This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our privacy policy.
Topped with a sweet orange glaze, Orange Scones are sweet, tangy, and tender. They are the best breakfast or afternoon snack with a cup of tea.
I am so over winter right now. And let me tell you, it’s not helping matters that it’s supposed to be 4°F here on Sunday.
Every single winter I ask myself why we continue to live in the Midwest. Sure, changing seasons are great, but I could really do without the freezing cold temps after Christmas.
I mean, it snowed here in early May last year and I think we went over 20 days without sunshine.
Since the weather is less than amazing, I thought I’d brighten your day and mine with these sweet and tangy orange scones.
They’re simple to make and absolutely delicious for breakfast with a cup of tea.
MY FAVORITE ORANGE SCONE RECIPE
The very first scone I ever ate was a glazed orange scone from Panera. I’ve been smitten with scones ever since then.
In my opinion, they’re the perfect balance between biscuits and cake – I mean is it possible to go wrong with that textural combination? I think not.
I’ve made a number of scones over the years, including Cranberry Orange Scones, Glazed Vanilla Bean Scones, and Lemon Raspberry Scones.
But it was high time I came back to the scone flavor that started it all for me: Orange Scones.
These scones have just the right amount of sweetness from the glaze, orange flavor from orange zest in the scones and orange juice in the glaze, and tang from a secret ingredient.
MAKING SCONES WITH SOUR CREAM
If you’ve ever found yourself trying to figure out how to make buttermilk after forgetting to pick some up at the store, you might have used sour cream in your baked goods before.
Instead of cream or buttermilk, these scones use sour cream mixed with an egg as the wet ingredients.
The sour cream keeps the scones moist and adds just the right amount of tang to them. The tanginess is perfect for balancing the sweetness from the sugar and the orange in the scones.
HOW TO MAKE ORANGE SCONES
To make these Orange Scones, you’ll need:
- 1/3 cup sugar
- zest of two medium oranges
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
Just like when making my Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake, start by rubbing the orange zest and sugar together with your fingertips. This will release the oils in the zest and make the scones extra flavorful.
Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture and then use your fingertips to work the butter into the dry ingredients. You want the mixture to resemble a coarse meal.
Whisk together the egg and sour cream and use a fork to stir this mixture into the dry ingredients until large dough clumps form. You’ll need to use your hands to form the dough into a ball; it’ll seem sticky at first, but it will come together.
Use your hands to pat the dough into a circle on a lightly floured surface and cut it into 8 triangles.
After baking and cooling the scones, whisk together the glaze ingredients. You can either dip the scones into the glaze or spoon the glaze on top of the scones.
Want to be really extra? Let the glaze dry and then give them a second coat! I love a double-glazed scone.
Now all I need is a coffee with some cinnamon dolce syrup and I can have my Panera scone and my Starbucks coffee all from the comfort of home.
Orange Scones
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Scones
- ⅓ cup sugar
- zest of two medium oranges
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter frozen
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 large egg
For the Glaze
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar sifted
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine sugar and orange zest; mix with your fingertips until the sugar is moistened and fragrant. Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.
- Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- In a small bowl, whisk the sour cream and egg until smooth.
- Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. The dough will be sticky first, but as you press, the dough will come together.
- Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and prepare the glaze.
- In a medium bowl, prepare the glaze by mixing together the melted butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and orange juice. Whisk until smooth. Dip the top of the scones into the glaze and allow the glaze to harden.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this recipe! Thank you so much! I also added orange zest to the glaze and my husband said they were very good! I was shooting for great, but…ha ha! He said they were not as dry as the Panera Scones which I count as a win~win! Thank you!
Lisa-
Yay! I’ll take very good any day of the week! So happy to hear you enjoyed them! :)
-Jamie
I found this recipe tonight. I also accidentally doubled the butter like another writer, but they came out fabulous! Need to get the ingredients for the icing at the store in the morning. Thanks for a great recipe!
So happy to hear they turned out! Enjoy!
-Jamie
just found this recipe. cant wait to try it. I just love orange scones. is it possible to make them out of self rising flour without changing the flavor?
Hi, Freida! I think self rising flour would work. Add an extra 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder for every cup of self rising flour you use. I hope you enjoy them!
Hi jamie! Just wanted to say hello and to thank you for this recipe… I made these today, and they came out PERFECT!!!! My husband said way better than Panera’s!!!
Gaijina-
I’m glad that the recipe turned out for you. Thanks for visiting.
-Jamie
I have to be honest and say that I rarely try recipes I find on blogs because I have just had too many duds. However, my boys absolutely love scones and I have been searching for a good recipe for quite a while. I really wanted a recipe without cream that still looked rich. Your recipe seemed to fit the bill so I made a batch for snack this afternoon.
Oh my gosh, we were thrilled with the results! My only change was to add a little zest to the icing. My icing was pretty thick, so no need to
double dip – which was good, because we were
ready to sample. I will make these again and again and I’m already planning variations for add-ins to the basic dough. Thank you!
These were absolutely delicious. I cut them into 16 rather than 8, so they were more like mini-scones. Worked beautifully. Thanks!
Ssuths-
I’m so glad you enjoyed the scones. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
I will have to try these – make scones all the time, but have never used a glaze; usually just sprinkle Turbinado sugar on them after brushing with buttermilk. Oh yeah, I also usually use buttermilk to mix, but occasionally sour cream/greek yogurt
Thanks for visiting Nancy.
-Jamie
These scones sound delicious. Please tell me if I could use something else instead of egg? Would love to try them. Thanks.
Hi Leena,
You could try 1/4 cup of applesauce as a substitute for an egg. I hope this helps.
-Jamie
Just made these today, my first time ever making scones and oh my gosh amazing thank you for the great recipe!
These turned out great, and the first time at that! How often does that happen! You usually have to make something a few times and adjust ingredients until a pastry comes out well. Thank you for a fool-proof recipe!
So glad the recipe worked so well for you. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie