These Cranberry-Orange Drop Biscuits are easy, moist, and super delicious, made with buttermilk, cranberries, and orange zest throughout. Great breakfast or serve as a holiday side!
Check out our other recipes for biscuits, including these Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Pumpkin Drop Biscuits, and Cheddar Apple Drop Biscuits.
Easy Cranberry Drop Biscuit Recipe
You all buy 20 bags of fresh cranberries in November and freeze them, right? The thought of only enjoying cranberry recipes in the fall and winter months is unacceptable to me.
Right now I have a lot of fresh cranberries, which I’ve been using in muffins and for my favorite homemade cranberry sauce, but my daughter asked if I could make biscuits and these Orange Cranberry Drop Biscuits were born. They’re so easy to make without any yeast and no kneading required. Perfect Thanksgiving or Christmas side, but also great all year round served for breakfast!
Rolled Biscuits vs Drop Biscuits
We love all the biscuits! But more often than not, we opt for drop biscuits because they’re just so quick and easy. Drop biscuits have more liquid (such as milk, buttermilk, or cream) added to the dough than rolled biscuits. The dough is stickier and cannot be kneaded or rolled; you simply drop portions of dough onto a baking sheet, thus the name. Drop biscuits don’t rise as much as other biscuits and they are always more rustic in appearance and texture. Also, they require less utensils and are just way easier.
Ingredients Needed
Here’s what you need to make these easy cranberry biscuits.
(Scroll below to the printable recipe card for details and measurements.)
- All purpose flour – Spooned and leveled, for accurate measuring. (This recipe has not been tested with other types of flour.)
- Sugar – Provides a little sweetness to balance out the other flavors.
- Unsalted butter – Very cold butter that’s cut into cubes.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda – Both of these are leavening agents to help the biscuits rise. The baking soda also helps make the biscuits tender.
- Kosher salt – To round out all the flavors so the taste isn’t flat.
- Buttermilk – Full fat buttermilk helps create the most tender biscuits.
- Cranberries – You can use fresh or frozen.
- Orange zest – Provides a bright citrus-y flavor. Orange and cranberries love one another!
- Honey, for serving – These biscuits are ideal served with a bit of honey, which balances out the tart cranberries.
How to Make Drop Biscuits
These are so easy to make! Unlike rolled biscuits that require combining your ingredients, kneading, rolling out, and cutting, these biscuits simply require you to mix all of your ingredients in a bowl and then drop portions onto your baking sheet.
(Scroll below to the printable recipe card for details and measurements.)
Tips for Success
- Spoon and level the flour when measuring – this ensures you use the proper amount. Too much flour can result in a dry, crumbly biscuit.
- Use cold butter and cut into the flour mixture until you have tiny crumbs – when little pieces of the raw butter melt as the biscuits bake, they release steam and create little air pockets, which result in that glorious flakiness.
- Use full fat buttermilk – this creates the most tender biscuit.
- Don’t over mix the dough – when you over-mix the dough, it will result in dense, tough biscuits. Mix until just combined.
- Divide into equal portions – this will ensure the biscuits all cook evenly.
- Don’t skip the honey – it balances out the tartness of the berries.
Proper Storage
- Storing leftovers: Allow to cool completely, then store 2-3 days at room temperature in an airtight container.
- To freeze unbaked biscuits: Prepare biscuit dough and place them on a baking sheet according to the written recipe. Transfer to the freezer and flash freeze for a couple hours until solid. Then transfer them to an airtight freezer-safe Ziploc bag. They will keep up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or room temperature and bake as directed.
- To freeze baked biscuits: Make sure the biscuits are cooled completely, then transfer them to an airtight freezer-safe Ziploc bag. They will keep up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or room temperature and reheat as instructed.
- Reheat: Biscuits taste and feel better when warm, so we like to reheat ours. Wrap leftovers in foil and then bake for about 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees F. Or wrap them in a a slightly damp paper towel and place on a plate in the microwave for about 25 seconds.
More Cranberry Recipes:
- Cranberry Orange Pound Cake
- Apple Cranberry Crisp
- Cranberry Fluff
- Cranberry Christmas Cake
- Upside-Down Cranberry Cake
- Cranberry Hand Pies
I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!
Cranberry-Orange Drop Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour , spooned and leveled
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- zest from 1 medium orange
- 1/2 cup unsalted cold butter , cut into cubes
- 1 cup cranberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- honey , for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange zest.
- Cut in the butter with a pastry blender (or your hands), until the mixture resembles small crumbs.
- Add the cranberries and buttermilk to the flour mixture and gently mix until just combined (do not over mix!) Dough will be sticky.
- Drop dough in 8 equal portions (about 1/3 cup each) an inch apart, onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden. (Keep an eye on them and tent with foil the last couple minutes if it looks like they're over-browning.)
- Serve with a drizzle of honey!
This recipe is PERFECT!!!
We (my wife and 4girls) LOVED them! The only change I made was dried cranberries instead of fresh, because that’s what we had on hand. Great orange flavor from the zest, but not overwhelming. Cranberries bring a nice zing. Next time I’ll make a double batch, maybe that way we can share with my mother in law.