Cranberry Scones or Partridgeberry Scones. Light, buttery scones with delicious pops of tart flavour baked inside. A tasty teatime treat!
Cranberry Scones or Partridgeberry Scones.
Regular readers of Rock Recipes will know that I have a great fondness for biscuits, tea buns and scones. In fact there have been over 25 different varieties of scones posted here since 2007.
The first one, of course, just had to be my grandmother’s original Raisin Tea Buns recipe. Those, in effect, are raisin scones, and no doubt a result of our historical connection to the United Kingdom in our early history.
Cranberry Scones or Partridgeberry Scones.
I cannot image the number of thousands of those that have been made in our family for generations. The scent of freshly baked buns when arriving home, or entering the door of my grandmother’s or aunt’s kitchens, was intoxicating to me.
It remains so to this day. It is the purist of comfort food memories for me as a child. Each and every batch was made with love.
As my brother Brian says about any food that anyone prepares anywhere, “Ya gotta taste the love.”
He’s not wrong. From 4 star restaurants to roadside diners, you know immediately the pride and love of their craft that the very best chefs and bakers have. It’s there in every bite.
Cranberry Scones close up photo of 3 stacked scones
More than just raisin tea buns.
Of course, the number of exceptional bakers in my family did not stop at making traditional tea buns. Varieties such as Orange Tea Buns or Coconut Tea buns were also common.
In the tradition of using local Newfoundland berries in many baked treats, tea buns were no exception. Many people still make a blueberry version but I was always fond of a partridgeberry version in my early adult life.
The bright fresh, tangy pops of flavour contrasted beautifully with the warm buttery tea buns. I just loved that.
Cranberry Scones or Partridgeberry Scones.
What’s a partridgeberry?
Partridgeberries, or Lingonberries, are native to this area and a real favourite of locals. Imagine a smaller, redder, much more tart version of a cranberry.
Partridgeberries or Lingonberries
The tart flavour is so intense that it normally requires a lot of sugar to counter it. In this case however, I prefer them with as little sugar as possible, to let the tart flavour of the berries to pop even more.
Spouse is very fond of no sugar scones. We sometimes make a raisin version with no sugar added, and I’ve done that with berry versions as well.
If you wanted, you can easily reduce the amount of sugar in this recipe. Or try it with no sugar added if you think you’d like it too.
Cooling on a wire rack.
Of course, I am well aware that our local partridgeberries are not available everywhere. In fact, they would be impossible to find almost anywhere else.
You can easily substitute small wild cranberries, if they are in your area, ir just use chopped cranberries instead. For large cranberries, I would cut them in half.
Frozen berries are perfectly fine to use as well. In fact, that’s exactly what I used here. The truth is, any favourite small berries could be substituted, so try the recipe with one you love. I will always encourage anyone to make a recipe like this their own.
Pea sized pieces of butter should remain in the mixture
Toss the milk through the dough with a fork.
Adding the partridgeberries to the scones
For even more delicious ideas for brunch, we have put them together into one amazing collection of our 25 Best Scone Recipes.
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A real teatime treat.
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Cranberry Scones or Partridgeberry Scones
Cranberry Scones or Partridgeberry Scones. Light, buttery scones with delicious pops of tart flavour baked inside. A tasty teatime treat!
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1/2 cup sugar (omit for sugar free scones)
- ¾ cup very cold butter cubed (If using salted butter you can omit the 1/2 tsp salt above)
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries (chopped) or whole partridgeberries)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup milk
- few tbsp turbinado sugar optional
Instructions
- Combine the flour, baking powder sugar and salt in a food processor. (or a large bowl)
- Pulse in the butter. (or chop it in with a pastry blender or two knives held between your fingers.
- Pulse process until this mixture resembles a coarse meal. It is very important that pea sized pieces of butter remain in this mixture.
- Toss in the berries at this point.
- Mix together the milk, lemon juice and vanilla.
- Pour this over the surface of the dry mixture.
- Toss all together gently with a fork only enough to form a dough ball. It is important that you work this dough as little as possible or the finished scones will be too dense and heavy.
- Roll to 1 inch thickness and cut out scones with biscuit cutter or in triangles with a sharp knife and place on parchment lined baking sheet.
- If desired you can brush the tops of the scones with an egg wash of 1 egg beaten together with 1 tbsp water.
- You can sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar if desired but this is, of course, optional.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Baking time will vary depending on the size of your biscuit cutter. Smaller scones will take about 18-20 minutes.
Notes
- I start these in my food processor because it is so fast but they can be made just as easily in a large bowl by cutting the butter in with a pastry blender or even 2 knifes held between the fingers.
- Nutritional information is for the small scone size.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 187Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 24mgSodium 205mgCarbohydrates 23gFiber 1gSugar 4gProtein 3g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.