Easy Orange Scones

Bake someone happy with these easy sweet Orange Scones. Scented with vanilla and orange, these glazed orange scones are like a creamsicle in the very best way. They are perfect for breakfast, elevensies, snacks, or dessert!

For variety on your tea tray, serve Orange Scones alongside Lemon Drop Scones or our favorite scone-like Maple Oatmeal Cake. They are great to include in your list of Tea Party Food Ideas or add to your table of Easter Dessert Recipes.

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• Orange Scones

Those treats at the coffee shop look delicious, but at four dollars (or more!) for each one, it’s a great idea and money-saver to bake at home. Good thing Orange Scones are so easy and cheap to make!

Sweet and flaky with the flavors of citrus and vanilla, this easy Orange Scones Recipe is a perfect gateway to home baking.

Why Make This

It’s easy! This recipe is super simple. You can make it with a food processor, a handheld pastry blender, or a fork or two table knives. It’s super easy to whip up homemade scones.

Orange Scones are delicious. Easy and great tasting? Say no more! These baked treats are packed with orange flavor and their sweet orange glaze adds just the right amount of moisture to the mix.

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make Orange Scones:

flour – I use unbleached, all-purpose flour, but you can also use whole wheat pastry flour, white whole wheat flour, or regular, all-purpose flour.

sugar – Just good old regular granulated sugar is needed to sweeten these scones. If you only have brown sugar, that will work, too.

leavening– These scones use both baking powder and baking soda as well as salt to help these scones rise.

butter – I use salted dairy butter, bu you can also use margarine or a plant-based butter. If you use unsalted butter, add ⅛ teaspoon of salt. Whatever butter or spread you use, make sure it’s very cold so you end up with a tender flaky scone.

orange – You’ll use the zest of the orange in the scone batter and the fresh orange juice in the orange glaze. The orange zest packs a real flavor punch. Be sure to not include the white pith layer, which is bitter.

milk and yogurt – Both milk and yogurt are used in these scones. Typically scones use heavy cream, but the milk and yogurt lighten these up a bit. You can use cream, sour cream, buttermilk, or half and half if that’s what you have.

vanilla extract – Vanilla and orange are perfect partners in this Orange Scone recipe. Remember the best priced vanilla is usually homemade vanilla.

Variations

There are a number of tweaks you can make to this to make it your very favorite scone recipe. Consider some of these options:

• For cranberry orange scones, add ¾ cup dried cranberries or ½ cup coarsely chopped fresh cranberries to the batter prio to baking.
• For orange chocolate chip scones, stir in ½ cup mini chocolate chips.
• For orange cream scones, use heavy cream for the milk and yogurt.
• For orange cinnamon scones, stir in ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon.
• For orange pecan scones, stir in ½ cup chopped and toasted pecans.
• For a Panera orange scones, add 1 teaspoon of Grand Marnier extract to the scone batter. For extra orange flavor, add ½ teaspoon orange extract as well.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Here’s how to make Orange Scones:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine the flour, ? cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange zest. Mix well.

Add the butter cubes and cut them in with a pastry blender, or if using the food processor, pulse until coarse crumbs are formed. 

In another bowl, whisk together the milk, yogurt, and vanilla until smooth.

Add to the dry mixture, folding until a shaggy dough is formed. It’s okay if not all bits of flour are mixed in.

Turn the dough ball out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead just until the dough holds together. Pat the dough into a large circle and cut into wedges. 

Lay the wedges out on the prepared baking sheet and bake in the oven until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Prepare the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar with enough freshly squeezed orange juice to make a thin glaze. Drizzle this over the scones.

To freeze:

• Freeze unbaked scones on parchment covered tray until firm and then place them in a ziptop freezer bag in the freezer. Bake from frozen, adding five minutes to baking time.
• Completely cooled scones can also be frozen in a ziptop freezer bag. Thaw these, wrapped, on the counter, before serving.

FAQs

More Great Scone Recipes

This post was originally published on March 2, 2017. It has been updated for content and clarity.