Gluten Free Cranberry Orange Scones are the perfect quick treat for breakfast, brunch, or tea. Studded with tart cranberries, and dotted with orange zest, they are the ideal combination of tart and sweet.
It only takes a few minutes to whip up a batch of these gluten free Cranberry Orange Scones. That makes them the perfect thing to serve when you are having weekend brunch, or are getting unexpected company for coffee.
Scones are actually very similar to biscuits. The difference is that scones generally have eggs while biscuits don’t. At least, that’s the rule. My gluten free Buttermilk Biscuits do have eggs though, so I guess I broke that rule. Oops.
I have made scones in a variety of flavors in the past. Gluten Free Gingerbread Scones, Gluten Free Rhubarb Scones, and don’t forget the Gluten Free Pumpkin Scones that will remind you of the seasonal scones that Starbucks sells.
How to make the perfect gluten free Cranberry Orange Scones:
- Be sure to preheat your oven and gather all the ingredients that you will need before you even begin.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together, and add in the fresh orange zest.
- To keep your scones flaky, be sure to use cold butter. I like to freeze my butter for a few minutes before using it, and then use a box grater to get nice, even sized pieces of butter.
- Stir the butter into the dry ingredients and then stir in the dried cranberries.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients.
- Stir them into the dry ingredients.
- On a sheet of parchment paper, pat the dough into a circle – about 8-inches wide and 1-inch thick. You can refrigerate the dough for about 15 minutes at this point, if your butter got too warm while preparing the dough.
- Use a sharp knife or a bench scraper to cut the dough into 8 equal scones. Spread them out on the baking sheet, leaving about 2-inches between the scones.
- Bake in a hot oven until they are nicely browned and done, about 17-19 minutes. The high heat, with the cold butter, will give you a nice, flaky texture.
While the gluten free Cranberry Orange Scones are baking, you can prepare the orange glaze that you will drizzle on the scones while they are still warm.
Once the scones have baked, remove them from the baking sheet to a wire cooling rack. Place the cooling rack on top of the baking sheet you just removed them from. This way, the excess glaze will drip onto the parchment paper as it runs off the scones, making for easy clean up.
How to make the perfect glaze:
Whether you are glazing these GF Orange Cranberry scones or gluten free Baked Chocolate Doughnuts, you will want a glaze that is easy to work with.
I like to prepare the glaze so it is still quite thick, then I heat it in the microwave for a few seconds to get it runnier.
When you drizzle the warm glaze on the scones (or doughnuts), it makes a nice thin layer of glaze, and dries quickly.
Can I use fresh Cranberries in these scones?
These gluten free Cranberry Orange Scones use dried cranberries because they are so readily available. I can keep them on hand for a long time, and they are always available at the grocery store. However, if you have access to fresh cranberries, I think those would work just as well.
More gluten free recipes using dried cranberries:
- Gluten Free White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
- Gluten Free Almond Biscotti (dairy free too)
- Moist Gluten Free Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
- Gluten Free Cranberry Banana Bread
Easy Gluten Free Cranberry Orange Scones recipe:
Gluten Free Cranberry Orange Scones
Gluten Free Cranberry Orange Scones are the perfect quick treat for breakfast, brunch, or tea. Studded with tart cranberries, and dotted with orange zest, they are the perfect combination of tart and sweet.
Ingredients
Cranberry Orange Scones:
- 1 ¼ cups brown rice flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Zest of 1 orange
- 2/3 cup dried cranberries
- 6 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter
- ½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream (plus more for brushing on top, optional)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons turbinado sugar (for sprinkling on top, optional)
Orange Glaze:
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1-3 Tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1 teaspoons orange zest
Instructions
Cranberry Orange Scones:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dust the parchment paper with a small amount of rice flour. Set aside.
- Whisk together the rice flour, sugar, tapioca starch, baking powder, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl.
- Add the orange zest and stir it into the dry ingredients.
- Grate the cold butter into the dry ingredients. Stir until the butter is evenly distributed.
- Stir in the dried cranberries. You can place this bowl in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes while you prepare the wet ingredients.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, whipping cream, egg, and vanilla. Stir into the dry ingredients until it comes together in a ball. Try to handle the dough as little as possible, so that the butter stays cold.
- Turn the dough out onto the prepared baking sheet. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top, and form the dough into a circle, about 8-inches across, and 1" thick.
- With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 8 wedges. Carefully move the wedges apart, leaving at least 2-inches between them so that they will not touch when baking.
- (Optional): Brush the tops with whipping cream and sprinkle them with turbinado sugar.
- Bake in preheated oven for 17-19 minutes, or until nicely browned.
- Remove from oven and allow to sit for 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Drizzle with the Orange Glaze (if using) and serve.
Orange Glaze:
- Whisk the confectioners' sugar, orange juice, and orange zest together until smooth. Start with 1 Tablespoon of orange juice, adding more to make a thick glaze. Microwave the glaze for a few seconds to make it runnier. The warm glaze will dry quickly, after leaving a nice thin layer of glaze on the scones.
- Drizzle on top of the scones while they are still warm.
Let sit for a few minutes to dry before serving.
Notes
These gluten free Cranberry Orange Scones use dried cranberries because they are so readily available. I can keep them on hand for a long time, and they are always available at the grocery store. However, if you have access to fresh cranberries, I think those would work just as well.
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laurie says
do you nutrition info, including calories?
Jeanine Friesen says
Sorry, I don’t include that. But you can figure it out here: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator
laurie says
thx 🙂 also i was looking thru your awesome recipes and found almond biscotti, but now i can’t find it, help
Jeanine Friesen says
That was one of the recipes I linked to that use dried cranberries. That recipe is on my friend Michelle’s site – My Gluten Free Kitchen. https://mygluten-freekitchen.com/gluten-free-almond-biscotti-dairy-free/
Wendy M says
Holy cats. These are the best scones I have EVER had- gluten containing or not! Thank you for such an amazing recipe- this is the first time I’ve been to your page, and after scrolling around, I forsee many a yummy GF treat from here for my family! One question- have you had any success making the scone dough ahead and freezing it for baking later? I used to do that with my scone dough pre- celiac, and it worked really well.
Julie says
Can’t wait to try this! Can the dough be frozen for baking later?
Jeanine Friesen says
Good question, Julie. I’ve never frozen scone dough before. I think it would work, as long as you let it defrost before baking.
Carol says
Can you skip the xanthan gum?
Jeanine Friesen says
Nope. The xanthan is what holds things together when you don’t have gluten. If you are using a gluten free all purpose blend that already contains xanthan gum, then you can omit it. But it is needed to keep things from falling apart.