These sugar free cranberry orange scones are a real treat – enjoy them for breakfast or with a cuppa in the afternoon. The recipe is low carb and gluten free.
photo credit: The Wholesome Yum Easy Keto Cookbook
Do you love getting new cookbooks, too? I received the brand new Wholesome Yum Easy Keto Cookbook by my blogger friend Maya yesterday. It’s packed with over 100 easy-to-prepare ketogenic recipes covering every meal from breakfast to dinner. Every recipe contains only 10 ingredients or less and each dish comes with an image, too, to help you decide which to try first (not easy, I can tell you! It all looks YUM).
Sugar Free Scones The Easy Way
I decided to give Maya’s cranberry orange scones a try. Friends, they are also absolutely delicious! The generous helping of orange zest makes them wonderfully fragrant and zingy and the fresh cranberries are delightfully juicy pops of tartness.
The picture at the top of this post is directly from the book, but all images below are taken by me. As you can see, the end result looks the same! I always think it’s fun to try out other people’s recipes. It puts me in the shoes of my own readers and it’s far more relaxing than testing new recipes, which sometimes take a few attempts to get just right.
Naturally, the recipe is sugar free and gluten free, as are all keto recipes. Instead of the traditional way of kneading cold butter cubes into the almond flour as I did with my grain free English scones, the dough is made with melted butter. This makes the end result a little denser, but not at the expense of taste. The big benefit is that the recipe comes together in only 5 minutes and there’s no working the dough with your hands!
How to make sugar free cranberry orange scones – step by step:
1.) Combine the dry ingredients – almond flour, erythritol, baking powder and salt – in a bowl.
2.) In a separate bowl, mix together the melted coconut oil, orange zest, vanilla and egg. Stir into the dry ingredients until a dough forms.
3.) Last, stir the cranberries into the dough.
4.) Form a ball and place onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Flatten into a disc shape, about 1 inch thick and 6 inches in diameter. Cut into 8 wedges and move the pieces about 1 inch apart.
5.) Bake for 18-22 minutes until golden. Let cool completely in the pan – these scones are fragile when hot but they firm up as they cool down.
Recipe tips and variations for your cranberry orange scones
I used ground almonds in this recipe. This is equivalent to regular almond flour in the US and is much coarser than super-fine blanched almond flour. My scones were delightfully moist on the inside, almost like a cake, which I thought was delicious. If you, however, want to have a drier scone (and you are using ground almonds or coarse almond flour), I recommend you use an additional 25g / 1/4 cup of almond flour.
If you are using super-fine almond flour and you find that your dough is too dry and crumbly when mixing, add a little more coconut oil to the mix – one teaspoon at a time.
I used the zest of 1 large orange. If you don’t have one to hand, you can use 1 tsp of orange extract instead.
If you prefer, you can use butter instead of the coconut oil.
Do not thaw frozen cranberries before using them because they will go soggy and make the dough too wet. Instead, use them straight from frozen.
You can easily adapt this recipe by leaving out the orange zest and replacing the cranberries with blueberries or raspberries. Or why not make chocolate chip scones by adding sugar free chocolate chips!
Here are some more sugar free treats to enjoy with your afternoon cuppa:
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Maya's Cranberry Orange Scones
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Ingredients
- 2 cups / 225g almond flour
- 1/3 cup / 60g erythritol
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup / 50g coconut oil melted
- 2 tbsp orange zest
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup / 55g cranberries fresh or frozen
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit.
- Combine the dry ingredients - almond flour, erythritol, baking powder and salt - in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the melted coconut oil, orange zest, vanilla and egg. Stir into the dry ingredients until a dough forms.
- Last, stir the cranberries into the dough.
- Form a ball and place onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Flatten into a disc shape, about 1 inch thick and 6 inches in diameter. Cut into 8 wedges and move the pieces about 1 inch apart.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes until golden. Let cool completely in the pan - these scones are fragile when hot but they firm up as they cool down.
Notes
Nutrition
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SunnySide says
I gave it four stars as YES, it was Quick, but they were a bit dry and dense. I made them again but separated the egg white from the yolk. Mixed the yolk into the rest of the ingredients; whipped the egg white(s) with a whisk until they were almost stiff and then gently folded them in with a spatula. Then shaped it into the circle. Chilled for 30 minutes in fridge; then brushed them with melted butter before going into the oven. The egg whites made them so tender and fluffy – I couldn’t believe the difference. I’d rate this 5 stars if you go to the extra effort of whipping the whites and folding them in and chilling. Well worth it if you have the time.
