Fresh Cranberry Scones
Updated March 26, 2019
I love Christmas morning. When I was little I used to stay up all night anxiously awaiting for Santa to come down our chimney. I was too excited to sleep. I had to drag my family members out of bed every year to see what surprises were left under the tree. I still get butterflies every Christmas morning, there is something magical about the holiday. I also get excited about Christmas morning breakfast. We always have something special. This year I am going to make fresh cranberry scones.
After opening presents, we always enjoy a tasty Christmas breakfast. This year fresh cranberry scones are on the menu. These scones are festive and simple to make. The fresh cranberries are tart and add a nice pop of holiday color. The scones are tender and sweet and will make your house smell amazing on Christmas morning. Serve with jam, butter, or dunk them in your favorite tea or coffee.
If you are looking for a special breakfast treat, try these fresh cranberry scones on Christmas morning. I don’t know what I more excited for now, Santa or fresh cranberry scones:)
Here are a few other Christmas morning breakfast ideas:
- Cranberry Orange Cinnamon Rolls
- Stuffed French Toast with Brie and Berries
- Baked Oatmeal
- Monkey Bread Muffins
- Egg Vegetable Casserole
- Cinnamon Rolls
Fresh Cranberry Scones
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1/2 cup unsalted cold butter cut into small pieces
- 3/4 cup half and half
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
- Topping:
- 2 tablespoons half and half
- Turbinado sugar
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, set aside.
- 2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingers. Whisk into the flour mixture.
- 3. Add cold butter pieces to the flour mixture. Cut in butter using a pastry blender, fork, or your hands. I prefer to use my hands. Mix until you have pea size chunks of butter.
- 4. In a small glass measuring cup, whisk the half and half, eggs, and vanilla extract together. Pour over dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until moist. Gently stir in the fresh cranberries. Transfer dough to a floured countertop and knead until dough comes together.
- 5. Shape dough into a large circle. Use a floured rolling pin to roll out the scone dough. Cut dough into wedges and place on the prepared baking sheet. Brush each scone with half and half and sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until scones are golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
- *Note-these scones are best eaten the day they are made. Serve with jam, butter, or enjoy plain.
Have you tried this recipe?
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If you like these fresh cranberry scones, you might also like:
Cranberry Orange Scones from Two Peas and Their Pod
Cranberry Scones from What’s Gaby Cooking?
Buttermilk Cranberry Scones from Pinch My Salt
These would be wonderful for Christmas, and WELL into the New Year too. Hope you both have a very Merry Christmas!
Just perfect for Christmas Morning, they are so pretty, the bright red just pops right out!
Moist and colorful scones…with a warm cup of tea or coffee it would be the perfect pair. Thanks for the great recipe!
These look great for Christmas morning, Maria! With a hot cup of coffee, mm. 🙂
Wow, what gorgeous scones. The fresh cranberries add so much color to the scones. Oh and they look sooooo good. Thanks for the list of Christmas morning breakfast ideas, I’m going to take a look at them. They all sound delicious! 🙂
cranberries might as well not exist without orange–they need each other. 🙂
These scones look fabulous! I have lots of cranberries stockpiled in my freezer, so I’ll save this recipe for a cold January morning for breakfast 🙂
These look absolutely delicious! I love cranberries and oranges, so I can’t wait to try making this!
Pretty! Pretty!
These look pretty incredible.
What pretty scones!
Is it okay to substitute milk for the half and half?
I have never tried using milk. I know heavy cream works, if you want to use milk, go with a 2% milk.
Do you think I could freeze the scones, unbaked and individually wrapped? I don’t think I’d eat them all in one day
I have never tried freezing them, but I am sure it would work! Let me know if you try it!
These were good, thank you for the recipe! I added walnuts and processed the dry ingredients with butter in food processor.
…and I froze half the batch, they’ll be fine I’m sure, I’ve frozen blueberry scones in the past with no problem!
Blueberry scones sound fantastic! Glad you liked them!
hi!very nice recipe!mouth watering. but can i omit eggs in the recipes?or is there an egg substitute?and if so what measurements to take?i love your recipes but some of them have eggs which i cannot use as i am a vegetarian. plz help!
I haven’t tried using anything to substitute the eggs, sorry! Let me know if you try anything.
How do you think these scones would come out if I used whole cranberry sauce?
I have never used cranberry sauce, but you can try it. It might turn the scones a reddish color. Try to fold it in gently. Let me know how it goes!
Made this last minute this morning and they were amazing (and easy!) Thanks!
Just took my scones out of the oven and am trying it out. DELICIOUS! i made it with lemon zest and blueberries instead of the cranberry and they turned out great. a good dense scone.
Thank you!
You are very welcome!
I have a half bag of fresh berries I’ve been trying to decide what to make with. Now I know!
How thick do you roll the dough out?
Roll out the dough to about a 1/2 inch.
I also made these last night. I love that they aren’t too sweet! Delicious scone. Fresh cranberries are definitely the way to go! Another great recipe!
Made these tonight and they were perfect! The cranberries are tart but the scone itself has plenty of sweetness to balance it out. Next time I will make the cranberries sugared. 🙂
Made these this morning and they are spot on! I added some almond slivers for an extra crunch; next time I think a little icing might put these over the top. Thanks for the recipe!
I just made these. They are amazing! I had intended to make them for Christmas morning but I ran out of time. I know, what a surprise! Thank you for a lovey recipe! <3
So yummy & easy! For sure a new winter time favorite at this house!
Would this recipe work out if I froze the dough? I’m looking for a scone Christmas give away and I usually always give frozen dough so that my friends can bake up when they want. Looks so delicious! Thanks 🙂
I tried these over Christmas and for some reason the batter came out incredibly sticky rendering it useless. I followed the recipe exactly, can you tell me what I might have done wrong or how to fix it? These look so amazing & I would love to make them
May I substitute heavy whipping cream for the half and half?
I have only used cream. Let me know if it works!
Can I use cream instead of half and half?
Oops just saw that question had already been answered 🙂
Dough was super sticky- too sticky to roll out with a roller. Not sure if something went wrong or it’s supposed to be that sticky?
Tasted ok
Can I use two teaspoons of fresh orange juice instead of the vanilla? Thank-you and have a nice day
That should be fine since it isn’t much more liquid. You can always add a tiny bit more flour if you need to. Just don’t over work the dough.