Starbucks Cranberry Orange Scones Copycat Recipe
This Starbucks Cranberry Orange Scones Copycat Recipe is easy to make on your first try and you’re going to love the sweet orange glaze that is drizzled over top of these buttery scones. They’re perfect for the holiday season!
If you love Starbucks, you’ve likely enjoyed or drooled over their cranberry orange scones, pumpkin scones and cranberry bliss bars at the baked goods counter.
We think this copycat recipe is as good, if not better than Starbucks cranberry orange scone.
These tender scones have fresh cranberries with orange zest sprinkled throughout the soft dough. The citrus flavor in the glaze combines beautifully with the cranberry flavor.
Ingredients
This recipe uses simple ingredients that you can usually find in the grocery store. If you can’t find fresh cranberries, many store have frozen cranberries in their freezer section.
- All purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Orange Zest
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Butter – you will need cold butter for this recipe. Do not take it out of the refrigerator until you are ready to add it to the recipe. Cut the butter into small cubes.
- Buttermilk – fresh buttermilk is best or you can make a substitute (instructions in recipe note).
- Fresh Cranberries – you can use frozen cranberries in this recipe as well. Dried cranberries work too!
- Large Egg
- Powdered Sugar
- Orange Juice – use fresh sueezed orange juice from the orange that you will zest for the dry ingredients.
Step by Step Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper.
You ‘can’ use a food processor to make scones, but I love to make them by hand. It’s quick, easy and less cleanup!
In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: all purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest. (Note: set aside 2 teaspoons of orange zest to use in the glaze).
With clean hands, or using a pastry blender, cut in cold butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add buttermilk and stir with a fork until a soft dough forms.
Fold in the cranberries. Lightly flour your hands and press dough into a ball.
Sprinkle work surface with a little all purpose flour and knead dough 6 to 8 times.
Pat dough into a ten inch circle and cut into wedges using a pastry cutter, sharp knife or a pizza cutter will work as well.
Separate wedges and place on preapred baking sheet. Brush with lightly beaten egg.
Bake in 425°F for 13 to 16 minutes. Move to wire cooling rack and cool for a few minutes before glazing.
For glaze: In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, orange juice and 2 teaspoons of orange zest.
You might need to add a little more powdered sugar or and little more orange juice to get the right drizzling consistency.
Use a spoon to drizzle glaze on top of each scone. Enjoy!
How to Serve Cranberry Orange Scones
Cranberry orange scones are delicious warm and fresh from the oven or at room temperature. They taste delicious with a cup of tea or hot cup of coffee.
My Top Tips for Making This Recipe A Success
- Use cold butter. Resist the urge to take the butter out of the fridge early.
- Mixing this recipe completely by hand reduces overmixing that can sometimes happen when using a food processor. You’ve got this!
- The dough circle and size of the scones does not have to be perfect. You want the scones to be close in size for even baking but they do not have to all be identical!
Other Recipes to Enjoy
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Starbucks Cranberry Orange Scones Copycat Recipe
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 8 scones
Description
This Starbucks Cranberry Orange Scones Copycat Recipe is easy to make on your first try and you’re going to love the sweet orange glaze that is drizzled over top of these buttery scones. They’re perfect for the holiday season!
Ingredients
2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped (leave a few whole)
Zest from one orange, divided (reserve 2 teaspoons for glaze)
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Glaze
2 teaspoon orange zest
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper.
-
In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: all purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest. (Note: set aside 2 teaspoons of orange zest to use in the glaze).
-
With clean hands, or using a pastry blender, cut in cold butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
-
Add buttermilk and stir with a fork until a soft dough forms.
-
Fold in the cranberries. Lightly flour your hands and press dough into a ball.
- Sprinkle work surface with a little all purpose flour and knead dough 6 to 8 times.
-
Pat dough into a ten inch circle and cut into wedges using a pastry cutter, sharp knife or a pizza cutter will work as well.
-
Separate wedges and place on preapred baking sheet. Brush with lightly beaten egg.
-
Bake in 425°F for 13 to 16 minutes. Move to wire cooling rack and cool for a few minutes before glazing.
-
For glaze: In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, orange juice and 2 teaspoons of orange zest.
-
You might need to add a little more powdered sugar or and little more orange juice to get the right drizzling consistency. Use a spoon to drizzle glaze on top of each scone. Enjoy!
Notes
Store cooled scones in airtight container for best freshness up to 2 days .
