The fresh cranberry gets no love. I can’t tell you how many recipes I have sifted through recently that boasted cranberry in their titles only to find out that they were actually calling for those shriveled and over-sweetened dried ones. Why must fresh cranberries be “the neglected stepchild of the season“? It is totally undeserved.
Fresh cranberries are prettier. They’re impressively hardy, keeping for weeks in the fridge and even longer in the freezer with no noticeable aging. And even though I think this is what puts people off, they have a tartness that makes everything they touch better. Because when you put something tart against something sweet, you get a fantastic contrast and this complexity, my friends, is a very good thing.
Like here, in a lemon and fresh cranberry scone. Not so different from the dreamy, creamy scones I have been yammering about for years now–what can I say? I never forget a good scone–they’re so much better with fresh fruit, especially cranberries. They’re tart and mildly sweet and fragrant with a mildly crisp edge and softest insides and perfect in every way.
Now go get yourself some.
Two years ago: Mushrooms Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Meyer Lemon Fresh Cranberry Scones
Adapted from Gourmet
One of my favorite things about scones is how well they work when you need to plan in advance. Simply roll them out and cut them before flash-freezing them separately on a tray, and sealing them in a freezer bag until you’re ready to bake them. You can bake them right from the freezer, only needing to add 3 to 5 extra minutes baking time. Scones are always best when they’re freshly baked.
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest (from about 2 lemons; preferably Meyer)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar plus 3 tablespoons additional if using fresh cranberries
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 1/4 cups fresh cranberries, chopped coarse, or 1 1/4 cups dried cranberries, if you insist
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream
Accompaniment: creme fraiche or whipped cream
Preheat oven to 400°F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
With a vegetable peeler remove the zest from lemons and chop fine, reserving lemons for another use.
In a food processor pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and zest until mixture resembles coarse meal and transfer to a large bowl.
In a small bowl toss together fresh cranberries and 3 tablespoons sugar and stir into flour mixture. If using dried fruit, add to flour mixture.
In another small bowl lightly beat egg and yolk and stir in cream. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.
On a well-floured surface with floured hands pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round (about 8 inches in diameter) and with a 2-inch round cutter or rim of a glass dipped in flour cut out as many rounds as possible, rerolling scraps as necessary. Arrange rounds about 1 inch apart on baking sheet and bake in middle of oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until pale golden.
[I decided to rebel and pat them into a square and cut them into smaller ones. The square shapes didn’t keep very well, so I don’t recommend this! Learn from me, people.]
Serve scones warm with creme fraiche or whipped cream. Scones keep, individually wrapped in plastic wrap and foil, chilled, 1 day or frozen 1 week.
I’m baking these as soon as I can! :)
I can’t wait to try these.
I love a good scone and the lemon/cranberry combo sounds divine.
Do you think the recipe would change at all with frozen cranberries? I froze the one’s my husband brought back from WI, and I usually use them like fresh, but I’ve never done scones before…
we have made them with frozen cranberries multiple times and they are still fantastic
How did you avoid the sogginess problem? I just made these with frozen berries and the rise didn’t work well…I wonder if it was to do with the higher liquid content from the berries as they warmed up.
you are killing it lately! I do not comment often but I read constantly and make frequently. As well as recommend to friends. Your site is one of those things when after I have told someone about it, then they tell it to me 6 months later and I;m like, no, I told you and then they say, oh whatever, and then we both shrug silently and move on with our cooking adventures. Thank you for this one and also the pot-pie, oh my lord.
Is there some reason why I couldn’t use a Microplane to grate the zest?
I can’t wait to try this; but what’s a good substitute (if there is one) for heavy cream?
I just noticed this comment is 11 years old!–but today I used half-and-half (which I keep on hand for coffee) and the scones were excellent. (I have often used whole milk yogurt in scone recipes and it is also fine.) And I pat my dough out, cut it into the forbidden squares, and there are never enough left to go stale. I’m not sure why her round ones ‘keep’ better!
Can you recommend a dairy-free substitute? Butter is okay, but can’t do the cream. What about coconut milk or cream?? Thanks for any suggestions you may have!
I used coconut cream and they turned our awesome!
I can’t wait. If this is half as good as that banana bread recipe, which I’m pretty sure it will be, people are going to have to start physically pulling me away from your site. And the scones.
:)
P.S. The banana bread was made for the boyfriend’s potluck, and after one taste, decided to hide it from the party and eat it only with me later on. So, thanks for that one.
Mmmm, I’m with you fresh cranberries get a bad wrap, I’ll be trying these for sure!
Ooo lovely! I’ve made a similar version of these a couple years back (with fresh cranberries as well), but the lemon zest makes these scones truly inspired!
Also, buttermilk or yogurt can be used to replace all or part of the heavy cream, but some of the wonderful light texture of the scones will be lost.
I’m sure the cup of heavy cream helps the yumminess factor too. mmm.
I would eat these even wothout cream. they lok great especially for breakfast :)
These look and sound awesome. I agree that fresh cranberries need more love.
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum… btw, pardon my ignorance, but how do you ‘flash freeze’?
How seasonal. I feel bad about making lemon bars yesterday:-) I hae to admit I don’t use fresh cranberries a lot. I do plan to make my own sauce this year. I’ll buy extra for the scones. Thanks!
You should try Cook’s Illustrated’s cranberry-apple pie. It was unbelievably good.
Fresh cranberries ARE prettier; and make those scones even MORE enticing :-)
LOVE your site… don’t know how you keep up. Two questions – I would also like to know of a substitute for cream and how to flash freeze.
I have been making cranberry items for the past two or three weeks now. I made the cranberry bread from Food Everyday and the apple cranberry muffins from Once Upon A Tart. I also have a cranberry scone that I make a lot, but I will gve these a try this week.
These look terrific! Thank you. I just posted on Cranberry Streusel Shortbread Bars with fresh cranberries, and I highly recommend them, too.
The squares are so much more photogenic and with a really good scone, do you really need to worry about how well they keep? Ours are usually gone in minutes! I haven’t every made round scones, but only wedges.
Oh wow, perfect for breakfast on Stephens’ Day!! YUM!
I must make these. I have fresh cranberries in the fridge itching to get put to good use. Thanks for the recipe!
I LOVE this recipe!! Thanks! :)
Debra,
When is your bakery opening????
I can’t believe how much baking you’ve been doing lately!
I love scones, and yours look terrific, as always!
Stacey Snacks
You’ve sold me! I’ll pick up some cranberries at the pike market and give these a try.
Ick, no. Meyer lemons belong only in gin and cranberries should always be crasined (or cooked in cranberry sauce). You usually win me over, but I so totally disagree with you on this, although the scones themselves do look pretty delightful.
I find meyer lemons and fresh cranberries to be a bit like cilantro – they can be pretty divisive in the kitchen. Some people love them and some people (like me) can’t stand to be anywhere near them.
Yumma yumma. All hail the fresh cranberry! No sugary dried cranberry impostor can compare. I have cranberry meringue tarts that are waiting to be tested and tasted for Turkey Day, but with fresh crans I’m sure they’ll be just as delightful as these scones look.
Kaye — You totally can. I looked at the date this recipe was originally published and it was 1997 when I think most home kitchens hadn’t even heard of the Microplane yet, which is why it likely doesn’t suggest it. That said, since I had a knife out anyway, and was using the food processor, I figured I’d save a dirty dish by just taking the peel off as directed.
Ha Stacey — No bakery for me! (Could you imagine making the same thing, every single day?) That said, I would be happy to consult with these boring NYC bakeries that are surviving on bland cupcake steam alone. Not that anyone is asking me. As for the site, though, I do try to alternative sweet and savory recipes, so I can’t say that there has been much *more* baking… or not yet at least.
As for those who have asked for a substitute for the cream, I am at a loss. (Also, why? Is this a fat issue?) The cream in cream scones is really what sets them apart from all other ones; they are miles ahead of buttermilk or whole milk scones. Personally, I’d rather make them half-size than forgo the cream altogether, but I know that everyone approaches eating differently.
Flash freezing directions over here.
Can’t wait to make them. Perfect for the season. I’ve also made cherry-almond scones. They are good when you use fresh cherries from Door County, WI. Yummy!!
Awesome! I’m with you on the fresh cranberries. I converted more folks tonight to the love of your mom’s apple cake with the addition of cranberries.
(Interestingly, the batter is so much looser at sea level than in Denver, but still took two hours to cook. No idea why my results are so different than yours but the finished cake is perfect.)
Gotta try these scones, too.
I love fresh and willingly scoop up multiple bags of them when they come into season, stocking the freezer for months to come. You’re right- they freeze and keep beautifully and it isn’t uncommon for me to utilize our last stash in the springtime or even early summer. Fresh cranberry compote on grilled pork? Divine.
I’m a fan of the fresh….they get every ounce of respect from me. Love the scones too, all your scones really.
On the cream front, it’s possibly an issue with dairy, as those of us lactose intolerant need to avoid casein for comfort purposes. One would think that in baked goods it shouldn’t matter, but it does. I sub in vanilla soy milk for all dairy in baked goods with excellent results.
Angel — Frozen cranberries would work just fine. Just let them defrost before you chop them, to make it easier.
These look good.
You know..I was looking at your index…the ‘sweets’ catagory could use some sub-dividing. It’s getting long! Just sayin…
I was going to leave a comment on the Blueberry Crumb Bar post about this, but since we are talking cranberries in the here and now I will mention it – I made the Blueberry Crumb Bar recipe with apples and cranberries for a weekend running relay with some friends as I needed a portable potluck item that we could eat as both dessert and uh, necessary ‘fuel’ for running and they were a big hit! Just wanted to let you know that they worked out great with another fruit option besides berries. I adore baking with fresh cranberries and always have a bag of them in the freezer for when the inspiration hits – think I might have to make these scones next! Thanks for all the amazing recipes!
Fresh cranberries are great! Last Christmas I made cranberry jam and an orange-cranberry bread with Grand Marnier. Both were big hits with the family. I think I’ll try the scones this year.