Katrin Nürnberger says
Thanks for the tip! Beating the egg whites will definitely make these scones much lighter and fluffier. The scones should be moist and not dry though. I think yours may have been dry because your almond flour was finer than mine.
Wendy Hemming says
Didn’t have oranges so I used lemons. Didn’t have cranberries so I used blueberries. Such a delicious scone. Don’t want to share, it’s so lovely.
KC says
Very tasty! My husband and daughter liked them so I made them a second time. I expect this will become a regular in our breakfast rotation. For the fruit, I did a cup of frozen raspberries since that is what we had available.
Katrin Nürnberger says
Mmmmh, I love raspberry scones!
Laurie Higgins says
How about dried cranberries? I have those and some oranges…
Katrin Nürnberger says
Sure, that would work!
Dawn says
What an amazing recipe … loved them. Not sweet – little pops of tartyness with the cranberries. My folks (not keto at all) loved them. Will be making this recipes again and again. Many thanks
Katrin Nürnberger says
When the non low carbers are on board it’s the best!!!
Nicole says
This recipe sound delicious i really want to try them but i can’t have coconut, In some recipes I’ve come across it says butter or coconut oil. Could i substitute butter for the coconut oil?
Katrin Nürnberger says
of course! You can normally just swap one for the other, they are the same consistency.
Nicole says
Thank you. I was going to make them tonight but the store didn’t have fresh or frozen cranberries (eye roll) they tend to be “seasonal” where i live. I’m going to check other stores later but i decided to substitute lemon zest and blueberries and make lemon blueberry scones. I just pulled them out of the oven a few minutes ago and letting them cool. I’m sure they will be delicious. They smell soooo good.
Katrin Nürnberger says
I bet this recipe is great with blueberries and lemon zest. I must try them that way!
Nicola says
HI Katrin
When you said about freezing half, is that the raw dough or baked scone?
Thankyou
Katrin Nürnberger says
Hi Nicola, I normally freeze after baking – anything almond flour generally freezes well.
Franni Ferrero says
Thank you for all the wonderful and tasty recipes. You never disappoint! These scones are easy to make and a great quick breakfast. The cranberries give the scones a bit of sweetness, while the zest ads just a bit of tartness. We love them!
Katrin Nürnberger says
Once I made them I thought I should start eating cranberries all year round and not just in winter, which is when I normally remember that they exist!
Lisa Van Tuyle says
Awesome recipe, really easy and complete deliciousness.
Katrin says
So glad you enjoyed the scones!
LynnNM says
I always keep dried cranberries on hand for additions to salads and trail mix. I was hoping that I could use them instead of fresh for this recipe. And, if so, do I need to change anything else in the recipe?
Katrin says
I’m sure dried cranberries work just as well in this recipe. I would not change anything else.
Gill says
Made these scones today. Delicious. I ate mine with a little creme fraiche but would be lovely with clotted cream and they are also very good on their own. Will definitely make again.
Katrin says
A spoonful of clotted cream would be amazing with them, I absolutely agree!
Gill Leech says
Hi Katrin, I absolutely love these scones. I have only made them so far with dried fruit. I thought I would try some frozen cranberries as they are very much lower in carbs. I wondered if you had tried them made this way. The frozen ones are very large and I am concerned that they will not add any sweetness. Regards Gill
Katrin says
Hi Gill, my cranberries were small, the size of red currants. Maybe different brands have different sizes? I’m not sure which country you’re based in, but I got mine from Planet Organic, a brand called Natural Cool. Of course, they are tart – I liked it though. You could always use a little more sweetener in the dough to offset the sourness. Or, in fact, use redcurrants!
Manon Lepage says
Hello, you said in the preparation to put the baking powder. I do not see the baking powder in the ingredients. Could you correct. Thank you
Katrin says
Thanks Manon, it’s added in now.
Cindy says
I’m very excited to try this scone recipe! Is it possible to use coconut flour instead? My husband is allergic to nuts so I would like to try to substitute, but if not I’ll have to eat them all myself…LOL
Katrin says
Hi Cindy, I think it should be possible but I cannot guarantee that it will be a success because I have not tried it myself. When I substitute I normally start with 1/3 the amount of coconut flour and then work my way up to 1/2 the amount stated for almond flour (in this case 1 cup). You DEFINITELY do not need more than that, coconut flour is way more absorbent. The only other thing I am wondering is whether this recipe contains enough egg to hold the scones together if made with coconut flour – they might end up crumblier than this almond flour version. Definitely use a large egg. It will be an experiment. Let me know how you get on, I’d love to hear!