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These orange chocolate chip scones come together in about one hour and are the perfect treat to serve for any brunch! These scones in particular are inspired by a cute little coffee shop in my college town. They’re sweet, fluffy, easy, and look absolutely beautiful after baking! Unlike my other scone recipes, this recipe uses buttermilk instead of heavy cream for a lighter texture. I find that adding chocolate to a cream scone can feel quite heavy.
Ingredients for Orange Chocolate Chip Scones
Orange zest: Zest gives these scones all of the orange flavor. It is not recommended to add orange juice to scones as it will ruin the texture.
Mini chocolate chips: I find that mini chocolate chips work best for scones. Regular chocolate chips or chocolate chunks will give you pools of chocolate which may be great in cookies, but not so much for scones. Too much chocolate in these will mask the orange flavor. If you’re looking for a chocolatey scone, I recommend trying out my Bailey’s Irish Cream Scones instead!
Butter: Butter is a key ingredient in any scone or biscuit. It gives the scone a lot of flavor, but also it’s tenderness and flakiness.
Buttermilk: As opposed to my usual cream scones, I opted to use buttermilk in this recipe for a lighter, fluffier scone that pairs well with the orange flavor and accounts for the heaviness of the chocolate. I highly, highly recommend using real buttermilk for this recipe!
Baking soda: Because this recipe calls for buttermilk, we use 1/4 tsp of baking soda to help neutralize some of the acid.
Egg: Eggs are a signature ingredient in American-style scones. They add more moisture to these scones and help give them a taller rise.
Can I substitute buttermilk in scones?
I cannot recommend using real buttermilk in this recipe enough. Buttermilk helps give these scones their tall, fluffy structure and beautiful flavor profile! If you cannot get your hands on buttermilk, there are a few known substitutions. Tessa from Handle The Heat wrote a whole post on buttermilk substitutions and ran lots of tests. If you must replace buttermilk, she recommends using whole milk yogurt, thinned out with water to a pourable consistency. You can check out the whole post here. It’s definitely worth the read!
How to get flaky scones
Tip #1: Keep all of your ingredients cold!! Be sure to keep your butter, egg, and buttermilk in the fridge until you are ready to use them. A cold dough is super important in scones because cold butter is what gives scones and biscuits their signature flakiness.
Tip #2:Use your hands to cut in the butter until it is a sandy consistency, but not fully incorporated. You want to see some butter chunks still as that is what creates the layers in your scones!
Tip #3: Fold and turn your scones like you would croissant dough. This helps create some layers in your scones. Start by patting your dough into a rough rectangle.
Then, fold the sides towards the center as if you’re folding a letter.
Rotate 90 degrees and repeat! Do one more trifold and rotation before patting the dough into a circle.
Cut and freeze! Freezing your dough before baking will ensure your butter stays cold to create those flaky layers. It also helps the scones keep their shape during baking, resulting in beautiful, (mostly) even triangles.
How to freeze and store scones
You can keep these scones at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days, but they are significantly better when freshly baked. You can freeze scones before or after baking. To freeze before baking, simply leave them in the freezer after shaping and cutting them into triangles. When you’re ready to bake them, bake from frozen at 400F for 15-18 minutes. If needed, add a few extra minutes onto the bake time. To freeze after baking, let the scones cool completely, let the icing dry and individually wrap scones in plastic wrap. Place in freezer for up to three months. When you’re ready to enjoy them, pull them from the freezer and let thaw at room temperature for 3-4 hours.
Other recipes you’ll love…
The Best Raspberry White Chocolate Scone Recipe
Perfectly Flaky Maple Pecan Scones You’ll Love
Orange Chocolate Chip Scones
Ingredients
Orange Chocolate Chip Scone
- 100 g Granulated sugar 1/2 cup
- 1 whole Zest of 1 large orange Navel orange is best
- 304 g All purpose flour 2 ⅛ cup
- 2 teaspoons Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 113 g Unsalted butter, cold and cubed 1 stick
- 1 whole Egg, cold
- 120 g Buttermilk, cold 1/2 cup
- 150 g Mini chocolate chips heaping 3/4 cup
Orange Icing
- 1 Tablespoon Very soft unsalted butter
- 115 g Powdered sugar, sifted 1 cup
- 5 ½ Teaspoons Fresh squeezed orange juice about 1/2 large orange
- 1 Pinch Salt
Instructions
For the scone
- In a large bowl, add your granulated sugar and orange zest.
- Use your fingers to rub the orange zest into the sugar until it is fragrant and the sugar is starting to turn orange/yellow.
- In the same bowl as the sugar mixture, add your flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix with your hand or a whisk until well combined. Set aside.
- Cut your cold butter into tiny, ½ inch cubes. If your butter is starting to get warm, place back in the fridge for 10-15 minutes before adding to the rest of your ingredients.
- Add your cold, cubed butter into your dry ingredients. Using your hands, cut in the butter by coating it in flour and flattening it between your thumb and fingers. (Think of the gesture you use to reference money.) Repeat until all the butter is coated in flour and broken up into small, flat chunks. It should look kind of sandy. Be careful not to fully incorporate the butter! You want to keep chunks.
- Create a well in the center of your dry ingredients. To the well, add your egg and buttermilk. Use a fork to break up the egg. Slowly, pull dry ingredients into the well and mix until the dough has come together about halfway. The liquids should be distributed evenly, but there will still be flour visible.
- At this stage, add your chocolate chips.
- Mix by hand, folding the dough on top of itself to evenly distribute remaining dry bits at the bottom of the bowl.
- When just barely combined, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently pat down into a rectangle.
- Take the left side of the dough and fold it towards the center. Repeat with the right side so that you're left with a letter-style fold. (See photos above)
- Rotate the folded dough 90 degrees so that the seam is now running horizontally. Pat down into a rectangle.
- Complete one more letter fold and turn, then pat into a circle.
- Cut circle into 8 even triangles.
- Transfer scones to a plate or tray and place in the freezer while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat your oven to 400F. Place scones to a parchment lined sheet tray. Be sure to spread the scones out a couple inches apart from one another. Bake at 400F for 15-18 minutes until lightly golden brown.
- Let scones cool for 15 minutes before you add the glaze.
Orange Icing
- Microwave 1 Tablespoon of unsalted butter until it's very soft, but not quite melted. Set aside.
- Juice your large orange into a bowl or liquid measuring cup.
- In a small bowl, add your powdered sugar, butter, salt, and 4 teaspoons of orange juice.
- Use a whisk to combine. Add more orange juice ½ teaspoon at a time until it becomes a pourable consistency. If the icing becomes too thin, add more powdered sugar 1 Tablespoon at a time.
- Once the scones have cooled slightly, use your whisk or a spoon to drizzle icing evenly onto scones. Enjoy!