I <3 this recipe already… I love lemons, love cranberries, and love scones! I’ll have to try this out some weekend when I actually have the time to get all floured up. :-)
Meyer lemons – we can’t get them here in The Netherlands! I can get plain, old lemons from Spain (I think) but that’s it – is there something special about Meyers? Can I substitute fresh lemons, or do I need to cut it back?
I’ve been buying lots of cranberries from the farmer’s market before it ends for the season — the scones look so good. I love the idea of making them ahead, freezing and then cooking them when I want them. I don’t know why I never thought of that before. Thank you!
I agree – you don’t often see fresh cranberries in recipes or at least not as much. This recipe looks fantastic!
BRAVO!
I guess great minds think alike because I posted some Buttermilk Cranberry Scones this morning (they even have lemon zest in them) and didn’t even know about this one until just now! I did use the sad little shriveled over-sweetened kind, but I chopped them up fine and since my scone recipes don’t contain a lot of sugar, the sweetened ones work well. But I have a bag of fresh cranberries in the fridge and am thinking that maybe I’ll give this version a try, too. Will be fun to compare them! Gorgeous photos, as always :-)
I love fresh cranberries…can’t stand the craisins and I usually don’t like scones b/c they’re just too dry but these look so good. I’ve got tons of cranberries in the freezer. I’m doing a cranberry compote this week and will probably add these scones too. Thanks!
Ah, Meyer lemons are my favorite. I must start searching for them. The season must be approaching but I haven’t yet spotted them!
I’ve never used fresh cranberries before, but these look so tasty, maybe I’ll try!!
I just bought a three pound bag of cranberries yesterday, and made cranberry sauce to go with the chicken we put on the rotisserie. Wanted to make cranberry orange relish, but went to the store and forgot orange juice or oranges. This will be next on the list of things to make with them! What’s the best way to freeze them? Just in freezer bags?
How funny, I just baked my first meyer lemon dessert of the season…how EXCITING to see them in the market. Got it in the oven and then thought—oh, I should have thrown those fresh cranberries in….
Gorgeous photos as usual.
I agree about the fresh cranberries. I’ve had some in the frig but could find nothing to do with them. I just made these (with traditional lemons) and they are yummy. I did get very flour-y. :-)
They look so delicious, but can you just put in lemon juice because i don’t always have lemons on hand for zest, but i do always keep lemon juice on hand? if not i’m gonna have to start keeping lemons on hand!!
These are so delicate looking. Perfect for with a hot cup of tea.
I saw these on epicurious and almost everyone said these were cakey like and impossible to form in a scone shape but had to be dropped from a spoon. Did you have this problem at all?
Nope, no problems.
I’ve been making this recipe for years and I never get tired of it. In fact, I’ve never found a better scone recipe. In November when the branches of my Meyer lemon tree brush the ground from the weight of the ripe fruit, this is the first recipe I make. A big dollop of Meyer Lemon Curd on top of the scone is yummy too. In the summer when Meyer lemons are long gone, I make the scones with sour cherries and regular lemons.
I also love fresh cranberries. I always make my own cranberry sauce for the holidays and I have a few other fresh cranberry stand-by recipes such as Gingery Pear and Cranberry Pie and a great smoothie that can be made with frozen berries.
Thanks for reminding all of us that these fruit are so easy to celebrate!
The scones sound lovely. I hoard bags of cranberries this time of year and keep them in my freezer for the times when stores only sell pathetic littles cranberry shrivels.
My favorite cranberry recipe is to add them to pumpkin muffins. I don’t chop them–when they are baked whole they plump up and when you bite into them they explode in your mouth.
Those look fantastic. I like Dawn also hoard cranberries this time of year.
These sound amazing. How exactly do I flash freeze though?
I’m with you on the love for fresh cranberries — and the disappointment when a cranberry-titled recipe calls for the dried type. Yes please to fresh cranberries in scones; I also love them in pound cakes, especially with orange or lemon zest involved. I’ve even added chopped cranberries to Mexican wedding cakes/ Russian teacakes for a more festive look and taste. Or — ooh — in the Ina Garten lemon yogurt cake!
Sounds like a perfect combo. I like my scones tart!
We (try) to have a kosher kitchen, so soy is really wonderful, if not available in enough forms-at least locally. And it’s good for health reasons too, though if I’m making something like this I don’t expect it to be good for me.
For the scones…i dont have a food processsor. Any other way to mix the flour, sugar, baking powder ect….
(my blender has a pulse function, is this the same?) how about my electric mixer will this help me ?
I actually wasn’t planning on using a food processer either. I’ve made something else with the same required texture, and it is a long, painful process, but it can be done with a fork. Or at least, so I’ve found.
Is this something that, once frozen, you think could be sent through the mail? What about your cookies, generally? I’m enjoying the baking part, but don’t want to participate so much in the eating part.
I’ve always been a buttermilk scone gal myself, but I’m going to try the cream.
I love to use fresh cranberries, but I confess I’ve been just a bit lazy about having to chop them. (Those frisky little suckers like to bounce around the cutting board, dontcha know!)A couple of weeks ago I discovered that the thick slice attachment on my KitchenAid slicer/shredder attachment makes quick work of the task and does a great job.
I have all the ingredients to make these and will this weekend. Thanks!
They look wonderful! I love to have a breakfast thing to grab and bring on my morning commute! Perfect with tea, no doubt or a latte. I’m making these for sure!
yes yes to the fresh cranberry! i make cornmeal cranberry cookies every holiday, and use fresh even though it calls for gross dried. i can’t wait to try these scones, they look fantastic.
I just made these, and they are delectabulz! I did, however, make a few changes based on what I had /what I was in the mood for…I used coconut milk instead of cream, (By the way, if you ever make hot chocolate, you simply must try substituting about 1/3 of the milk with coconut milk. It’s wonderful!) I skipped the lemon zest, added pumpkin pie spice, and sprinkled cinnamon on top. Yummy! I think I’ll put more spice next time I do these, though…
about the cream – try making lemonade scones (scones that have lemonade as an ingredient, and don’t have cream). i know it sounds wierd, but they taste fantastic and it is our go-to recipe and has been since we first tried it. they are soo simple and wonderful tasting. im not sure whether theres a good recipe online but i would be happy to provide the one i use.
mmmm……..thank you. i grabbed a couple bags of fresh cranberries a couple weeks ago, which quickly went in the freezer when i realized (like you said) most recipes are calling for the dried ones. what’s up with that? someone’s got to be using the fresh ones. this recipe looks yummy, and i like the tip about freezing the scones before baking. thanks!
I bought everything to make these last night, got home, turned the oven on, and the read the recipe only to find out that it requires a food processor, which I don’t have. d’oh!
Regan, no need to be discouraged…I used my vita-mix to process the dough, but lacking that, my blender, hand mixer, or even a fork would have done the job. I used the blender to chop the cranberries, since I couldn’t locate the lid for my food processor. Just came back to mention that I made a lemon frosting for my scones, and it’s a delicious combo.
I just finished making my first batch ever of scones. They are delicious. I only baked up 4 and put the rest in the freezer for later. I’m thrilled about being able to just bake a few at a time.
Regarding the food processor – I don’t have one so I used a pastry tool to blend the butter into the flour mix. You could also use a couple of butter knives to chop it up, just like for a pie crust.
Rachel, would you please post your scone recipe with the lemonade? Or send it to me at tinawittmer(at)yahoo(dot)com. My boyfriend is a lemonade fiend. Thanks!
the fresh cranberry gets love in my house. oh yes. i eat them raw from the refrigerator or freezer. couldn’t resist this recipe, and it really really delivered. I don’t think I’ve ever made scones that light. Scones seem to be on everyone’s mind, Adam at the Amateur Gourmet just posted about them this morning. Thank you so much. also, your site is beautiful.
Katya
These look yummy!
About how many scones can you get from this recipe? I want to make some for my friends this weekend but I need to make sure there’s enough for everyone because I bet they’ll be gone in a flash!
Just wanted to add that I made up the batter this morning and plan on baking them this weekend. I made these gluten free and made the following substitutions:
Used dried cranberries b/c that’s all I had.
Used extra lemons to counter the sweetness
Substituted same amount of Gluten Free Flour Mix for the white flour (I use the all-purpose flour mix by Glutino)
Substituted yogurt for the cream b/c that’s all I had.
Added 1 single serving package of instant oats to help w/ the texture loss caused by the gluten free flour.
I haven’t baked them up yet but I tasted the dough and it was delish and smelled soo good!
i left my cranberries whole because i didn’t read the chopped part… but i really liked them that way. and i think that maybe they look just a bit prettier.. :D
I’m thinking of adapting these to be a bit more biscuit-like, savory and part of the meal rather than breakfast or dessert. What would you recommend?
Hi Stephen — I haven’t tried it savory, so I am going to pause before telling you to just omit the sugar as it might throw off the recipe. Instead, how about this chive biscuit recipe (last one in post)? It’s fantastic. You could add the cranberries and maybe even a tablespoon or two of minced shallot.
After lusting for a few days for these, I finally made them today. They were heavenly. My husband said it’s the best scone he’s ever had. We both love cranberries and use them as much as possible (great with sauteed apples, ginger, nutmeg) I agree most are dry tasting, and this is the first time I’ve tried making them. Mine made 7 large scones. I patted the dough into a round, and cut with a glass. We ended up having 1 and 1/2 each before I had to stop and wrap the rest for later.
For those without a food processor, here’s a hint. Instead of cutting up the butter into pieces, free the butter, then grate it into the flour mixture, cut it into the flour with 2 knives. DO NOT overwork the dough, turn out onto the floured board, and pat gently into a circle. Don’t worry about it looking rough. When I cut mine, I started at one end, and gently pressed the stray pieces into the dough round and cut the next. With proper care, I didn’t have to reroll, and the sconces were excellent. Will DEFINITELY make these again and again,. Thanks Deb.
I love baked goods with fresh cranberries. I always look for them when I’m at the coffee shop and if it’s cran-blueberry muffins, it’s never enough tartness compared to cranberry.
Finally got around to baking up the dough this AM. Delish. Using Gluten Free flour meant the scones didn’t rise as much and could not be rolled out b/c of the stickiness. To counter this, I dropped them by spoonfuls and baked at 350 for 10 min and then turned up the oven to 400 and cooked until browned. They came out smaller [cookie size] but tasted delish! So anyone that is gluten free out there, try these substituting GF flour b/c they really do taste great! Thanks.
