden brown on top. Serve warm with butter.