Orange Vanilla Scones – Light, sweet scones are flavored with orange zest and vanilla bean to make for a perfect treat with afternoon tea
With spring approaching, it’s hard not to get excited about the warmer weather and blooming flowers and trees. Around this time of year, I love to pivot towards making fruity desserts and brunch fare, especially since brunch festivities tend to be more popular with Easter and Mother’s Day around the corner.
My first treat meeting that criteria is a recipe for my Orange Vanilla Scones. Made with fresh oranges and vanilla bean paste, the flavor is undeniable. And with the perfect balance of butter and sugar, these scones have a tender texture that crumbles just right after each bite.
Scones vs biscuits
I get this question a lot: What is the difference between a scone and a biscuit?
The answer is simple. Scones have less butter and more sugar. In fact, scones have just enough butter to produce a tender texture but little butter taste. The added sugar in scones also makes the outer texture a little crisp.
Making the scones
Other than those ingredient ratios, the process of making scones is very similar to making biscuits. The dough is mixed by hand, formed into a cohesive dough, rolled into a square, and then cut into even triangles.
The triangles are placed on a baking sheet and baked for about 16 minutes.
Icing the scones
The icing is made from a simple mix of powdered sugar, orange juice, and a pinch of orange peel. Mix until smooth. Dip the tops of the cooled scones into the icing and set them down to let them dry.
Tips & Tricks
- Crumble the butter. Make sure you crumble the butter into small pieces with your hands as you mix it into the flour. This is important so the butter doesn’t melt out of the scones and create a puddle under the scones while baking.
- Don’t over mix. It’s sooo important to make sure to mix the dough as little as possible. Otherwise, the texture of the scones will be tough.
- Fresh is best. Fresh orange juice will produce better results than store bought every time. For this recipe, all you’ll need is 1-2 oranges to get 4 tablespoons of fresh juice.
- Vanilla bean paste. I love using vanilla bean paste because it gives a bold vanilla flavor with flecks of vanilla without having to split a vanilla bean and scrape it out. If you don’t have any, you can swap out extract 1:1.
- Cool before icing. Wait until the scones have cooled for 15 minutes before dipping in icing. That ensures the icing will stay on the scone instead of melting off.
Orange Vanilla Scones
Ingredients
For the scones:
- 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons grated orange peel
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons butter chilled, unsalted
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
For the icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- ¼ teaspoon grated orange peel
Instructions
For the scones:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- Add flour, sugar, orange peel, and salt to a large bowl and whisk together to combine. Cube the butter and add to the flour mixture. Using your hands, cut the butter into the flour until the butter is the size of crumbs.
- In a small bowl, whisk egg, orange juice, milk, and vanilla bean paste together. Make a well in the flour-butter mixture. Add liquid ingredients. Fold the flour-butter mixture into the center to mix in the liquid ingredients. Gently mix together until ball of dough forms.
- Turn ball of dough onto floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll dough into an 8-inch square. Cut square into 4 smaller squares. Cut each square into 2 even triangles. You should have 8 triangles. Cut each triangle into 2 halves. You should have 16 even triangles.
- Transfer triangles to prepared baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches in-between each scone. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean when inserted, about 16-18 minutes.
- Remove scones from oven and let cool. Once completely cooled, dip tops of scones into icing and let the icing harden before serving.
For the icing:
- Put powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Add orange juice, orange peel, and heavy cream and whisk together until smooth.
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More recipes you’ll love:
Lemon Poppyseed Scones
Orange-Scented Madeleines
Cranberry Orange Overnight Oats
Yummm these look amazing! i love scones so much. totally gotta make these
Oh wow! These look so good.. love the combination of orange and vanilla. Can’t wait to make it!
This is such a perfect dessert for weekends. I’m saving this right now. Going to grab the ingredients and bake this. Thanks!
What a great flavour combination. Can’t wait to make these – so delicious!
I feel like anything with orange is just refreshing! This recipe is really good and totally easy to prepare! Thanks for sharing!
Love the combination of flavours in this scones. Sou ds delicious. Thanks for sharing
Just adore this flavor combo. It’s like a creamsicle in scone form!
These scones look great and the orange flavor would be with a earl Gray tea for a afternoon treat.
Those flavors together…. yum!!!! I make vanilla scones all the time. I need to try this next!
These look incredible! I will have to make them for sure. What a tasty flavor.