One of my favorite recipes calls for fresh cranberries; I’ve been making it since high school and still love it. Love lemony things too so I’ll be giving these a try; what a nice breakfast for Thanksgiving morning.
I plan on making these today. I love cranberries. My question is, why is there such a short keep time on them?
I made these yesterday, and they are delish…light, flaky, buttery and the perfect mix of tart and sweet. I’m planning to bring them to my parents for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving…but I have to admit to already pulling one out of the freezer for an afternoon snack!
Scones get stale very quickly. But, this doesn’t bother everyone. I’m simply advising on how to get what I think is the best flavor and texture out of them.
I can see these freshly baked and sitting on my kitchen table ready for nibbling. A perfect morning starter to a day of eating.
I have always wanted to make scones but was never brave enough. I came home to be with my family for the Thanksgiving holiday and woke this morning with your recipe in hand. I just served the piping hot scones to my family and EVERYONE IS RAVING ABOUT THEM. To anyone who is considering making these: run, do not walk, to the store and serve immediately! They are incredible. Thank you, thank you for helping us find a new holiday tradition!
Wow, these look amazing! I bought home a packet of fresh cranberries without quite knowing what to do with them. Youve given me the perfect idea! I’ll be making these tomorrow when I have friends over, thanks!
I made them for the in-laws this morning. They disappeared quickly… ha ha- the scones that is. Thanks for another great recipe.
I had these for breakfast this morning. I formed them last night and flash-froze them. There were really great. I substituted orange for the lemon because orange and cranberry are so good together. (But they still tasted lemony, so that was weird.) I had to add just a little extra cream to get the dough to come together. The scones were tasty and really light and tender.
The flavors are great (fresh cranberry, yum!), but I had a huge problem with the consistency of the final mixture…very runny and sticky! There was no way it was gonna be shaped and cut and transferred to a sheet…I’m confused since I know I added the required amounts of everything – where did I go wrong?!! I ended up just rolling them into balls between wet hands and baking. They’re delish, but very cakey inside…
I surprised my husband with breakfast in bed this morning with these scones. I had them prepared, baked and served with butter, cranberry jelly & fresh espresso in well under an hour. I didn’t have cream so substituted plain Greek yogurt with a few splashes of whole milk (to get the right consistency). Also, I used up my fresh cranberries in a “spiced cranberry sangria” earlier in the week so If I have to use dried again next time, I think reconstituting the dried cranberries with orange juice or Cointreau would be fantastic.
Beautiful, thanks! I was trying to figure out what kind of scones to make w/ the bergamot curd I just made. These will fit the bill perfectly!
Okay, just a quick follow-up. I used bergamot peel instead of lemon, and I did go w/ fresh cranberries (frozen and thawed, really; but I agree that fresh cranberries don’t get enough love and the dried bits get too much). I don’t think I froze enough rounds (I decided to cook 3 per person, which was too many), but these are really, really wonderful. Slightly sweet and delightfully tart when you bite into one of the cranberries. They’re soft inside, slightly crispy on the outside and just wonderful little pillows of happiness. I’m putting curd on them when I want a sweeter bite and eating them solo when I want a tart bite.
Thank you!!!
Deb, I have been dying for some scones and these look perfect. I in fact just picked up some very ripe organic Meyer lemons and so I will be getting cream on the way home and will be making these straight away.
My only question is considering the sweet tart combo, do they go better with coffee or tea?
Thanks (as always) for the inspiring and beautifully presented goodies!
I’d say that’s up to personal preference. (Also, I’m ill-informed on the topic — I don’t drink tea!)
Delicious! I ended up using frozen and thawed cranberries as well, and these went FAST. It was a tad too runny to be shaped very well, but I just used an ice cream scoop, then patted down the mounds. Personally I found Devon cream to be the perfect partner for this tasty morsel.
Lola, I had the problem you mentioned other people on epicurious had–my dough came out very wet, and rather than adding more flour or anything I just made them like drop-biscuits. They baked fine and tasted great, but I’m still not sure exactly what went wrong. I did use frozen cranberries and they were pretty juicy after I thawed them so I could chop them up, so maybe that contributed to the problem?
I made these yesterday and they turned out great. I used regular lemons and dried cranberries (I know, I bastardized the recipe!) but they still turned out really well. I can’t imagine how good they’d taste with Meyer lemons and fresh cranberries. Yum!
Mmmm, I just put some in the oven. You are making me a better cook than my mother.
I have DIED and gone to scone heaven! These were fabulous! I used fresh cranberries and meyer lemons… I followed it to a T and they’re heavenly!!! One thing I did add was your lemon glaze from http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/10/lemony-persnick/ and drizzled it on top. OH MY! So good! Next I’m going to make your lemon curd and try that on the other half of the batch that I ended up freezing :) I love your site… thanks so much!
Wow. I just made these using leftover Thanksgiving cranberry sauce instead of whole cranberries – delicious!
AMAZING!!! They are way too good! Had them with coffee on a snowy day :)
made these this week, yum! Only issue is the dough was super sticky, I had to add a bit extra flour but it didn’t impact the taste. Also I used fresh cranberries and they were very tart even with the extra sugar, I like tart though :)
I made this yesterday— I’m wondering if I did something wrong. My dough came out sticky like Laura’s. I had to add a LOT of extra flour just to be able to work with it. What consistency is the dough supposed to have? I didn’t quite get the size I wanted, and they didn’t rise very much. It also could be because my food processor is too small, so I had to do the flour mixture in two batches. Hmmm.
But they tasted great, so I will definitely try to make them again!
I can’t wait to try this! I’m wondering if this can be done in a mixer with a dough hook or if kneading by hand is better. My food processor is kinda small. Any thoughts?
Went trolling for a recipe to use up post x-mas frozen cranberries and remembered your blog. I and mine were never scone fans, until this recipe. Only now do we understand that a true sweet scone is a celestial hybrid of a biscuit, muffin and sugar cookie, rather than a leaden lump of dough. I have eaten three fresh from the oven. Gorgeous.
So long since this post, not sure you’ll read it, but I wanted to thank you. I’m on weight watchers and was desperate to find a delicious and moderately (moderately, they do have cream in them!) healthy recipe for Christmas brunch. These were divine. The best scones I have ever tasted. I come from a family of Aussie woman who bake themselves into a frenzy once a month and I have never ever ever tasted scones like these. Please do not tell them, I will be disinherited! Thanks!
I have to agree wholeheartedly with fresh cranberries being ‘the neglected stepchild,’ as I just adapted a recipe using Meyers & fresh cranberries. YUM!
Oh my good gracious, these are DIVINE! Not too crumbly or mealy or moist; just perfect! I got lots of compliments at my tea luncheon today. I had the good sense to bake only 14 and freeze 6 for myself. :) I used a 2″ wine glass to cut them, and they baked (from frozen) for 21 minutes.
I am so making these for my dad’s birthday! and even though i am probably your youngest viewer (well, i was 2 years ago…) DON’T DOUBT MY COOKING SKILLS! i can make pretty awesome stuff. Like this. And like everything else on this site. Yeah this site is awesome! Thank you for making it!!!!!
:)
I’m making these right now and they’re taking a really long time. It’s already been 25 minutes and they’re still like whitish. Why is that?
This was the first time scones turned out delicious and fluffy for me–I’m throwing out my old hockey puck recipes. Made these last weekend and they rocked! The following note helped the most: “Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.” Since I sometime overmix baked good the statement ‘until just combined’ helped make a great scone.
Over two years later, this recipe continues to please people to no end. I just had three right from the oven with creme fraiche — I was only trying the first one to be sure they turned out and get rid of the runt, but good gracious. I could not stop. Now have the other half a bag of fresh cranberries to use… another batch, or caramel cranberry almond tartlets?
I made these for the first time a few weeks ago when I found a bag of meyer lemons at my grocery store. As a testament to how amazing this scone recipe is, I wanted to let you know that when I finally got a chance to eat one, it was so amazing, I thought these were some of the best scones I had ever had! I somehow felt that I had forgotten something. I went to the fridge and there was the butter that I was supposed to put in! I made these scones, completely forgetting the butter, and they still turned out above all other scones I’ve had! I froze them and have been slowly eating them, and they are still wonderful. I can’t wait to try them again with butter!
Made them again with some sort of healthy substitutions. Sub’d 1/3rd cup of sugar (rather than 1/2) and used half whole-wheat flour and half white all-purpose. I used frozen blueberries (because that’s all I had). And of course they were great! Thanks SK!
I forget that baking is a science. I used light cream instead of heavy and I don’t think I mixed the butter well enough. I ended up with cakey, flatter scones. But they seem to taste good – just more like muffins. :)
If you freeze these, how do you defrost them? In the oven?
At room temperature, usually.
I’m not sure if anyone’s ever asked yet, but I’ve been longing to find an Oatmeal Apple Walnut Scone recipe (which is also partially whole wheat). When I was in New York in January, my friend and I went ot Jack’s Coffee in Greenwich and they had the most amazing Organic Apple Walnut Scones that it still makes me dream about them :) Today I made my first attempt at improvising on an Oatmeal Cinnamon Scone recipe and my huge lesson learned was that I should never put a whole apple and 1/2 into the mix (which required nearly 2 additional cups of flower to get the sogginess to go away…clearly I should’ve used a 1/2 or 3/4). So finally, have you ever made such a scone before? It would be super amazing if you provided a recipe for it because you make such exquisite wonders :)
Thank you!
P.s. Tomorrow morning I’m surprising my family with Apple Pancakes for breakfast. Still got Bretzels and Challah to tackle this weekend. I can’t wait! :)
I am printing out a lot of your great recipes to try! Just wonderful!
hi! i am a fan of your blog cos you make all the food look soooo good!! not sure if you have many overseas blog visitors, but i’m one of them, all the way from sunny Singapore. :) we rarely get fresh cranberries, so when i saw them at the supermarket, i just had to get them for these scones! i baked them last night, and they smelt so good! had them for breakfast this morning and it was so tender and fluffy! my family loved these. :) thank you so much for the wonderful recipes and pictures!
Your scones look wonderful. I love a well made scone!
