The first scone I ever tasted was a cranberry orange scone sold by a certain well-known coffee company that had a shop near my job. I liked it immediately and ordered it often, so I can’t help but judge all other scones by that standard. Now, years later, I present my homemade version – which is more of an homage than an outright copycat recipe, since the company has made changes to their scones since then, and because I’ve added chai spice, to put my own twist on things.

INGREDIENTS
juice from 1 orange (about 4 tablespoons), divided as indicated below

SCONES
2 cups (240 grams) flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon chai spice
zest from 1 orange (about 1 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, sliced
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) frozen cranberries

SPICED ORANGE GLAZE
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/2 teaspoon chai spice

TOOLS
large (5-quart) mixing bowl
measuring cups and spoons
electric mixer
mixing spatula
cutting board, dusted with flour
large knife, dusted with flour
quarter (9” x 13”) sheet pan, lined with baking mat
cooling rack
small (1 1/2-quart) mixing bowl

METHOD
1. Set oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, chai spice, orange zest, and salt in large bowl. With mixer on medium-low speed, beat in butter until mixture is crumbly.
2. Add heavy cream, egg, and orange juice. Beat until just blended.
3. Fold in cranberries with mixing spatula.
4. Transfer dough onto floured cutting board. Flip dough once, so that the top has a dusting of flour. Pat down and shape into a circle, about 1-inch thick.
5. With floured knife, divide dough by cutting into quarters and then cut each quarter in half to create 8 even slices.
6. Transfer slices to lined pan and space them apart evenly. Bake until lightly browned – about 18 minutes.
7. Transfer scones to rack and let cool.
8. Combine SPICED ORANGE GLAZE ingredients in small bowl and stir until smooth. Drizzle glaze over top of cooled scones. Allow glaze time to dry before serving.

NOTES & TIPS
• I use kosher salt in all my cooking, and baking is no exception. Some larger granules never fully dissolve by the end, which sometimes gives my baked treats a surprising, but always subtle, salty-sweet flavor. I enjoy this little twist, but if you do not, simply replace kosher salt with table salt in the recipe above.
• If flour won’t stick to knife, lightly dampen knife first.
• BONUS RECIPE: Mini Scones: Replace quarter sheet baking pan with a half sheet (18” x 26”) baking pan and baking mat. During Step 4, after flouring dough, divide it in half. Follow the rest of Step 4 and Step 5 for both pieces of dough. Makes 16 mini scones.
• Size Reference: Your thumb (from tip to first knuckle) is about 1-inch long.
• When the scones first come out of the oven, the centers may look slightly underdone, but they will finish cooking through as the scones begin to cool.

READY IN
1 hour 30 minutes (35 minutes to prep and bake, 35 minutes to cool, 20 minutes for glaze to set)

YIELD
8 scones