Soft, tender, and buttery, these are the ultimate cream scones! Flavored with orange, you can have freshly baked scones in 45 minutes. They freeze beautifully too.
If you turn on the oven now, in an hour you can have the kitchen smelling amazing and these buttery, mildly sweet orange and cream mini scones standing beside your mug of tea – coffee for me, please.
They are by far my favorite recipe; no surprise since it's adapted from Nancy Silverton, one of my most admired bakers ever.
If there was a tea time tradition in my family (as explained in the post on strawberry buttermilk scones) it was to eat freshly baked scones, something that made me a scone fan, both for eating and making.
By hand
- Use a large bowl to mix the dry ingredients comfortably.
- Add the butter. It must be very cold and in small pieces to ensure a great result. This is important if you cut the butter into the flour by hand (as opposed to using a pastry cutter) because it will take several minutes and you don't want the butter to start warming up and melting. (You can buy pastry cutters online).
- Mix wet ingredients in another bowl before adding to the butter mixture. Mix lightly with a fork until you have a shaggy mass and dump it on a lightly floured counter.
- Gather the dough into an irregular ball. This must be done with as few strokes as possible but the dough must be cohesive. It doesn't matter if there are dry spots here and there. This is not a smooth dough (image above).
In the food processor
The alternative to making the dough completely by hand is using the food processor (my favorite small appliance!) for the first part of the recipe.
- Put the flour and other dry ingredients in the bowl of the food processor. Pulse to mix.
- Scatter cold butter. Pulse a few times, just until the butter is the size of peas. It will be irregular. Don't overwork it.
- Add the wet ingredients (lightly mix them first in a bowl) and pulse a few times using on/off and barely start bringing it together. Don't process until you have a ball! You should have a shaggy mass.
- Finish in the counter, gathering the dough just enough so that you can cut the scones (images above).
Scones have very simple ingredients, but a few pointers should be followed if you want to achieve soft, tender ones, nicely risen.
Top tips
- Very cold ingredients. I’m not kidding when I say frozen butter, at least very cold. And don’t take the cream half an hour before you start mixing the scones. Butter, cream, milk, they belong in the fridge until you need to scatter and pour them.
- Don't overwork the dough. It should come together but still have floury patches. You don’t need to work it until it’s smooth, like a pie dough for instance. It is an uneven dough, with dry spots, and that’s good for flakiness later.
- A rather high oven. They need that extra heat (and baking powder) to rise however they can in spite of all that butter and cream. And if by any chance you forgot to turn the oven on before you start with the mixing, please don’t leave the baking sheet with the cut scones waiting on the counter. Put them in the fridge or freezer the ten or fifteen minutes it takes for the oven to reach its temperature.
Storing
One of the most wonderful things about scones is that they can be frozen raw, already formed. So you can make a big batch, cut them, put them on trays, and freeze them.
Once frozen, put them in a plastic bag or container so the tray doesn’t occupy freezer space.
That way, you can bake them to order! Directly from the freezer into a hot oven. Warm, freshly baked scones whenever you feel like it.
I love these with lemon zest too or a mix of orange and lemon. Enjoy!
Other recipes you might like:
Strawberry Buttermilk Scones
Parmesan Chive Scones
Best Buttermilk Scones
Double Cheese Scones
Let me know if you make this recipe! I’d love to hear what you think about it.
Thank you for being here, I appreciate it! Let’s connect via Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Orange and Cream Mini Scones
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: About 25 mini scones 1x
- Category: Scones & Biscuits
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: International
Description
Soft, tender and buttery, these are the ultimate cream scones! Flavored with orange, you can have freshly baked scones in 45 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups (315g) pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (65g) sugar, plus some extra for sprinkling before baking
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- Zest of 1 large orange
- 6 oz (180g) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen
- ¼ cup whole milk, very cold
- ½ cup cream, very cold, plus extra for brushing the tops of the scones
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF / 180ºC.
- Grease or line with parchment paper two baking sheets.
- In the bowl of a food processor, put flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Process a few seconds just to mix.
- Scatter butter over this mixture and orange zest, and pulse a few times until the butter is the size of peas. (If making by hand use a large bowl and cut the butter with your hands or a pastry cutter. Then follow the recipe below).
- Transfer mixture to a large bowl.
- Pour milk and cream and quickly with a fork, mix everything until most of it is moist.
- Dump it onto the kitchen counter and quickly give it a few turns to avoid very dry spots. Some dry parts will remain and that is OK. The more you touch it and mix it, the tougher the baked scones will be.
- Pat the mixture about 2-inches high.