Carmen
These babies just came out of the oven and are sooo beautiful!
Thanks for posting this recipe~ This was my first encounter with fresh cranberries, ever, and I am so happy that we’ve met! :)
I love that recipe. Those are the best scones I have ever made, actually they are the first and they beat any scone I could buy at a coffee shop. My 4 year-old’s comment was that they are so good she doesn’t need jam on them. Thanks for sharing!
How many scones does this make?
It should make 16.
Just want you to know I’m coming back to these scones YET AGAIN! I make them every year at Thanksgiving and buy extra bags of cranberries to freeze forlater in the year. Definitely a great blend of tart and sweet. One of the best parts of Thanksgiving is breakfast in the morning…I’ve been dreaming of scones for months! Thanks for sharing!
Made these yesterday and they are so good! I made a light glaze with the lemon juice and a little bit of confectioners sugar to add the the lemonyness of the scones.
This was the first time I’ve ever made scones. I was surprised at how easy they were to make and how great they taste freshly baked!
DEB!!!!!!!
Soooo..long story short…I had no cranberries OR Lemons for that matter..so I decided to IMPROVISE : ) and make Orange Strawberry guavas scones!!!!!
This was the first time I made scones and lets jsut say I caught myself in a sticky situation. Mhm. But not to worry! Because after handling my sticky situation the scones were on their way to the oven and they came out B-E-U-tifully.
My orange strawberry guava scones kiinnda resemble the very delicious looking FRESH cranberry scones you made but of course taste different ; )
The little seeds in the strawberry guavas aren’t as much of a problem in the scones as I thought they would be..in a way they add texture and make each and every bite different from the one before!
I just made these substituting the lemon zest for clementine zest since that’s what I had on hand. They turned out delish! Thanks for the recipe!
I AM SO EXCITED TO TRY THIS RECIPE. I admit, I bought a whole bunch of fresh cranberries at Christmas, and ended up not using them. Lately I have been complaining about what a waste they are…. But, I KNEW there must be some recipe somewhere that I could use. I’m so glad I found this one! Thank you for your great cooking tips and advice!I’m very impressed with this site thus far. Thanks so much!
I have made these multiple times (with frozen cranberries and standard lemons) and everyone who tries them pronounces them the best scones ever.
I made a batch of these today to keep in the freezer for houseguests. My cranberries were frozen, and as they thawed they let out a bit of juice and turned the dough pink-ish. Today being Valentine’s Day and all, I embraced it (perhaps inspired by your recent brownie post?) and used my heart-shaped biscuit cutter after rolling them out. They are officially the cutest (and tastiest) scones ever.
Absolutely LOVE these scones. Unfortunately cranberries are out of season, so I used fresh blueberries instead. Next time I will up the lemon zest, but don’t change anything else. Texture is awesome! And so easy to make.
hello, this looks gloriously tasty. would you have a suggestion for the lemon replacement? a good friend who i know would love these is allergic to citrus. Perhaps plum?
I made these for Easter brunch and they were delicious. I cut them into 8 wedges but didn’t realize they would puff up so much so I might make them smaller next time. Although a smaller scone would have just made me feel guilty if I went back for a second so maybe bigger is better. I used frozen cranberries and made a simple glaze of 1 cup powdered sugar and 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice.
If anyone is reading this for possible swaps, I have successfully made this with 2 cups bread flour (didn’t have all purpose) and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.
I also always do this as a drop biscuit, about 2 tablespoons each. Much less fussy.
I have made these many times and have convinced others of their superiority as well. Have always stuck to the recipe. Last night, I broke rank and tried currant-peach-lemon. My only guess is that I forgot a cup of the flour or something because it was a miserable (albeit hilarious) failure. So, tonight i made a very successful batch of blueberry-peach-lemon. Perfect in every way!! But I was so desperate for the others to work that I thawed the ones I had frozen (don’t ask why) and added a ton of flour to them. Threw out all logic about minimal mixing and gluten fibers. And now, I will suck it up and throw away the rest of last night’s disaster. The lesson here is that you should save the glass of wine until AFTER you have mixed everything.
Made these with fresh raspberries instead of cranberries — SO GOOD. I forgot to freeze some however, so I now have way too many to eat… problem.
Hi! I made these today and only baked one scone. While it tasted fabulous, my dough was really sticky and not at all floury-like. Is that how it should be? I’m just thinking if I tried to roll it out it would be a disaster. I have the rest sitting in a covered bowl in the fridge. I was thinking I’d bake them tomorrow morning. I’m just trying to figure out if I should add more flour…
Definitely don’t add more flour. If the dough was sticky, it’s likely because the bits of butter had started to melt. It’s best to keep scone (and biscuit) doughs cold at all times and work quickly.
Thanks Deb! I made them right out of the fridge today and they were delightful. Thank you!
I just found these while searching for something to make with fresh cranberries! What fun! I wonder if some of the flour could be swapped for oats/oat flour?
I made these this morning and they are the best scones I’ve had, hands down! The fresh cranberries make the recipe. The house smelled ah-mazing while they were baking too. The dough seemed to be a bit wetter than other scone recipes but that didn’t bother me because the end result was very moist.
I made these yesterday and they were so delicious and ridicously easy. I was hoping to snag one for breakfast today but my parents and younger brother ate them all up yesterday! So so good!
would love to use fresh cranberries unfortunately, where i’m from you really can’t get any (i don’t think even international grocery stores carry them…damn you hong kong) however, i did make these with dried but they still tasted phenomenal! i think i got my family hooked onto them.
on another note, i did make some changes, instead of using cream i used buttermilk (well as close to butter milk as i can get in hk which is milk + 1tst lemon juice + 1/5 tbs yogurt to thicken) and it goes really well since there’s lemon juice in it, it brings out a lot of the lemony flavor. My mom was especially happy about that, she’s not too much into sweet things but this scone is just the right sweetness.
thanks for the wonderful recipe, it’s going into my “must make again” and “all time fave” lists
Just made these, delicious! I made a couple modifications – I used half whole wheat flour, half all purpose flour. I also used whole milk yogurt instead of heavy cream, as this was all that I had at home. They turned out wonderfully!
oooooh, I made these just now and I’m wanting another one or two or three instead of dinner. thank you deb!
Just made these the other week – what a wonderful, simple recipe. And I love the idea of flash freezing them, it’s been a great treat to pull one out of the freezer anytime I feel the urge for a fresh scone!
I had a bag of fresh cranberries in my fridge and didn’t know what to do with them. I found a few scone recipes, but none with very good reviews. I decided to search your archive for cranberries and I came across this. It was delicious! I made a few adaptations: I used orange zest instead of lemon, stewed my cranberries for just a few moments with a bit of orange juice, and cut the dough into hearts. Thanks so much for always posting such wonderful recipes!
Is it just me? I made these and there seemed to be too way much liquid for 2 1/2 cups flour. The dough was so wet and gooey I had to keep adding flour. The final baked scones were good, but next time I’ll add the cream bit by bit.
It’s not just you, Shell. These were definitely not scones–way too gooey and wet. I added about 1/4 c. more flour and then just spooned the batter onto pans and baked them. I didn’t want to add too much more flour and have them taste bad. The pre-baked batter was more a muffin consistency, and I know my problem was not the butter melting (as Deb posited on another comment about the gooeyness). The proportions definitely seem off to me!
I made these for breakfast and I honestly found them too sweet. Next time I would definitely only use .75 of the sugar recommended. Other than that though they were a huge hit!
Rose Byrne mentions your blog on InStyle’s March issue, page 522 :)
Yummy! I made these with fresh cranberries… the tanginess of the lemon and slightly tart cranberries were a great balance with the lightly sweet scone. I didn’t have a full cup of cream, so added a couple of scoops of yogurt and some soy milk to get up to the cup of liquid. Added a titch more flour when shaping. Also used up the extra egg white by brushing the tops before baking and sprinkling a few grains of turbinado sugar on the top. Great recipe… I’ll be making this one often!
Fifteen scones came out of the oven. Only twelve survived the first hour, and by the time I finished cleaning the kitchen, there were only nine. Eight made it to the office the next morning, and, by 10am, there was only a cumbly half-scone sitting all by itself. Turns out, I didn’t need to worry about freezing them.
Thanks for the recipe!
So I always use the recipe on your website as a foundation for scones, except I always use the apple and cheddar one (for measurements), and they ALWYAS come out perfect. Every time. Dense, soft, buttery goodness. This time I used this recipe instead, to the letter, and the batter came out like gloopy muffin batter. It was NOTHING like scone batter. Nothing close. I had to literally glop it on the parchment paper, and when it was done, it tasted fine, but it had the consistency of a flattened biscuit rubber like. 1 Cup of cream turned out to be way to much cream, and that coupled with the juice from the fruit (I used cherries instead) created wayyy too much liquid. Some of your recipes call for a 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, or a 1/4 cup of heavy cream…which is right, (I use 1/2 cup from your apple cheddar scone recipe), but this recipe calls for a whole cup. Why does this recipe call for so much cream as opposed to the jalapeño/cheddar or the apple and cheddar scones, or the raspberry ricotta scones? It just seems like a lot..
I made these and they are reeeeaaaallyyy good. I love scones because they are just a touch sweet, and have a great texture and flavour. I used fresh berries and they worked out great. Also, I didn’t have cream, so I used Balkan yogurt instead.1 issue I had was that the dough was very sticky, so I just made balls of dough and flattened them. I’m not sure if the yogurt was the reason for the stickiness, but I didn’t want to add more flour as I like light pastry. Despite this setback, they turned out awesome with incredible texture. Thank you for the recipe!
love them. did half wholemeal half white flour – they are divine!
Just made these, and they are WONDERFUL. The only modification I made was I added some orange zest to my lemon zest (it was a small lemon). Thanks for the recipe!
This is my favorite scone recipe. Can’t wait to make it for thanksgiving tomorrow morning.
Agree with previous posts-way too moist and impossible to shape into scones. This was a huge goopy mess. Taste was OK, more like a cake.
First time I’ve tried making actual scones, and I have to say these were awesome. The lemon zest was an excellent counterpoint to the cranberries. Mine turned out a bit cake-like too, but it’s hard to care when they taste that good. Also instead of whipped cream I used the juice of the de-zested lemons to make a simple frosting with powdered sugar. I definitely recommend trying it.
