Light, fluffy, and flaky blood orange raspberry scones topped with a blood orange glaze.
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blood orange scones
I looooooove blood orange season. Although I do think they still taste like regular oranges (sorry!), they are just so beautiful. That glaze color you see above is all natural from blood orange juice, it’s truly magical.
If you haven’t heard of blood oranges before, they definitely sound a lot scarier than what they really are. Blood oranges presumably get their name from their bright red color and they’re very similar in taste to regular oranges, but they’re slightly more tart. People also say they have a raspberry undertone to them, so here we’re pairing them with raspberries to really accentuate that flavor and set these apart from regular orange scones.
why you’ll love these blood orange scones:
- Moist – no sad dry scones on this blog!
- Flavorful – the raspberries and blood oranges bring so much flavor and freshness to these scones, it’s unbelievable.
- Super easy to make – scones are a lot easier to make than you might think, and they’re great for bringing to a friend for brunch.
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
keep the dough and ingredients cold:
The trick to getting those flaky layers and butter pockets is to keep the dough cold. If you notice the butter getting too warm at any point while making the scones, just pop the dough into the freezer for 5-10 minutes to harden it up again. You’ll also want to keep your egg & sour cream in the fridge until you’re ready to use them.
get more flavor out of zest
It’s hard to put citrus juice into bakes because it can easily throw off the texture of the dough. So we’ll get blood orange flavor into the scone dough through the zest. To get even more flavor out of the zest, we’ll rub the zest into the sugar, which will release oils from the zest into the sugar and release more flavor into the dough.
Mix the dough carefully:
Be careful to knead the dough just until it comes together. Over-kneading the dough can lead to a drier, tougher scone.
freeze the dough before baking it
This step is super important because it ensures that the scones will not spread much in the oven, and will bake up nice and tall! Freeze the dough for at least 30 minutes before slicing them and baking them off. If you’re freezing the dough overnight or longer, make sure you wrap the dough up tightly in plastic wrap to avoid it drying out. Also – you will probably need to let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before it’s soft enough to slice in to.
how to cut butter into the scones
There are multiple different ways that you can incorporate butter into your scones. I find it’s easiest to cube up the butter and then smush it into the flour with my fingers until the pieces are fairly tiny. You can also use a pastry blender, or two forks to kind of cut the butter up into the flour. If you wanted to prep the night before, you could use a cheese grater to grate the stick of butter and then freeze it until you’re ready to make the scones.
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for blood orange scones:
blood orange scones:
- All purpose flour: for structure.
- Baking powder: for helping the scones rise.
- Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the scones.
- Unsalted butter: for tenderness and making those delicious flaky layers. You can substitute in salted butter, just be sure to remove the excess salt from the dough!
- Granulated sugar: for sweetness.
- Blood orange: the star of the show! For the dough we’ll just need the zest.
- Egg: for binding and for moisture.
- Sour cream: makes these scones nice and tender and keeps them from being dry. I recommend full-fat sour cream for the best texture.
- Vanilla: for flavor.
- Raspberries: I used frozen raspberries but fresh work great as well.
blood orange glaze:
- Powdered sugar & blood orange: the powdered sugar is the base of the glaze, and we’ll use the juice of a blood orange to thin it out and give it a *beautiful* pink color.
how to make blood orange raspberry scones
Below are a few pictures of the process of making the scones. You can find the full recipe at the end of the blog post 🙂
blood orange scones recipe q&a
can I make these scones ahead of time?
Yes, you can! There are two ways you could go about this.
- Prepping the night before: After making the scone dough and shaping it, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and leave in the freezer overnight. In the morning you can bake these scones off as stated in the recipe.
- Prepping further in advance: After making the scone dough and shaping it, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Freeze the dough for up to 1 month before baking. You can bake the scones right from frozen, they will just need a couple more minutes in the oven!
can I double this recipe?
Of course! Simply double all of the ingredients in the recipe and divide the dough into even circles. I (even more) strongly recommend measuring by weight if you are going to double the recipe for the best results.
how to store blood orange scones
Like most baked goods, these scones will taste the best on the day that they are baked, but will keep well for 3-5 days in an airtight container stored at room temperature.
american scones vs. british scones
These are very much American scones. British scones are more akin to American biscuits and likewise, do not contain any egg (while British biscuits are more like shortbread in America!) These scones contain one egg which helps make them light, fluffy, and moist.
My scones turned out super dry
The #1 reason for baked goods coming out super dry is not measuring the flour properly. I seriously can’t recommend using a scale enough for the best baking experience and outcome! They may also turn out dry if you over-kneaded the dough (only knead until it comes together), or if you browned the butter for too long and too much moisture evaporated.
My scones spread a lot in the oven
There are three reasons this may have occurred –
- The dough was not chilled for long enough. Freeze the dough for at least 30 minutes before baking. This allows all the ingredients to get cold again, which leads to less spreading in the oven.
- Your oven temperature is wrong. I recommend getting an oven thermometer, you might be surprised to find out that your oven runs too hot or cold!
- Your baking powder might be expired. You can test if your baking powder is active by dropping some in a small amount of water. If it bubbles, it’s active, if not, it’s expired.
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
Blood Orange Scones
Ingredients
Blood Orange Raspberry Scones
- 1 egg
- 95 g sour cream (⅓ c. + 1 tbsp.)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
- zest of 2 blood oranges
- 240 g all purpose flour (2 c.)
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- 113 g unsalted butter cold, cubed (½ c.)
- 120 g raspberries fresh or frozen (1 c.)
Blood Orange Glaze
- 180 g powdered sugar (1 ½ c.)
- 1-2 tbsp. blood orange juice freshly squeezed
Instructions
Blood Orange Raspberry Scones
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream, and vanilla. Set the mixture in the fridge.
- Add the sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl. Zest the blood oranges into the mixing bowl, then use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cube up your cold butter stick and add it into the dry ingredients.
- Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter pieces are quite small (pea-sized pieces.)
- Make a well in the center of the ingredients. Add in the sour cream/egg mixture and raspberries.
- Gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Once you reach a point where it seems hard to continue mixing in the bowl, pour the dough out onto a clean work surface.
- Use your hands to lightly knead the scone dough until it comes together as one.
- Form the dough into a circle that is 6" in diameter. Place the giant dough circle onto a sheet of parchment paper and on to a plate or tray. Cover the dough lightly with plastic wrap and let it rest in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, up to overnight.
- Once you're ready to bake the scones, preheat the oven to 425°F / 220°C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Slice the scones into 8 equally sized triangles. Evenly space them apart on the lined baking sheet.
- If desired, you can brush a little bit of heavy cream on top of the scones to encourage the tops to brown. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the scones start to turn golden brown on the tops and bottoms.
Blood Orange Glaze
- Add the powdered sugar to a small mixing bowl. Add in 1 tbsp. of freshly squeezed blood orange juice and mix. Add in more blood orange juice as needed until you reach your desired consistency (for me, this was ~1.5 tbsp. total)
- Once the scones have cooled to room temperature, top them with the glaze. Garnish with more blood orange zest, then serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.