White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

I love scones. I love the Cinnamon Crunch ones from Panera Bread and the Petite Vanilla Bean ones from Starbucks. Surprisingly, I have never attempted to make a scone from scratch. I wanted to make a quick on-the-go breakfast snack and figure I would attempt a cranberry / white chocolate combo.

What’s the difference between a scone and a biscuit?

Scones typically have eggs in them and biscuits do not. Scones also tend to be a little denser, drier, and not as flaky.

I actually attempted and tweaked this recipe a few times before I landed on a good version. When you look at the general ingredients for a scone recipe, they don’t seem like they would be hard to make. However, here are a few key tips I learned:

Use good quality ingredients.
Don’t soften your butter…Bring it out from the fridge right before you are about to use it.
If it’s hot in your kitchen, freeze your butter before making scones. Even freeze your dry ingredients while you are mixing your wet ingredients.
Grate your butter (or cut into small cubes) and then keep pieces cold until ready to use.
When measuring your flour, use a scale or spoon flour into your measuring cups to avoid making the flour too dense and you’ll end up using more flour than what you truly need.
Avoid over-mixing the dough – over stirring will make the dough tough.
When adding the Cape Cod Select® Frozen Cranberries or any other frozen fruit, add it very last to prevent the juices from melting before going into the oven.
Keep the scones as cold as possible until they are ready to go into the oven. This will make them rise better.

This is a sponsored post for Cape Cod Select®, but all opinions are 100% my own.

Cape Cod Select® sets out to be different. They have two basic goals; Provide the public with “Cranberries for All Seasons”, and make them THE BEST quality on the market.

They use fruit that is grown to the highest standards in the industry. Their cranberries are fresh frozen, which makes cranberries available year round – not just for the holidays. They are family owned and operated. They grow, harvest, process, and market the product themselves, which cuts out the middleman.

Cranberries are a popular superfood. Cranberries in particular offer a range of health benefits. They are a good source of various vitamins and antioxidants.

The thing I love most about Cape Cod Select® Frozen Cranberries is you can pull the bag directly out of the freezer, measure out what you need, close the bag using the zip lock top and pop back into the freezer. No need to thaw – you can toss them right into the batter frozen for all your baked goods!

Since the key to making a good scone is keeping dough/butter cold throughout the process. With adding the cranberries frozen to the dough, it helps keep the dough cool while you are working to shape/cut your scones.

Even after you cut your scones, if the dough is starting to warm up – put sliced scones onto baking sheet and place in fridge until they are ready to pop into oven. You can even freeze the dough once you have them cut and save until you are ready to bake on another day!

As mentioned above, I attempted and tweaked this recipe a few times before finalizing to this version. Each version tasted great, but the texture wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be. My first version, the dough was really sticky and I couldn’t cut / shape easily. I ended up just leaving the dough in one big circle and scoring the dough – then broke apart once it baked. Visually not appealing, and the texture was more like a cake. While it tasted delicious, it definitely wasn’t a “scone” in my book.

My next version I added some sour cream and additional flour when shaping the dough into the necessary log/rectangle shape. The dough was able to be cut so much easier. The scones kept their shape and rose nicely in the oven. The texture was much more what you envision for a scone – light & soft, with crispy edges. The tartness of the cranberries mixed with the sweetness that the white chocolate adds – made this a perfect combo.

It’s a perfect on-the-go snack whether for breakfast or even a late night treat!

White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

35 mins

Author: Sweet Dash of Sass

Recipe type: Breakfast

Serves: 18

Ingredients

2¼ cup all purpose flour
½ cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp kosher salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cubed or grated and chilled
1 egg, beaten
⅓ cup sour cream
1 (6oz) flavored yogurt container (I used Mixed Berry on one batch and Strawberry on another and both came out tasty!)
¾ cup white chocolate chips
1½ cup Cape Cod Select Fresh Frozen Cranberries
3 TBSP milk
¼ cup course sugar

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add grated butter to mixture and mix with pastry cutter, fork, or fingertips till it resembles breadcrumbs. Keep in fridge if warm in kitchen until ready to use.
In another bowl, mix egg, sour cream, yogurt, and vanilla.
Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir with wooden spoon just until combined. Don't over mix.
Add in white chocolate chips and cranberries. Fold in by hand or spoon just until combined.
Flour working surface and add dough. If dough is sticky, you may need to sprinkle with additional flour. Shape dough with your hands into a long rectangle log (see photos as example) with the height of roughly 1½ inches.
Once you have shape - cut into 8-9 equal squares. Cut each square diagonally to make 18 triangles. Equally space out 9 scones onto each baking sheet.
Brush scone lightly with milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake for 17-20 minutes until lightly golden brown. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving. Can serve warm or at room temp.