These are in the oven as we speak, and I’m a little frustrated. I don’t know if I did something wrong but the consistency of this dough/batter is not at all what I’m used to. I patted the batter onto a well-floured board, with a lot of flour on my hands, into the specified size. I tried cutting these out with a cup as suggested but the dough was way too sticky and soft. With the help of a lot of flour, I patted individual scones out onto a baking sheet. With that method, I’ve only got 10 normal sized round scones. My butter was cold and I even put the dough into the fridge for about 15 minutes while I finished doing something else and before I rolled these out.
I won’t be able to try these till tomorrow so I don’t know how they taste, but the process was difficult and I’m not sure if I’ll make these again. Bummed :(
Deb, after reading other comments, I see I’m not the only one who had problems with this recipe. Any chance that you could take a second look at this one and troubleshoot (once you’re back from your book tour and less busy, of course!) If not, I understand. I’m a HUGE fan of your cream scones so I can just add chopped cranberries and lemon zest to those.
This is what I ended up doing as well — I really think it’s the egg that made the difference between the two. I prefer it drier :)
first time scone maker and i was a little intimidated because i don’t have a food processor-i did it the old fashioned way with cutting butter into the flour with knives-i think they turned out pretty well. we’ll see what my husband thinks when he wakes up tomorrow!
Hi Shelly — While the vast majority of people have been very happy with this recipe, I absolutely hear you on the stickiness of the dough; I see these comments on most scone recipes on this site. Great scones (in my opinion, and of course, baking) have sticky doughs (the firmer/dryer ones have easier doughs but less delightful results) and the trick is to handle them as little as possible and always, as you noted, keep things cold. Pat it out gently on a floured counter. Dip your cutter in flour. Do not twist; press straight down. And move them quickly to a baking sheet. You didn’t tell us how they turned out — were they good, despite being tricky? Because in the end, they’re only worth dealing with the stickiness if you loved them (and then, thus, understand why it’s worth putting up with!).
See also my comment #142.
Finally, did you use frozen cranberries? This could add additional moisture. It generally works here but if they were particularly wet (I’d probably use them still frozen), that might have been the culprit.
Husband devoured them! I will make them again! Thank you for the recipe.
Hi Deb,
Thank you for this recipe and all others. I have asked Santa for your cookbook this year! I do not have a food processor. Do you think my kitchenaid stand mixer with mixer attachment would suffice here? Thanks again!
Hey Deb, thanks for the response and tips. I didn’t use frozen cranberries — they were fresh — so I don’t think that was an issue. The resulting scones were pretty good but weren’t really what I think of as scone texture (sorry). I really do love and have had great results with your cream scones, though, so I think I’m sticking with that recipe as a base. I love the idea of cranberry-Meyer lemon (and not only because I have a Meyer lemon tree that magically produces year-round — don’t ask me why!). I’ll try adding those ingredients to the cream scones and see how that turns out. Thanks again!
Made these using orange zest instead of lemon. I also had to convert them to dairy-free using soy milk and fake butter (combined the two to get the “heavy cream”). I’ve never had such light scones. They were fantastic! Thank you!
Made these tonight. The dough was WAY too sticky. I know a good scone dough should be sticky, but this was past the point of workability. (I make the creamy dreamy scones from this site all the time, and they are fabulous!)
This recipe just saved the day. My bread will not be ready in time to give as a hostess gift, so I’ve changed my plans and will give these instead (I like to give the hostess the gift of a simple breakfast – bread, some good coffee, a nice spread for the bread…. ) Thank you!
Update – the scones are wonderful. Not too sticky, nice and fluffy, and very well received. Thanks again.
My 2 year old Grandson and I made these yesterday.. they were fabulous! Very wet batter so a little difficult to get them on the cookie sheet in the same shape as they were cut…maybe it was due to Noah put in two full eggs instead of 1 egg and 1 yolk!? however they were the best I have ever made!
I’m not sure what I did wrong but the scones did not maintain their shape, they ended up looking like pancakes, any thoughts?
These look great! I have fresh cranberries and meyer lemons and can’t wait to make them. One little thing: I’m not sure that what you do when you put unbaked goods in the freezer is actually “flash-freezing.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_freezing I think it might just be “freezing” unless you have some serious special equipment. But it’s a very good idea, and if I can figure out how to get a tray of these into my insanely narrow freezer. . .
Really good recipe! I tried it last week and everyone loved it. I just changed the 1 cup of cream for 1/2 cup of cream and 1/2 cup of 1% milk.
I had read the comments that the dough was too liquid, but it worked well for me. What I did differently: used whole cranberries rolled in 1 T. of sugar (not 3 T.), worked with pastry blender until the butter no longer caught (no food processor), refrigerated the butter-flour mixture until I was ready to finish the recipe, and started with only 1/2 c. cream. I made two 1/4 c. additions anyway — ending up with just what the recipe calls for — but adding gradually would have helped if it had been too liquid-like.
Hi bakers! I just made these for valentine’s day using dried (but rehydrated) cranberries, lime zest, and i added chopped walnuts – and then of course cut them out in heart shapes! They’re still baking, I confess…but the smells are making my mouth water! I found dough a bit sloppy, but just add Tbsp’s more flour where needed.
I made these a couple of weeks ago and they were utterly *heavenly*. This was my first scone-making experience, and I didn’t make any changes to the flour amounts and had no problems working with the dough. The only change I did make (which was accidental) was to leave the cranberries whole–which actually turned out great since the whole berries made for delicious pockets of tartness in the sweet scones. I have a few more Meyer lemons in my fridge, and I’ll definitely be making these again!
For the first time, this was an SK flop for me! I should’ve read all of the comments — I have never needed to before! I had the gooey dough (probably from frozen berries and the butter melting too quick) so I added flour. A LOT of flour.
The scones turned out very flour-y (obviously) and were only okay right out of the oven. The next morning, they were not good.
Going to try the recipe again soon! I knew I shouldn’t have added anything Deb didn’t endorse!
These are fantastic as always, Deb!
Fortunately, I did not experience the “gooey dough” issue that many have pointed out. I used frozen cranberries — per Deb’s suggestion, I first thawed them in the fridge. As another poster mentioned, there is quite a bit of additional liquid from these, so I squeezed them to remove some of the excess liquid. That might have helped with the gooeyness factor. Also, after pulsing the flour mixture and adding the cranberries, I put the bowl back in the fridge while I mixed the egg yolk/cream mixture. These things may or may not have helped with the gooeyness, but it’s probably worth a shot.
I also made a couple other substitutions. I used white whole wheat flour instead of regular all purpose. I also used less sugar than recommended because I liked the tartness (roughly 2/3 of what was recommended). In fact, I used truvia instead of real sugar, and I also used light cream instead of heavy cream. All in all, I still thought they were amazing — these scones came out very light, which I prefer to the dense variety.
a few things—- I did add just a tiny bit more flour— they still were amazing! And I subbed the extra 3 tbps of sugar on the cranberries with brown sugar— heavenly! I also used unbleached flour and a ½ cup of whole wheat, they still were amazing.
Thanks for sharing!
I just made these using white choc chunks in place of lemon. They are fantastic!!!!
Just ate a hot one out of the oven! DELISH. No issues at all with the dough being wet, sticky, etc. As long as you keep it all cold, it’ll turn out just right,
fabulous recipe. i added 1/4 C of chocolate chips and 1 tsp of cinnamon.i scored them into triangles. thank you for sharing recipe!
I have been eyeing these for a couple of weeks but had a hard time finding fresh cranberries. Finally got a hold of them on Monday and made these for late breakfast Saturday. I LOVED the whiff of fragrant Meyer lemon throughout. The crust was similar to egg wash and a sprinkle of sugar before baking without the extra effort and hubby loved the zingy little tang of the fresh berries at the end of each bite. I feared they were too wet and ended up a little bit short (it could be my baking powder or that I didn’t use an actual sharp biscuit cutter) BUT they were light and delish! I want to go eat the ones we didn’t finish.
I too had the too-moist dough, with fresh cranberries (and I have very small eggs)! I should have read the comments. It was really frustrating because I was making them for a brunch and I was time limited! I have made dozens of scones before…I don’t know what happened. I ended up freezing them to deal with later. I didn’t think of dropping them like biscuits. After freezing them, and baking them, they were good. But not worth the sticky dough trouble. First SK bust. Oh well.
I have to tell you that this recipe is a new family favorite! For today’s post-Thanksgiving family brunch, I made some batches as is, and I made others substituting raspberries and blueberries for the cranberries with beautiful results! The adults loved the cranberry and the kids gobbled through the others. Thank you for the easy recipe!
I made these tonight on a whim. I had everything I needed in the house, so I tried it out. I used dried cranberries and substituted 1/4 cup of the flour with whole wheat flour, but everything came out quite delicious – not too sweet with a subtle lemon flavor. I am going to take them to work in the morning to share – I hope they are met with approval!
I’m planning to make these using creme fraiche instead of cream because I have an excess of the former and none of the latter. Any suggestions on how much to dial back the baking powder, if necessary? or any other adjustments you think might be useful?
Just remembered this recipe from last year and got them out of the oven. Pure bliss. You’re the best.
This recipe looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it!! Since my son has egg allergy, I am thinking if you have some suggestions for egg substitutes. Appreciate!
just made these today with fresh tundra cranberries and i added apples and cinnamon! yummy! thank you!
We have been making these multiple times each year since you posted it, and my entire family loves them! Thank you for a great recipe that has become an amazing family tradition!
I just made these and they were wonderful! I think that next time I’ll measure the cranberries after chopping them, since I didn’t think there was enough.
Hi! Making plans for the holidays and would love to make these – but I don’t have a food processor. I know! Can I make these with a pastry cutter (I think that’s what it’s called) and just try to work fast? Thanks for all your recipes!
Hi. Yesterday I made your Meyer lemon cranberry scones and they were amazing. I made them again this morning and they totally flopped. They were so wet that I needed to add about another cup of flour right there on the board and knead it too much which naturally made them chewey. One thing that likely contributed to the overly wet dough is that I used 2% milk instead of cream. Would that have made THAT big of a difference? Any troubleshooting advice you could give me would be most appreciated as I hope to make these again and avoid this disappointment.