- With a round, small cookie cutter, cut scones (you might need to dip the cutter periodically in flour to aid with this) quickly and arrange them on the baking sheets.
- Brush tops with additional cream and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, until tops are golden and risen.
- Eat warm.
- Keep them on a tin, but even if eaten the next day, they are best briefly warmed in the oven.
Notes
- Very cold ingredients. I’m not kidding when I say frozen butter, at least very cold. And don’t take the cream half an hour before you start mixing the scones. Butter, cream, milk, they belong in the fridge until you need to scatter and pour them.
- Don't overwork the dough. It should come together but still have floury patches. You don’t need to work it until it’s smooth, like a pie dough for instance. It is an uneven dough, with dry spots, and that’s good for flakiness later.
- A rather high oven. They need that extra heat (and baking powder) to rise however they can in spite of all that butter and cream. And if by any chance you forgot to turn the oven on before you start with the mixing, please don’t leave the baking sheet with the cut scones waiting on the counter. Put them in the fridge or freezer the ten or fifteen minutes it takes for the oven to reach its temperature.
Keywords: orange scones
adapted from Pastries from the La Brea Bakery, by Nancy Silverton
Truly lovely! I've missed you and now I must try these scones with all the lovely citrus in SoCal jus now.
You deserved that vacation, Paula! What a beautiful place, I loved living vicariously through your photos. I can almost feel that sun on my face! I'm making these scones this weekend - I've got all the ingredients at home (yay!). I love how tall and fluffy they look. Orange flavoured anything is totally my jam.
These are gorgeous scones. But I love where you are eating them from better. Wow!
Nice to see you back, Paula! Your vacation photos are lovely! I do enjoy a good scone, and these look perfect…a must try.
They would make such a wonderful breakfast.. 🙂
Mini scones! Orange? Yes! Love the idea. Glad you had a good time. We'll have a good time eating these. 🙂 Fun post, loved the pictures. Thanks.
I just had afternoon tea last Saturday, but your delicious looking scones are making me want to go back!
Very clear, Paula, that your orange and cream mini scones are the cat's meow. Looking forward to my tray of the lovely teatime treats...Speaking of which, Patagonia looks to be a well-deserved treat after hard work =)
What a lovely scones! And your vacation photos! Swoon worthy! I am very much longing for summer right about now!
que ricos Paul!!! super tentadores... y la zona de los 7 Lagos, que placer!!! Ya te sigo en IG 🙂
Un beso!
Delicious and buttery orange mini scones, light and flaky... oh yeah, count me in. So good to see you back for a bit. Your vacation spot looks blissful. I would never want to leave it. Wonder if they have wifi there?
These vacation sounds magnificent my friend 😀 Well deserved!
Now these scones - wouldn't mind a big bite out of them!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
You seriously make the best scones, Paula! And how have I NOT been following you on Instagram? All fixed now. xoxo
These scones look delicious and the pictures of Patagonia are absolutely gorgeous! What a breathtaking region 🙂
A well deserved vacation in such a picturesque area!!! Your scones look amazing---you haven't lost your baking (or photography) mojo!!! xoxo
Have never tried scones and your handy tips will definitely be of help when I give them a try in my kitchen. Thanks for sharing.
Ahhh...los Lagos del Sur, es uno de los lugares que tengo que ir antes de morir, no, nada de drama, pero es un hecho.
Oye, lindos tus scones, qué paciencia para hacerlos pequeñitos, y ya imagino el olor en tu cocina, simplemente provocativos.
Ya veo que has admirado la belleza del sur de Argentina, trata de visitar el sur de mi país - Chile- otra maravilla. de una belleza increíble.y disfruta de los ricos kuckens de frutas en Frutillar por ejemplo.. Lugar donde disfrutamos de la hora del té. con estos ricos postres de origen alemán.
También mucha abundancia de corderos asados al palo.en el sur de Chile.
Saludos.
These definitely look amazing, Paula, as did your photos of Patagonia! I am so happy for you that you got a real vacation! And thank you for mentioning hot chocolate after all the suggestions of coffee and tea! We cocoa drinkers love our scones. Abrazos, David
Paula! you have me so excited with these scones!!! I'm channeling myself to your kitchen where I can smell these buttery, mildly sweet orange and cream mini scones!! The 7 lake area in the south of Argentina looks amazing and so peaceful. . I could use a little of that right about now 🙂 so good to connect with you today, Paula!!! I miss you!!
Oh Paula! You make me smile every time I see a new post from you in my stream. I know it will be fabulous and can't click to it fast enough. I'm imagining how delightful these scones must smell and taste. Mmmmm.....