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by Todd + Diane
Fragrant and vibrant lemons are always at the core of our baking. Thus, this meyer lemon scones recipe with dried cranberries is one of our favorites! It’s our favorite scone recipe which we originally published in 2010 and we just updated a few recipe details to make it easier to follow and have the best success. And of course, a new video and images to guide you through the process. Enjoy!
Meyer Lemons Scones Recipe
We just didn’t want to have any ordinary lemon scone recipe. You can find those all over the internet. Of course we want to use our garden lemons so meyer lemons it is! Add some bright pops of dried cranberries and each bite of these scones are mind-blowing delicious. They’re different, unique and extraordinary when served with coffee or tea. Here’s interesting facts of meyer lemons.
Can you use regular lemons?
Of course! you can use regular eureka lemons that are normally sold in stores. “Regular” lemons are normally a little brighter and a bit more sour than meyer lemons. So just expect that and if needed, you can always add about another 2 Tablespoons of sugar to the batter or more sugar to the glaze. That way, it’s not puckery-sour and balanced with a little more sweetness for this lemon scones recipe.
Video: Meyer Lemon Scones with Dried Cranberries
Prep scones for morning baking
The citrus trees in our backyard have been exploding and it’s certainly been a wonderful year for us. The meyer lemons are starting to be perfect for picking and their fragrance is so bright and inviting. This morning we made a batch of scones from the garden meyer lemons and this is a treat that everyone should experience in the morning. Scones are actually really easy to make in the morning. To make things even quicker in the morning, you can premix the dry ingredients together in a bowl and then finish everything else in the morning. Fresh, hot scones can’t be beat and after making this batch, you’ll probably never head out to your morning coffee stop for scones again.
Tips for Making Meyer Lemon Scones Recipe
- For this scones recipe, use cold ingredients. Your butter has to be cold, but it helps if everything else is too. Even chilling one part while you make the next helps. And definitely chill the formed scones before baking. Doesn’t have to be too long (we’ll usually put the formed scones in the fridge while the oven preheats).
- Work quick and don’t over mix. The dough will be kind dry and rough when mixed. If you lollygag in the process the butter will start to get to warm, and you’ll lose some of the flakiness.
- Don’t skimp out on using the lemon zest. It adds a big punch of bright flavor without being too sour.
- If you don’t want to use the dried cranberries, you can leave them out. Or you can use other dried fruits like raisins or dried currents or fresh blueberries.
- All meyer lemon scones recipe details are in the recipe box below.
Meyer Lemon Cranberry Scones Recipe
Yield: 8 Large Scones
Prep Time: 25 minutes mins
Cook Time: 20 minutes mins
Total Time: 45 minutes mins
The more you can keep the butter chilled during the forming process the better the texture will be. Try to not work the dough too much in mixing and forming or else it won't have as light and flakey of a texture.
5 from 8 votes
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Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 g) All-purpose Flour (if measuring by volume – spoon and level the flour)
- 6 Tablespoons (75 g) Granulated Sugar
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) Kosher Salt
- grated Zest from 2 Meyer Lemons (about 1 Tablespoon (30ml))
- 1/2 cup (114 g) Butter , cold (if using unsalted butter, add and extra 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the batter)
- 1 large Egg
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) Heavy Cream (if your cream is extra thick you may need a touch more) + optional extra for brushing tops of scones
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup (120 g) Dried Cranberries (we used a dried orange-cranberry – delicious)
- 2 Tablespoons optional melted butter or heavy cream for brushing tops of scones
Lemon Glaze
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) Fresh Meyer Lemon Juice (@ 2 meyer lemons)
- 1/4 cup (50 g) Granulated Sugar
- Optional – extra zest from 1 meyer lemon zest
Instructions
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and meyer lemon zest in a bowl.
Cut butter into pea-sized chunks. Or if you prefer, you can coarsely grate the butter (but we find that the pinched butter chunks give a slightly better structure to the scones).
Add to the flour mix and pinch the butter into the flour mix until the chunks are flattened and nearly combined into a crumbly mixture (you'll still see some butter, but you just don't want big hard balls of butter). Place in the freezer while you mix the wet ingredients.
Whisk or beat the egg in a small bowl. Add cream and vanilla and whisk together to evenly combine.
Take the flour mix out of the freezer and add the dried cranberries. Drizzle the cream mix over the flour mixture and stir until it all just comes together (don't overmix – there should be dry flour parts here and there).
Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface, and roughly form a rectangle about 1-inch thick (this step will also help mix in the last bits of dry flour).
Make a tri-fold with the dough (Fold the dough 1/3 of the dough towards the middle, then fold the opposite 1/3 over the top, like folding a letter). Dough should still be fairly rough.
Press the dough into an 8-inch (20cm) disc. Cut the disc into 8 wedges and place the wedges on a plate or parchment lined baking sheet pan (if you can fit it in your fridge) and chill for at least 15 minutes in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C. Line a baking sheet pan with parchment if you are chilling your dough on a plate.
Spread the scones on the baking sheet pan 2-3 inches apart. Brush tops with optional melted butter or extra heavy cream.
Bake at 375°F/190°C in the middle of the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until golden.
While scones bake, make lemon glaze. Combine lemon juice and 1/4 cup of sugar in a small saucepan. Heat until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the optional extra meyer lemon zest if you have it. Set aside to cool.