Alex — It might have been the milk, more because I’ve experienced the reverse, where I’ve attempted to replace buttermilk in a biscuit recipe with cream (because I’m a hedonist) and the dough ended up incredibly dry and crumbly.
Disaster. A huge sticky mess. Deb, I used fresh cranberries and did my best to keep my dough cold but I guess it wasn’t enough. I ended up adding a bunch of extra flour just to make the dough workable, but that was a HUGE mistake, as it created a very chewy, tasteless scone. I ended up throwing out the entire batch and whipped up your dreamy cream scones at the last minute instead. They, of course, were perfect!
These are a crowd favorite with our family and friends. We make them whenever we have the opportunity, especially since we can make the night before & freeze. I try to always serve them fresh from the oven. The past couple of times I have made with coconut cream (in an effort to limit dairy) instead of heavy cream and they turn out amazing. Just wanted to share.
Deb, Thank you again for your inspiration.
I’m curious as to why the square-shaped scones did not last as long or well as round cut out scones from your experience? I’ve made scones into thick wedges (square cut into half on diagonal or by gently shaping into a circle and then cutting into pie-shaped wedges) and and have had very good results. I’ve also cut them out with round biscuit cutters and had success. Just curious. Looking forward to more genius Deb recipes!!
I would like to know if I could replace the cream with something like sour cream or milk – the fat doesn’t bother me but I’ve not been able to find a lactose-free cream: I’ve got yogurt, sour cream, kefir and milk all lactose-free so my hope is that one of those might be an acceptable substitute! These sound delicious.
I used coconut cream seemed to work fine and yes still wet, I probably used at least a cup more flour then suggested …
I have made this recipe with currants for years and they are perfect, but adding these fresh cranberries instead produced a scone that spread and was much more moist (almost raw) instead. Did anyone have that problem? Wondering if there is something to do that might balance the extra moisture? I did not like it well enough to bake again unless I can find a solution!
Can the dough be frozen and then baked from
Frozen at a later date? Would love to have the dough ready to bake off the morning after thanksgiving.
I made these lovelies today. I, too, found them ver wet. Tried adding flour as I kneaded. Didn’t work so I put them back in the bowl. Probably added another cup of flour. I also had to use half and half because I had already been to the store for lemons. They are good; maybe not quite as tender but I think when I make them again I will be prepared to add more flour.
I made these this morning – absolutely delicious!
The dough was very, very wet and sticky, but I folded it gently in the bowl until combined, then turned it out onto a floured board. I floured my hands to press them into shape (too sticky to handle otherwise) and then cut them and transferred them to a parchment-lined baking sheet. The result was amazingly tender and delicious. I would suggest to others who want to make them that you do not add flour, but just turn the dough out onto a floured board, press or roll them into shape with a little flour on top and then cut and bake them even though they are very sticky. The result was pretty amazing.
Maybe it’s because I’m a few weeks out from my due date or that I love smelling something wafting from my warm oven on these chilly fall afternoons, but I had to make these scones today! In fact, I rushed to put them in the oven before my doula came over for a meeting. I had buttermilk on hand, so that’s what I used (also added a little nutmeg because I love nutmeg and lemon flavors together). Yes, the dough was sticky, but using a well-floured surface and floured hands was all that was needed to pat the dough out and cut it. They turned out fluffy and tender delightfulness. Ate 2 right away :). Thanks, Deb! This recipe is definitely a keeper!!
I have no idea in which physical universe these measurements are right, but clearly, it isn’t mine. I made these to the letter using fresh cranberries in a cool kitchen with cold butter, but the consistency was like thick cake batter. I made another ~1/2 batch of the dry ingredients and folded that in to at least have something that would form large-ish scones without flattening, then formed the scones like drop biscuits. The final result was pretty good, but as I was going for a neater square shape, I found this somewhat disappointing.
I’ve really enjoyed a lot of other recipes on this site, but that seeing so many others have the same problem with no mention of the issue in the recipe text will cause me to view all other recipes here with some side-eye.
Just made these scones this morning — yes, it’s a seriously wet, sticky dough. Yes, it is difficult to form into scone shapes and yes, the scones won’t be neat squares. But persevere! Flour the top if you need to, accept inconsistencies in size and shape, but that wet, sticky dough bakes into AMAZING scones. Or, even better, shape the dough/batter into scones and freeze them. Then, bake them from the freezer. Much easier, and now you have scones to bake as needed.
I’m just making these for the second time in two weeks, and I wonder if I’ve found a possible explanation for others’ wet dough. When I first made them, I used 1.25 cups of whole cranberries, then chopped them. The first time around I found them sadly lacking in cranberriness, so this time I decided to use 1.25 cups of chopped cranberries. The dough was much wetter (but of course I expected that).
Perhaps those with wet sticky dough are reading the instructions backwards and chopping their cranberries before measuring?
A few comments:
1) I am an experienced baker, so the comments about the wet dough didn’t deter me. That said, I found it impossible to pat out and cut. I had to put them on the parchment paper like drop biscuits. The dough was so wet that they still came out as a nice soft scone shape. So, in the future, I’d definitely skip the hassle of trying to cut them out.
2) Some dish saving tips: chop the cranberries in the food processor! After taking the flour out, add the cranberries and sugar and pulse. So much easier and fewer dishes. Beat the egg in a large measuring cup and add the cream on top making sure to measure out the right amount. No second bowl dirty.
3) I made these with orange zest and half and half and they came out great.
No cranberries on hand so I made these this morning with raspberries and blackberries and little extra lemon zest. Super gooey dough, so I didn’t even try rolling it out and just plopped spoonfuls right onto the baking sheet. These might be the lightest scones I’ve ever made. Delicious! I’ve tried a few SK scone recipes and love that they’re all a bit different … so I can fudge through with whatever I have in the kitchen.
Deb: to all the wet dough comments, it occurs to me that you might be able to firm up the dough by popping the bowl in the fridge for a spell before rolling it out. I did not try this myself but I’m wondering if you or anyone else has? I realize this recipe has been up for a few years and I really only skimmed the early and recent comments …
I’ve made these a few times and LOVE them (especially freezing them before baking them, and always having fresh scones on hand for guests). I was wondering if you think fresh blueberries could be substituted for cranberries to make it a little more summery, and if I would have to make any other changes.
Thanks!
Definitely — I also have a extra-blueberried scone in the archives. Mostly you might need a little extra baking time because they’re wetter.
I just rediscovered Smitten Kitchen and feel like I hit the jackpot with recipes!
I made these today and I’m sorry to say that I found them rather disappointing. I’m sorry to say it because I have had such great luck with many other recipes on this site. The cranberries and lemon were a nice combination, but overall the flavor of the crumb was a bit bland. The scones had a texture more like a muffin, as in light and cakey instead of flaky, which is how I prefer them. I have determined that it’s because of the egg in the recipe. I prefer scones without eggs and with more butter, because they tend to be flakier and have a denser crumb. These spread quite a bit and the dough was insanely sticky and messy. I recommend erring on the side of patting them out even thicker than one inch, because after baking they look rather squat. The recipe dirties three bowls plus your food processor plus your counter, and you will have to wash your hands several times when proceeding with the rolling out and cutting process. Next time I will use my former go-to scone recipe (from Marion Cummingham’s Fannie Farmer Baking Book), and add the fresh cranberries and lemon zest instead of currants. By the way the recipe here does not indicate the yield. I used a 2 and 3/8 inch round cutter and got 20 scones, so you will get even more using a 2-inch cutter, unless you pat your dough thicker.
Am stuffing my face with a chocolate chip version of these right now, 5 mins after they came out of the oven. I definitely had some sticky dough, but I just shaped big rough circles with floured hands and they came out great. There was enough for 9 big scones and 8 mini scones (the latter are being frozen – shaped and put in the freezer for a while. I’ll take them out soon and put them in a ziplock to store in the freezer). Instead of lemon I added semi-sweet chocolate chips; the combo of fresh cranberry and chocolate is nothing short of amazing, and the crumb is so tender. Next time I think I’ll add more cranberries.
I just made these with frozen cranberries I picked in the fall. They are absolutely delicious but I’m uncertain they qualify as a scone because of the texture. They kinda flattened out while baking – could have been something I did – first time trying to make scones! Really only wanted to eat one but I’m on my second! ;-)
I read a bunch of the comments before making these scones, but still forged ahead with the recipe. I would agree that the dough is really damp and difficult to work with but not undoable. I used scant measurements for the cream and sugar based on the comments but probably in the end barely different (difference of a tablespoon less of sugar and 1/8th less of a cup of cream). I will not probably make this again because I found the texture too cakey for my taste in scones.
For reference, I also found the following tips helpful related to dirtying less dishes, and used them- use food processor to chop cranberries after flour, and add eggs straight to measuring cup of cream. That way I only dirtied one bowl and the food processor.
I made these yesterday for Thanksgiving breakfast and thought they were delicious! I read most of the comments which were helpful to prepare for the stickiness. I followed the less dishes recommended here which worked well. I also just tested my lemons with a microplane as opposed to peeling and chopping
I just made these and they were delicious, although the batter came out very wet. My kids and I just devoured most of the batch, smeared with butter. Although to be fair it was hardly “this” recipe since I substituted in key places! I swapped orange zest for lemon, whole wheat flour for white, and soured milk for the cream. (Because I had to use up the sour milk and half a bag of cranberries was why I settled on this recipe, and I was out of lemons and white flour.) As mentioned, the dough was so wet I couldn’t “pat” or roll the dough at all. After first adding some more flour and still not getting a stiffer dough, I just dropped big craggy spoonfuls onto the baking sheet, and they all baked up nicely without spreading.
I love these scones, and have made them several times. Yes, the dough is a little wetter than most recipes, but I just dump the dough on a well-floured surface and pat it in shape with well-floured hands. Usually I make 2 rounds and cut each round into 8ths.
Maybe people whose dough is too wet are substituting milk or other liquid for the heavy cream, using other kinds of fruit, or their butter is not cold enough.
