Orange Scones are tender, buttery pastries infused with a double dose of orange flavor. Finished with a drizzle of orange powdered sugar glaze. The perfect sweet treat for breakfast or brunch.
Have you ever had the orange scones at Panera? If you have, then you know how scrumptious they are. So full of bright orange flavor. So decadent.
Those scones were my inspiration for this recipe. To achieve a bold punch of orange flavor, both the juice and zest of the orange are added to the dough.
Then, the scones are glazed with powdered sugar icing spiked with more orange juice and more zest. The flakes of zest are so pretty. There is no mistaking these are Orange scones.
Table of Contents
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Ingredients
- Butter
- Cake flour has a finer texture which contributes to the tender crumb of these scones.
- Granulated and powdered sugar
- Heavy cream
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Oranges - zest and juice
Step-by-step instructions
See the recipe card for complete instructions and ingredient amounts.
- Grate the butter in a mixing bowl and freeze while prepping the rest of the ingredients.
- Zest and juice the oranges. Set aside.
- Remove the butter from the freezer. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and half of the orange zest. Using a fork, toss the ingredients to combine.
- Add the heavy cream and ¼ cup of orange juice (for one cup of total liquid). Stir until the dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Form the dough into a circle one inch thick. Cut into 6 equal pieces. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill while the oven preheats.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the scones for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool.
- For the icing, in a small bowl, combine the melted butter, powdered sugar, remaining orange zest, and enough orange juice to achieve desired consistency. Approx. ¼ cup will yield a drizzling consistency.
Tips for making scones
- Grate the butter and freeze it while gathering the rest of the ingredients. These small shards of frozen butter create a flaky texture and can easily be dispersed throughout the flour by tossing it with a fork. Grating the butter takes the place of cutting it into the flour with a pastry cutter.
- Cold butter is essential for flaky scones. After forming the scones, chill them while the oven preheats to ensure the butter stays cold.
- Cake flour yields an extra tender crumb, but all-purpose flour can certainly be used.
- Don't overwork the dough. This will create tough dough. Work the dough just enough to bring it together and form the scones.
- Fresh orange zest and juice - this is a must! The zest packs so much fresh citrus flavor, as does the juice. And the zest is so pretty!
Equipment
Mixing bowl | Microplane | Juicer | Measuring cups | Liquid measuring cup | Bench scraper | Grater | Parchment paper | Half sheet pan
More scone recipes to try
Orange Scones
A tender, buttery scone infused with loads of orange flavor and drizzled with an orange powdered sugar glaze.
Ingredients
Scone dough
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter (cold)
- 3 oranges (zested and juiced, divided, should yield approx ½ cup juice total (NOTE 1))
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup heavy cream
Glaze
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (melted)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Grate the butter in a mixing bowl and freeze while prepping the rest of the ingredients. (Note 2)
- Zest and juice the oranges. Set aside.
- Remove the butter from the freezer. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and half of the orange zest. Using a fork, toss the ingredients to combine.
- Add the heavy cream and ¼ cup of the orange juice (for one cup total liquid). Stir until dough comes together. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board. Form the dough into a circle one inch thick. Cut into 6 equal pieces. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill while the oven preheats.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the scones for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool.
- For the icing, in a small bowl, combine the melted butter, powdered sugar, remaining orange zest, and enough orange juice to achieve desired consistency. Approx. ¼ cup will yield a drizzling consistency.
EQUIPMENT
Notes
- Use half of the orange zest in the scone dough. Reserve the other half for the glaze. Similarly, ¼ cup of the orange juice will be used in the dough. Approx. ¼ cup will be used to make the glaze.
- Alternatively, cut the butter into cubes and, using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs.
- Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days. The scones are best eaten in 1-2 days.
Nutrition
Calories: 539kcal | Carbohydrates: 69g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 81mg | Sodium: 552mg | Potassium: 193mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 1052IU | Vitamin C: 35mg | Calcium: 175mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional information is an estimate and will vary depending upon the exact amounts and specific ingredients used.
Tried this recipe?Please leave a comment and rating below.
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Dee
Is this recipe supposed to have any eggs in it? Because I thought scones needed eggs too.
Abbey
Dee, Scones can be made both with or without eggs. This orange scone recipe does NOT have eggs in it. I do have other scone recipes on the blog that call for eggs. If you'd like to try any of those recipes, just type "scones" in the search bar. Thank you!
D
These are just plain amazing! I used plain milk as I didnt have cream. I use a gluten free flour blend and it is not high rising usually, very dense. The shaved frozen butter made all the difference. I will try that on other baked items, maybe its the key to making gf flour more like regular.
Abbey
I'm so happy you liked the recipe. And I'm glad you had good results with gluten-free flour. I love using frozen shaved butter in pastries. Thank you and enjoy!