Daring Bakers' January 2012 Challenge - Scones

The amazing Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

Scones are simple to make but Audax encouraged us to make multiple batches and really perfect the technique. This is a wonderful idea and I would have loved to do so, but a little baby is taking priority at the moment. I am just pleased that I managed to make two different versions, photograph them and do a blog post. 
For the first batch I followed the host's recipe and directions. It worked very well but honestly, anything tastes good fresh out of the oven and slathered in jam and cream. It was interesting to discover that I consider scones absolutely must be accompanied by a red jam - strawberry, blackberry etc, while Tom considers marmalade or apricot jam to be perfectly acceptable. 

Plain scones with the compulsory cream and strawberry jam 

For the second batch I made Flo's pumpkin scones. For any non-Australia readers, Florence (or Flo) Bjelke-Petersen is a former politician and wife of a well-known ultra-conservative politician, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. I am not sure why, but she is also known for her recipe for pumpkin scones. While she is certainly not my cup of tea politically, I was keen to try her famous scones. They were tasty enough, especially plenty of of butter, but I was disappointed that they didn't taste of pumpkin at all. 
Thank you to our host Audax, who not only did an amazing job with this challenge, but contributes a huge amount to the Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks every month. Visit his blog to be amazed. 

Flo's pumpkin scones