Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
2012 is destined to bring a lot of change to the Gerber family, but one thing that will not change is my love for scones. I make them far too seldom in relation to how much I enjoy them and reminisce about the times my college roommate and I made scones in our dorm kitchen and would fiercely protect them from hungry onlookers. A friend gave me a recipe I used to make scone mix as Christmas presents this year. I did not actually try them out before gifting but I’m relieved to say that when I attempted them this morning they turned out just fine. 
Here’s the recipe for the mix (which I divided in half for each person):
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped
3/4 cup dried cherries or cranberries
Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pecans. Carefully transfer to a mason jar or plastic baggie. Place cherries/cranberries in a sandwich bag tied well and fit inside the top of the jar/baggie before closing.
Now wrap up the baggies or jars in cute stuff and you’ve got yourself a gift! I added in a half page of directions for how to actually make them along with the dry ingredients. Below is what I had:
Makes 4 large scones or 8 small scones
Ingredients:
1 dry scone mix (half of the recipe listed above)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
a little less than half a cup of water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Remove bag of cranberries from bag and set aside. Place remaining contents in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with fingers, two knives or a pastry cutter until coarse crumbs form. Add cranberries and toss to combine. Fold in water, mixing just until dough comes together. Dust hands with flour and knead dough a few times until ingredients are well incorporated. For large scones, pat dough into a 4-inch circle, about 1-inch thick. Cut into 4 wedges and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. For small scones, divide dough evenly into 2 balls and pat each into a 3-inch circle, about 3/4-inch thick. Cut each circle into 4 wedges and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Optional: brush scones with buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes for small scones or about 20 minutes for larger scones.