Buttermilk Substitute: For 1 cup of buttermilk, put 1 tbsp. lemon juice or white vinegar into measuring cup. Add enough liquid to fill to the 1 cup measuring line. Stir. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Scones
- Method: Oven Baked
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 scone
- Calories: 410
- Sugar: 34.3 g
- Sodium: 271.6 mg
- Fat: 13.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 8 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 68.2 g
- Fiber: 2.3 g
- Protein: 6 g
- Cholesterol: 57.1 mg
Thank you for this recipe! I had some cranberries in the freezer that I didn’t know what to do with and then I came across your recipe by chance and whipped these up today. They were pretty easy and I like how you don’t need to use a lot of sugar or any heavy cream in the dough, which is the reason I usually avoid making scones from recipes I have seen! The orange glaze is so sunny and an awesome finish!
I can’t say how they compare to the Starbucks ones since I haven’t tried them but I always prefer homemade 🙂
If I make these again, next time I would chop or halve the cranberries before adding them to the mix and I would use a lighter hand with the egg wash. It turned golden and made me think the scones were ready before they were completely cooked so my batch is a but underbaked. Still tastes good though!
That’s great!! Cranberries freeze so well. Happy to hear that you enjoyed them!
These scones are so easy to make and the rise up beautifully. The orange glaze on top is delicious!
So yummy the orange glaze takes the scones to another level! Big hit in our house even with non cranberry lovers!!
Yumm! Cranberry orange scones are my favorite way to use fresh cranberries, besides cranberry sauce. These are stunning and so easy to make!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Thanks Traci! They are a great way to enjoy leftover cranberries!
We don’t live near a Starbucks so I can’t compare, but these were delicious! I love the orange glaze and I’m thinking it would be great on a few of my other baked treats, too.
Thanks so much Stephanie!
This was the best flavor combination. I had a gorgeous bag of cranberries in the freezer and a bunch of juicy oranges from my tree so this was ideal. I love the combo of oranges and cranberry!
The scones came out perfect as described, loving the orange glaze on these!
Thanks Julia! I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment 🙂
This cranberry-orange scone sounds amazingly delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
I made these for a breakfast we were having at our school. Everyone raved over them. Great recipe.
These turned out amazing! I used Arrowhead Mills Organic Gluten free flour and instead of regular buttermilk I made my own with 1 cup homemade almond milk mixed with 2 TBS lemon juice. The mixture was a little gooey so I wasn’t able to form a dough to cut it, instead I just scooped out about chunks of about 1/3 cup onto my parchment paper and cooked them like that – turned out so soft, moist, and delicious!
For the drizzle I added a tsp of vanilla extract 🙂
These were so so so yummy! I can’t wait to make them again!
Very very good
Thanks so much for your feedback!
I have used two or three scones recipes,this one is the best!My husband says so also!!
That’s terrific! thank you so much for taking the time to share you feedback!
I love cranberry & orange together. I make a yummy cranberry & orange quick bread, but have been looking for a scone recipe because I love scones & they call for less sugar than a quick bread.
This recipe is just what I’ve been looking for. Thank you!
I made these scones GF with Cup4Cup GF Flour and they looked beautiful and tasted great! My husband is very particular about GF food, as he feels he can tell the difference. I didn’t tell him they were GF until after he ate one and he said he couldn’t tell the difference. Big score! This was a recipe that was easy to follow and not time consuming. Will be making them
again!
Thanks so much for sharing your feedback and letting us know your substitution for gluten free flour!
I just made this recipe and it’s so tasty. It’s easy to make and turns out great. I used dried cranberries instead of fresh because I can’t find fresh ones at the moment but it still turned out great!
Thanks so much for sharing your substitution of dried cranberries. So happy to hear that you enjoyed the scones!
I made these scones on a recent snow day from school. They were delicious, getting a bit crisp at the edges and the crumb staying moist inside. The tangy cranberries and zesty orange brought the brightness we needed on that wintry day! Even my husband (who isn’t a fan of scones) loved them! Great recipe! Thank you.
Thank you SO much for sharing your feedback about this scone recipe!
I can’t have buttermilk and it says to see “note” in recipe about a substitute. I didn’t see a note. Can you tell me what I can use in place of the buttermilk?
Thanks for pointing that out Kay! I’ve added the instructions to the notes on the recipe card for making the buttermilk substitute. I’ve used it many times in a pinch and it works great!
We just picked up some fresh cranberries for the upcoming Thanksgiving and I used some of them to make these. They were absolutely amazing: so light and fluffy. I substituted lemon for the orange and added a bit more sugar. They were so good!!
Mine were a little too dark on the bottom so I will put the rack higher next time but so good regardless. This will be my go to recipe for scones. Thank you!!
These are amazing and easy! Glaze is so good!! Thank you!
Thanks so much! So happy that you enjoyed these scones! We love them too!
I’m wondering if the dough can be frozen and
Baked later, we have company coming in the weekend and I have time now to
Make the dough
I love this recipe so
Much
So great to hear Kathy!