They do spread a lot, and the texture is finer than other scone recipes, but the flavor is divine.
oh no! My first failure from your repetoire! I love your recipes Deb, have your cookbook….and really appreciate your sense of humour. I havent made scones before but thought I’d give the lemon and cranberry a go. It wasn’t clear to me in your instructions where to combine the butter mixture in so I did so once the flour/berries were together. They absolutely melted apart while cooking. Suggestions! Many thanks.
Yikes… I’ve made the dreamy cream scone recipe so many times and thought I would try this one. I panicked that I used too little flour but I double checked and I used the right amount. This dough is so wet and tacky! I shudder to think of what would happen if I tried to roll it, as patting it flat with my hands was so disastrous… I am going to have to say that whatever the difference is, I may be trashing this dough entirely to get back to the basics. :(
So I didn’t trash this dough. I was able to flatten it and I kept it in the fridge overnight while I tried to think of what to do. In the morning I cut out one round and baked it, to test, and it came out more like a freeform muffin than what I think of as a scone — it rounded out and had a very light cakey texture. So, I made them into muffins. Stuck a rounded ball of the dough into a muffin tin and now I have perfectly tasty muffins instead. But I did make the dreamy cream scones again, to satisfy that craving :)
Fresh cranberries are much harder to buy outside North America, so we’re mostly stuck using the dried ones.
I wondered if soaking dried cranberries in boiling water beforehand – and using the over-sweet soaking water in some other way (perhaps a sorbet??) – might work. It should help restore the natural texture, at least. And I’d reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe to compensate for the over-sweetened fruit.
Ok I’m out of cream and have full fat egg nog….is it gross to use that?
Hi Deb, May I use buttermilk instead of cream and if so, should I adjust the baking powder and perhaps add some baking soda? Thanks!
I saw these this morning and had to try making them. I only had regular lemons and frozen cranberries, so thawed them as suggested and cut them up pretty small. I also made a mistake and added the 3 Tablespoons sugar before I realized that was for the cranberries so had extra in my recipe. I also brushed the tops with a little cream and some coarse sugar to ensure they would be sweet enough for me. I LOVED them. I cut them in 8 triangles which ended up pretty large so was only going to eat half of one, but went back right away and gobbled up the second half! They tasted nice and lemony and not sour at all. Thank you!
I just read the others comments about stickiness and didn’t really find that to be a problem for me at all? I did mix use a pasty blender for the flour mixture instead of a food processor and when I added the cream and eggs to it I actually had to use my hands to bind it all together to a really nice dough 8 inch sized square and cut wedges out of 4 squares I cut. They did flatten out some, but were light and tasty.
Scones typically don’t have eggs. I’m not sure why these do and the others, which I make all the time, do not. I made them without and they were great. I also did orange peel because I love cranberry and orange together.
Yes!!! thanks for this comment. This was my first scone attempt so I didn’t know they usually have no eggs. I omitted the egg. I also froze the butter flour mixture because my kitchen was warm and I wanted the butter cold. It worked like a pie crust and I squashed the crumbly batter into small rounds (for kids) and it baked perfectly. The crumbly mixture was barely holding together on the pan but it baked into a perfect texture. Moral of the story is omit the egg. Love ALL your recipes Deb. I always cook from your website.
Me again, still making this recipe. I love it. But I forgot that I had commented and also the whole no egg thing 😅 and I wondered why they were different! I still loved them. I am making 100 for teacher’s day now. I saved time and dishes by peeling the lemons right into the food processor and chopping them as much as possible before adding the sugar and blended until the lemon was small bits. Sticky dough isn’t a problem just use enough flour to cover the table. But because I used so much flour on the surface I didn’t reroll dough between cuts, I just patched it together enough to cut. Since the dough is sticky it patches easily. My biggest problem is not burning the bottom before the tops are brown in my difficult gas-only oven. 🙄
Cheers to 💯 lemon cranberry scones!
My husband said these were the best scones he’d ever had. It’s why I’m commenting. I always cook and never comment. Yes, the dough was sticky and hard to work with, but I talked nice to it and we made friends. I just plopped it on my counter, patted it lovingly, used an oiled bench scrapper to cut it up and popped them in the oven. They spread some, but it just made for bigger scones…yeah! I love the lemon rather than the usual orange/cranberry combo…so ordinary. I strongly suggest using the whole amount of zest listed to get maximum lemony lift. I used regular lemons. Meyer not available. The butter and cream was enough. A tender bake. Didn’t even bother to spread on extra butter. I froze my extra sconces on Slipat and put in a zip lock for another day. The kitchen cleaner suggested fewer bowls as this Swedish chef (Muppet character) made a mess. But, he totally loved the scones. Winner recipe.
Sounds good but is there a paleo version?
So… I’m actually making this right now (second batch in the oven as I type this), and it’s actually turning out well, but I couldn’t not say this.
I was following the recipe and it was only after I’d added the cranberries to the ‘flour mixture’ that I realized that there was no flour in the flour mixture. This is because at no point in the recipe was I told to put the flour anywhere. I suspect that this is a typo and that I was supposed to put the flour into the food processor at the beginning with the butter and the sugar and the salt, but since the recipe never explicitly said so… I didn’t mix the flour in until the end.
The scones don’t appear to be any the worse for it, but you should fix that… Someone absentminded could easily leave out the flour that way, and end up with a mess.
It’s entirely possible that someone else has pointed this out, and if I’m being redundant to some other comment, I apologize.
Anyhow, have a happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks!
Approximately how many scones does this recipe make?
I got 10, each a bit over 3″ diameter.
I made these with excess cranberries from our sauce recipe. After reading the comments, I made “drop scones.” I don’t have a lot of patience for rolling out dough under the best of circumstances. I baked half of them as prescribed and they were amazing!
I froze the other half. Recently, I put a in the fridge the night before I plan to use them. Then the magic happens.
SCO-FFLES! That’s right, I put them in the waffle iron. They’re dreamy with some orange marmalade. Thanks for another great recipe, Deb!
I am slightly confused by the instructions regarding the lemon zest. In the list of ingredients you say ‘freshly grated zest from two lemons.’ In the instructions you say ‘remove lemon peel with a vegetable peeler and chop fine.’ That sounds interesting, but I’ve never done ‘zest’ that way before. As a seasoned cook ;-/, I’m good with either way, just wondering if the lemon peel chopped is the preferred way. Thanks for your reply and happy book touring!
I just made these…they are absolutely little round discs of heaven!!! Not too sweet, light with just the right amount of moisture. And when you bite into one of the cranberries…it just doesn’t get much better!
I happened to have a bag of leftover cranberries and had just bought Meyer lemons so I had to make these!I ate two (soooooo good!!) and put the rest in the freezer. What a treat it’ll be to have a freshly baked one for breakfast. Thank you for another delicious recipe 😊
Just made these for Christmas morning. These are so great that I want to look for more cranberries in the stores, but I’m afraid it’s too late. First time ever baking scones; definitely something to make then freeze in advance.
About your Myer Lemon fresh cranberry scones, would you have to tweak the recipe, or could you use buttermilk instead of 1 cup of heavy cream in the recipe?
WOW these are good. I think your Very Blueberry Scones may still be my overall favorite (with the Whole Wheat Raspberry ones as a close second – still haven’t tried Dream Scones, though!), but this one is right up there. After reading all the comments, I was worried the dough would be a wet mess, but it really wasn’t so bad and I could handle it pretty well with the help of a lot of flour on my hands. I skipped any food processor and just used a pastry blender. Soooo delicious!
These were so fantastic. Perfect. I pressed them into a circle in cut them into triangles. So yummy!
Can you use this recipe and stir in anything that you want?
Maybe not anything but other similar ingredients should work well here.
I’m on a smitten kitchen kick this morning, make 4(!) of your delicious recipes – this one I’m trying for the first time, and I used cranberries that were frozen and then thawed for about an hour. When I made the dough it was halfway between cookie dough and cake batter — thick but pourable. I thought I might have forgotten an extra 1/2 cup of flour so I added that, but the dough was still incredibly runny. I’m wondering if the cranberries aren’t continuing to release water — any tips on how to avoid that next time (when all I have is fresh/frozen cranberries? Thanks, Deb! Love your blog and delicious recipes!!
My dough was so wet that I had to just spoon them onto the baking sheet. Keeping my fingers crossed that they come out as fabulous as every other SK recipe I have tried.
I’ve made these many times, they are so good 😊, possibly the best scone recipe!! Don’t let other reviews scare you from making these!! I use 1 bowl, cut in the cold butter with a pastry fork, pour heavy cream into a 2-cup measuring cup, added in the egg+yolk & poured over dry ingredients. I omitted the lemon and instead added 1/2c chopped Ghiradelli white chocoate along with the cranberries (wild cranberries we picked off the Gunflint Trail in northeastern MN and keep frozen). I just combined gently in bowl and dump onto a large cutting board, pat out to 1”to 1 1/2”thick and cut into 8 wedges. Put into fridge for an hour or so then brushed tops with cream, sprinkled sanding sugar and baked straight from fridge 19-20 minuets. Let cool on baking sheet 4 min, then served warm. Delicious 😋!! Very tender crumb, never dry or tough. Don’t over mix is the key, just pat together into a round and cut into wedges. If I would’ve rolled out this dough, the little cranberries would burst too much. Works every time! Thanks Deb!
Hi Deb! I don’t know if you’re able to get to comments on older recipes, but does this call for kosher salt or table salt?
I think it was kosher, however, I’m lining this up with other recipes and really think it could handle fine sea salt or table salt at that quantity, what with the sugar and volume.
I’ve made these one to two times a year since about 2014, when cranberries are available (now!). I use a pastry cutter and cold butter to avoid warming things up, and I give a rough chop to about half my cranberries (though now that I say that, maybe I won’t this year). Yes, you need flour on your hands and your work surface. As some others have said, just kind of pat it out into the right height, about one inch — it doesn’t need precision, so while the dough is a little sticky it’s still less work to me than rolling out a cookie-type dough. I used to use a pint glass (floured!) to cut my rounds, which works just fine, but have since gotten a metal round cutter (floured!) that’s about that size. In my experience, if you saran wrap individually and then put into a freezer bag, you can keep longer than a week, but don’t expect to have one in the summer. I typically bake them off as needed in my toaster oven so I can have one warm with my coffee in the morning til they’re gone.
