Fresh Cranberry Scones are bright and zingy with tart berries and pockets of white chocolate ~ an easy fall bake you can freeze ahead for holiday mornings.
If you follow along here you know I love to cook and bake with fresh cranberries. I add white chocolate chips to these cranberry scones for a beautiful sweet-tart flavor.
➡ When the days get shorter and the holidays are on the horizon, I bake cranberry scones.
➡ Bright red cranberries pop both visually and flavor-wise!
➡ Freeze these scones baked or un-baked for those busy holiday mornings.
My food processor cranberry scone method
- The food processor method makes scones an easy and relatively mess free proposition. The machine combines the dry ingredients, then cuts in the butter, and finally incorporates the wet ingredients, all with the flick of a switch.
- I transfer the dough to a bowl to fold in the cranberries and white chocolate. You can scoop out the dough, or pat it out on a floured surface and cut into wedges.
- You will wash 2 bowls and have flaky delicious scones in return.
Don’t forget the clotted cream
Butter is fine, but clotted cream is better! Clotted cream is the thick spreadable cream the British love with their scones. It turns scones into a super special occasion.
I make clotted cream in 3 different ways (if you’re a newbie, start with the stove top method.)
- OVEN: How to make classic clotted cream in the oven
- INSTANT POT: How to make clotted cream in your Instant Pot
- STOVE TOP: How to make clotted cream on the stove top!
Freezing cranberry scones for later
This recipe makes two disks of dough for 12 scones.
- You can freeze the baked scones.
- Or freeze them un-baked ~ just wrap each one well. Bake them straight from the freezer, adding a couple of minutes to the bake time.
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Fresh Cranberry Scones
Equipment
- food processor optional
- 2 baking sheets
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup fresh cranberries*
- 3 cups AP flour, measured with the fluff and scoop method
- 1/3 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 12 Tbsp cold salted butter , cut in pieces
- 2/3 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Give the 1 1/4 cup fresh cranberries* a rough chop. (I do this by pulsing a few times in my food processor.) Remove the cranberries and set aside for later.
- To the bowl of your food processor add the 3 cups AP flour,1/3 cup sugar,1 Tbsp baking powder,and 1/2 tsp baking soda. Process to combine them. Add the 12 Tbsp cold salted butter that you have cut in pieces. Pulse/process to incorporate the butter ~ you're looking for a rough texture where you can still see little bits of butter.
- Blend together the 2/3 cup heavy cream, 1/3 cup buttermilk, and 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract. Add to the machine and then immediately pulse/process briefly to bring the crumbly dough together. Note: the dough will be rough and crumbly, but not bone dry. Add a touch more cream or buttermilk if yours seems excessively dry.
- Turn the dough into a large bowl and mix in the 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and the chopped cranberries.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and bring it together into one mass.
- Divide the dough in half and pat each half into a disk, about 7 inches wide. Wrap and refrigerate one disk while you work with the other.
- Cut the disk into 6 equal wedges. Arrange the wedges on a lined baking sheet and place in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Brush the tops of the chilled scones with cream and bake for 13-15 minutes, until the scones are golden on top.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle the tops with a little sugar for an extra sparkle. Let cool on a rack while you bake the rest of the scones.
- Note: freeze the unbaked scones until solid, then transfer to an airtight freezer container or bag for up to 2–3 months. Bake from frozen, adding a couple of minutes to the baking time.
Notes
Nutrition
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