Friday, January 27, 2012

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
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6 comments:

  1. RenataJanuary 27, 2012 at 12:31 PM

    Your scones look amazing, and I would love to try the pumpkin one! Great job on the challenge!

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  2. shelley c.January 27, 2012 at 1:34 PM

    Oh, yum, I MUST give those pumpkin scones a try! Both batches look delicious, though. Awesome work on the challenge.

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  3. AudaxJanuary 27, 2012 at 3:48 PM

    Thank you so much for the kind words<3<3<3 This challenge was so much fun to host I have to say. Your scones look so cute and you made Flo's pumpkin scones also LOL LOL LOL. For me red jam is the answer to topping though sometimes I do have vegemite and cheese. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

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  4. Ruth EllisJanuary 28, 2012 at 9:49 AM

    These look fantastic - plus I know how hard baking, photographing and blogging anything can be with a teeny baby around - so kudos!

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  5. Ruth H.January 29, 2012 at 4:24 AM

    Nice work on your scones! My husband and I don't have the jam "disagreement," for us it is peanut butter - crunchy or smooth... Your sconesd look great. The pumpkin ones look beautiful, I wonder what could be done to up the pumpkin flavor. That might be a fun experiment - and a tasty one, too!

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  6. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2012 at 1:38 PM

    Did you make those pumpkin scones before or after the Knapsack race? Because I think you should have given them out to female 3 hour solo runners..at least the ones called Amanda. They look delicious!

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