After scones are done baking, remove from oven and brush with meyer lemon glaze. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: 386kcal, Carbohydrates: 53g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 18g, Saturated Fat: 11g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5g, Trans Fat: 0.5g, Cholesterol: 71mg, Sodium: 252mg, Potassium: 179mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 27g, Vitamin A: 608IU, Vitamin C: 4mg, Calcium: 68mg, Iron: 2mg
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: British
Calories: 386
Scones are perfect for sharing or gifting
If you want to be popular at work, try baking a fresh batch of these in the morning and taking them to work. Trust us, you will be loved and your popularity ranking will shoot sky high! Who knows? you just might get that raise that you deserve and all it took was a batch of freshly baked meyer lemon cranberry scones! You’ll love our easy lemon scones recipe!
Storing leftover lemon scones
If you have any leftover, they can be stored on the counter for about 2-3 days. After that, store them in the fridge for up to another 3-4 days. After a week if you still have leftovers, you can freeze them. But we’re not fans of freezing pastries because when thawed, they don’t have the same tender texture. So if possible, try to eat them all or share them with friends. That way there’s nothing to freeze and the next time you want a batch, make it fresh.
More Easy Recipes:
- brown butter oat scones
- no bake cranberry pie is so fluffy!
- meyer lemon margarita
- amazing meyer lemon pie
- for the love of meyer lemons – inspiring video and thought about these amazing lemons
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34 comments on “Meyer Lemon Cranberry Scones”
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Stacy — March 31, 2024 @ 8:50 pm Reply
Your lemon scones had the perfect amount of tart and sweet I’ve ever tried. What an awesome recipe.
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Emily — February 3, 2013 @ 11:35 am Reply
I just made these and they’re incredible! I had three Meyer lemons in the fridge and needed to use them up so I used all three, I don’t think it’s overwhelmingly lemony. Lots more on the tree already so I’m sure I’ll be making it again!
My butter came out of the fridge but it was already too warm by the time I cut it up. Next time I’ll try frozen butter. This was the first time I made scones from scratch and was relatively surprised at how painless it was. I’m curious how long they’ll keep, and if they freeze well?
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White on Rice Couple — February 3, 2013 @ 1:29 pm Reply
Just to make the butter easier to cut, try cutting it first, then putting it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes and see how that works for you.
As far as freezing the scones and how long they keep, they are best eaten the day of or maybe the next day after baking, but you can usually freeze the formed scones prior to baking, then when you want to bake them, let the scones sit out for about 20 minutes then bake as usual. We haven’t done that with this recipe yet, but with several other recipes it has worked great.
Hope that helps. So glad you loved them!
T
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Terry Covington — February 1, 2013 @ 3:59 pm Reply
I made these last night — they are the best scones I’ve ever made! I plan on making them again, but also on using the base scone recipe for other variations. I think it would be great plain and used as shortcake, too. Thanks so much!
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Beverly — January 16, 2011 @ 5:59 pm Reply
Your tips for “killer, flakey scones” are priceless. I did not realize that cold ingredients would make such a difference. Thank you.
Buckets of pixie dust to you,
Beverly -
irlandaisa — February 6, 2010 @ 10:14 am Reply
just arrived at my holiday home on a greek island to find my lemon tree ladened with big juicy fruits. Searched the web for recipes and choose yours, the scones are fab so I’m having a coffee morning tomorrow for all my friends and guess what they’re having…..
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yerba mate tee — January 10, 2010 @ 8:26 pm Reply
Sometimes the most delicious foods are the least beautiful ones! Consider omlettes: when they get “messed up” and consequently look like a disorganized pile of egg, cheese, and sauteed veggies, they somehow always taste better! Judging by the appearance of these scones, they’re other worldly!
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Erika from The Pastry Chef At Home — January 8, 2010 @ 1:16 pm Reply
no lolli-gagging while making the scones! This is totally the most important tip 🙂
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Kate @ Savour Fare — January 8, 2010 @ 10:35 am Reply
I’ve been referring every beginner I know who just got a DSLR to your photography tutorial — I think it’s fantastic — one of the clearest explanations I’ve read.
I won’t talk about the scones. I’m trying to be HEALTHY here.
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Kathleen — January 6, 2010 @ 6:10 pm Reply
Wow. Your blog is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!
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Nicole Spasiano — January 6, 2010 @ 2:41 pm Reply
I bought lemons and dried cranberries…
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Kristen — January 6, 2010 @ 11:43 am Reply
You could post about trash and I wouldn’t get bored. I love your photography, your writing style… everything!
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Annette — January 6, 2010 @ 10:53 am Reply
I purchased a very small Meyer lemons topiary tree from Roger’s Garden last spring and now I have 3 very large lemons on it!! Thank you for your scone recipe….now to pick me some lemons!!!
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my spatula — January 6, 2010 @ 7:54 am Reply
just made a batch of orange cranberry scones, but ohhhh, what i would do for a meyer lemon tree i could pluck from in the backyard!
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The Leftoverist — January 5, 2010 @ 9:39 pm Reply
I live in Washington, but my friend sent me a case of Meyer lemons from her house in California! Am I a lucky girl or what? Looks like I have my delicious work cut out for me.