If you can’t tell / tl;dr : I love this recipe and modify my life this time of year around it.
How would substituting coconut oil for butter for the lactose intolerant visitor work out? Love your style!
Just made these. Gonna burn my tongue on the hot cranberries. Awesome. So damn yummy. The cream in the biscuit dough is a must. Thank you.
This recipe was easy, and a big hit at my house. I used fresh cranberries and regular lemons. Came out exactly as described. Made about 30 scones when cut into rounds with a 2” diameter glass. I froze half of them to cook later this week.
Eh I tried these this evening and the dough was super wet, almost not movable from my counter to the pan. Did I do something wrong? Or are they just much wetter than other scones? Thanks!
I made these with my left over homemade cranberry sauce. I just cut the sugar since there was already a fair amount in the cranberry sauce.
Super good!
The first batch I patted out and cut look great! The subsequent ones, which added more flour, didn’t raise and have less taste. The flour is necessary each time due to the sticky nature of the dough. Any tips to remedy this?
Hmmm…this recipe sounded delish but the proportions were out of wack. Way too much liquid that ended with a gooey, impossible-to-shape dough. It’s not the first dud recipe I’ve tried of yours but sadly it will be the last. Your recipes are creative yet utterly impractical. I don’t want to invest my time and money into unreliable recipes. Sadly, your cookbook is heading for the trash!
Yikes, it sounds like either an ingredient was missing (but I’m sure you know how to follow a recipe, of course), the oven temperature was whack (browning too much before cooking inside is often a sign an oven is too hot) or, as you suggested, it needed more flour. Which weight did you use? I found it annoying at the time that different brands of cake flour had different weights so I couldn’t give a consistent one.
This is one of my favorite scone recipes of all time. I made them in consistently when I lived in Maryland, and then I moved to Canada. The first time I made them here the batter was soupy, and my plops of dough baked into floppy pancakes. (I mean, I still ate them, but…) I don’t know what could possibly have changed (the flour? the cream? the latitude?!) but the next time, I tried adding the cream bit by bit until the dough was the consistency I remembered. Now I make them with about 2/3 of a cup of cream, and they’re turning out splendid and puffy once more.
So I’d recommend your users start out with half the cream first, then add cream bit by bit until the dough reaches a consistency they’re comfortable with.
Wow here it is December 27th 2018. These are incredible! I used low-fat coconut milk instead of whipping cream.
Instead of cream fresh for the topping, I used 2% greek yogurt with a little lemon zest, juice and honey!!
Stuck inside in the snow and decided to make a batch of these for breakfast with fresh cranberries hiding in my fruit drawer. They are a little bit more of a cake-y scone, but I liked them a lot. No meyer lemons OR oranges in the house (we’ve been eating satsumas bags at a time) so I subbed in lemon zest with a little sugar rubbed in. The dough IS wet, so I treated them like drop biscuits and didn’t shape them at all — just gathered them into rough rounds on the parchment and baked them off. Gave them a couple minutes’ blast of 450 at the end to make them more golden.
Hi Deb! I love baking all of your recipes and this one was definitely one of my favorite. I crave cranberries year round but unfortunately, the fresh ones are not always easily found. I despise the dried, overly sweet cranberries.
Can I substitute the cranberries for something else like blueberries?
Can you make the dough ahead and freeze?
I accidentally doubled the butter, and it somehow ended up being so good. Very moist and not dry at all. Love it!
Looking for nutrition information. I’m on a diet and splurging and trying to figure out how much I can have.
My fav scone recipe. Definatley make with fresh cranberries…. dried a bit too sweet! Perf during the holidays. Make and freeze perfect too!
Just made these. Delish! Surprisingly my little Meyer lemon tree is producing lemons in the middle of winter in the PNW. I didn’t have cream on hand so used full fat coconut cream. Half my cranberries were bunk so dried were used for the other half.
I didn’t have cranberries so used blueberries. Was delicious!
Pandemic baking! I made these before reading the comments and I have to say I won’t come back to this recipe. The texture was very muffin/cake like. I want a true scone texture that’s flaky but a bit dense. The dough was very wet and sticky, but not unmanageable with a flexible bench scraper. They also spread more than I would anticipate. The flavor of the lemon and fresh cranberries was lovely though and I will be using that combo again!
Hi! Big Smitten Kitchen fan over here, thanks for the amazing recipes. Usually I find them fool proof but this one I cannot get right. The flavour is amazing but I’ve made them twice now and can’t them to the right consistency to roll the dough out and cut them up. This last time I even reduced the cream by nearly 1/3 and still couldn’t roll them. The dough is more batter and super sticky. Even with tons of flour on the hands it doesn’t help. I’m thinking the only place that maybe isn’t right is the processing of the dry with the butter. Perhaps I’m over processing? I wouldn’t say I end up with a meal. More a flour. Any suggestions?? Thank you!
I made these after noticing my specially purchased Meyer lemons were starting to dwindle. I chopped the frozen cranberries +sugar in processor, put them in bowl & put in fridge, then went onto the butter/flour step. After reading the comments, I started with 1/2 c liquid (plain greek yogurt + splash of creme) but realized it needed the full cup (Flour mixture was in the fridge in between steps). The consistency was just right with 1c when mixed. I did squares, since it’s how I always do scones. I wasn’t sure how many it was supposed to make, and ended up with 8 jumbo scones! The flavor is great and we cut each in half for a more appropriate size. (16 total)
The first time I made these, my son was barely 6 weeks old, and it was one of the first times I baked postpartum. They were just easy enough to actually get done during one of his 20-minute naps and just complicated enough to feel like I had accomplished a major feat. I just made them again today, a year later, and they are just as good as I remember.
I made a couple changes to the recipe, using half and half instead of heavy cream since that’s what I always have on hand. I also divide the dough into two and then pat it out into a circle and cut it into 8 smaller scones. After they’re done baking, I wait for them to cool, put them in the freezer and then in the morning I zap it in the microwave for 15-30 seconds. They’re best when they’re freshly baked but even if I flash froze them, I still don’t have the kind of time to be baking up one or two scones every morning for myself.
Anyway, these scones bring back sweet memories of those first sleep-deprived months of being a new mom. Thanks Deb.
These scones are a gift that keeps on giving :) I did not roll them out, instead just assembled them “drop biscuit” style (out of laziness haha). No change in baking time with the drop biscuit style. I froze about half of them before baking, and it reheats perfectly as instructed (about 5 extra min cooking time in my oven). Hence a gift that keeps on giving!
I just made these scones… and wow… I didn’t have cranberries so I used dried cherries…but that’s besides the point… the dough.. the dough.. I mean so tender and flaky …just a lovely scone. I think what made the difference is that you told us to just barely combine and then turn dough out. I’ve made scones before but none have been this light.. usually a bit like a brick. Thanks for your fabulous instructions as always!! So I just baked 4 as a text and have frozen the rest of the dough because we have lots of visitors over weekend,(not during covid.. but in pre pandemic times) and I love to have things in the freezer. Thanks again.. I’m hoping the frozen ones turn out just as amazing!
Made these with the leftover egg yolk from making your Almond Horn Cookies (and made your Vermontucky Lemonade with the leftover lemon juice from these). Although I used the leftover egg yolk I forgot the whole egg (oops!) however based on my quality control taste test they seem none the worse for the omission. I did not find the dough unmanageable and other than forgetting the egg the only (intentional) change I made was to add a generous pinch of Sugar in the Raw on top before baking, I got 17 2 inch scones. Another winner-thank you!
Thank you for this recipe! I love fresh cranberries and have been wanting something just like this. Delicious! One time-saving tip for the chronically late, like me: pat dough into rounds 4″ across and 1″ thick, cut each into quarters and place on baking sheet, spaced as above. I got 24 scones using this method.
These were delicious!!! Followed recipe exactly as written, but cut round of dough into 8 wedges—led to a baking time of closer to 20 minutes. Was a little nervous dough would be too wet based on comments but it was perfect and easy to work with. I did follow one commenter’s suggestion to chop cranberries in the food processor and that sped up the recipe and made fewer dishes. Clean up was done before scones were out of oven. Super-easy and will absolutely make again!
Can you put this in grams?
I was a bit worried when I read some of the comments but these were amazing—pillowy and delicious, perfect texture. I had no trouble with the dough which I patted and cut into 8 wedges. Thanks for another great recipe!
This has been my favorite go-to scone recipe for family gatherings over the years, but I haven’t baked any since Christmas of 2019. I decided to bake them again for this Christmas but got intimidated by negative comments here, even though mine always came out perfectly.
I usually put the butter in the freezer about 1 hour before using for this recipe and dice it into small pieces when ready. I use a pastry/dough blender instead of a food processor, only because I don’t like adding more stuff to clean but it helps me prevent overmixing the dough! I work as quickly as possible and stop when the mixture is unevenly crumbly. I saw someone suggested to add cream gradually, so I try to keep that in mind as well. The dough looks fairly cohesive at this point and I can’t recall the time it turned out too wet or too sticky to handle. I’ve been cutting the dough into larger 8 wedges but I’ll probably divide the dough into two rounds and then cut them into quarters from next time. I often flash freeze the extra dough unbaked and wrap them to enjoy later (highly recommended). The ones I baked this week were just as delicious as I remembered. Thank you Deb for another great recipe. I’m a self-taught home cook/baker and many of my favorites come from your blog and cookbooks!
Made 2 batches today – just about the right amount of fresh cranberries in 1 bag, if you throw in a little extra.
If you need weights it’s 300g flour and 100g sugar
Changes –
Used regular lemons, not Meyer.
Used fresh cranberries but didn’t add the extra sugar.
Didn’t have a big enough food processor so just whisked the dry ingredients and then cut the butter in with a pastry blender.
The first batch I cut into traditional scone triangles (which caught a tiny bit on the tip in the oven), the second batch into squares – I haven’t baked those yet. I didn’t find the dough as hard to work with as many have indicated but did have my butter, cream, and egg all super cold so maybe that helped.
They were fantastic right out of the oven – amazing!! So glad I finally made these.