Cranberry Orange Bisconie Recipe (Best Mini Scones)

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This cranberry orange bisconie recipe is a great way to bake up some homemade goodness this holiday season.

These baked treats are bursting with sweet-tart cranberries and lots of fresh orange flavor. You’ll love them on their own or with a smear of butter or jam. 

The holidays are coming, and so are your own-of-town guests! Treat them well by serving these delicious breakfast pastries that are a cross between a scone and a biscuit.

One bite and everyone will be hooked! 

What is a Bisconie? 

I’m sad that I never got to try Costco cranberry orange bisconies before they were discontinued. Apparently they were a huge crowd favorite! 

The cranberry orange bisconie Costco recipe is described by some as a cross between a scone and a biscotti. Others say they’re basically just mini scones. 

I experimented with some recipes online, and I’d describe them as more of a biscuit. Definitely more of a scone than a biscotti, these pastries are not crunchy. They are soft and flaky, like a scone. 

The Costco bisconie recipe is not overly sweet or overly moist. It’s got the texture of a tea biscuit, which is simply perfect with a bit of butter or jam and – naturally – a cup of tea. 

Ingredients for this Cranberry Orange Bisconie Recipe

Very simple ingredients go into making these delicious breakfast pastries. Here’s what you’ll need:

• All-purpose flour
• Fresh cranberries. We’re going to be cutting each cranberry in half so that there is a burst of that sweet tart deliciousness with every bite. 
• Fresh oranges. While we won’t be using the juice from the orange, we will be using the fragrant orange zest to infuse natural orange flavor into these mini scones. 
• Buttermilk. This is the only ingredient that will add moisture to our recipe. Buttermilk also adds an amazing tanginess to these bisconies, which is different from scone recipes that typically call for heavy cream.
• Butter. Be sure that your butter is cold cold cold! Cold butter is the key to a flaky texture. It’s best to keep your butter in the refrigerator until just before you’re ready to use it. 
• Granulated sugar
• Turbinado sugar. Also known as raw sugar, these larger crystals will go on top of the bisconies before we bake them. They’ll help create a nice golden brown crust. 
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Salt

How to Make Cranberry Orange Bisconies

Follow these simple steps to create your own cranberry orange bisconies at home:

Combine the dry ingredients 

Grab a large mixing bowl and pour in your flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk them together until they are combined. 

Work in the cold butter

Cut the cold butter into small cubes, which will make it easier to work into the dry ingredients. You can incorporate the cold butter by either using a pastry blender, a food processor or just your bare hands.

A pastry blender, also known as a pastry cutter, is a handheld tool that consists of narrow metal strips attached to a handle. It’s used to work any form of fat (usually butter) into flour when making pastries. 

​There are times when I’ve just used my fingers to break the cold butter up until the flour mixture looks like coarse sand. 

​And if you really want to make it easy, pulse the cold butter and flour mixture together in the bowl of a food processor. 

Add the buttermilk & cranberries

Now, pour in the buttermilk, halved cranberries and orange zest.

The dough will be a bit shaggy, similar to what the dough for scones looks like. It will come together, though, when you start rolling it out.

Roll the dough and cut it out

Now it’s time to roll out the dough. Set up a floured surface and roll the dough out until it’s 1 inch thick.

It is going to look pretty thick! This is because, a lot like scones, the dough is going to spread a little during baking, flattening out the bisconies. So be sure to start them tall! 

Because the dough will be so thick, you’ll need to re-roll the scraps several times in order to get 8 pastries out of it. 

To cut out the bisconies, use a 3-inch biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass. 

Prepare the bisconies for baking

All that’s left to do now is to brush the tops of the bisconies with melted butter and sprinkle them with raw, or turbinado, sugar. The sugar will help give them a nice golden brown finish. 

Can you use dried cranberries instead of fresh cranberries? 

The original Costco cranberry orange bisconies were made with fresh cranberries. And I’m always going to be team fresh vs. team dried when it comes to baking with cranberries. There’s nothing like the juicy burst of sweet tart flavor that you get from using fresh cranberries. 

That said, dried cranberries are more readily available year round than their fresh counterpart, making them a more convenient choice. 

If you decide to use dried cranberries in this recipe, be sure to soak them in water or orange juice (for even more orange flavor) to rehydrate them a little before using them. 

How to Store Cranberry Orange Bisconies

There are a few different ways to store these yummy treats, depending on when you plan to enjoy them the next time. 

1. Room temperature. If you’re going to enjoy these cranberry orange bisconies within a few days, keep them in an airtight container or large freezer bag at room temperature. 

2. Freezing. It’s so nice to be able to pop a cranberry orange bisconie out of the freezer on the weekends, especially when we have guests staying over.

Wrap each bisconie individually in plastic wrap. Then, place them into a larger freezer bag and squeeze out as much air as you can. They’ll last for several months in the freezer. 

​When you’re ready to enjoy a bisconie again, let it thaw at room temperature or warm it gently in the oven. 

​When you make this Cranberry Orange Bisconie recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Drop a rating or leave a comment below. Enjoy! 

For more cranberry orange recipes, try these:

• Panera-Style Cranberry Orange Muffins
• Cranberry Orange Whiskey Sour (Bourbon Cocktail)
• Better than Starbucks Cranberry Orange Scones Recipe

For more breakfast pastry recipes, try these:

• Easy Monkey Bread Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar
• Cinnamon Scone Recipe with Maple Glaze
• Homemade Cherry Danish Recipe