Bakers' Challenge - Scones!

Left to right: Me, Kay and Trish

It was the Great British Baking Show that sparked Kay's and my interest in doing a baking challenge of our own. We agreed our version would be a "challenge" rather than a "contest." In other words, we wanted to stretch our baking skills, but not name a winner.

To kick off our challenge, we decided to do something rather simple - scones.

We felt that scones were the perfect choice, since Kay and I both have Scottish roots, and scones originated in either England, Scotland or Ireland. In fact, the first known mention of a scone is from a 1513 translation of the Aeneid, translated by Scotsman, Gavin Douglas. In Scotland, these little sweets are called skawns or skahns.

We invited Trish to join in the fun, which was fitting, since she also boasts Scottish ancestry. We might include more bakers in the future, but for our first try, we wanted to keep it low-key.  So last night, after our Wednesday evening Bible study, we brought our baked goods - and our husbands - to Kay's house to enjoy some hot tea and scones. 

Trish baked blueberry/lemon scones, using the fresh lemon juice of the fruit of her own little lemon tree. They were great! Kay outdid herself with cinnamon/apple scones, and I brought orange/apricot ones. Our husbands raved over all of them, making us all feel like winners. 

Before we left Kay and Andy's house, we asked Dan to take a picture of the three bakers with our scones, which he did. Then Trish's hubby, Kelly, took on a challenge of his very own. Kelly is blind, but he, too, wanted to try taking our picture. The one posted at the top of this post is the picture he took. He did ask Dan if he had all three of us framed in the picture, and I did do a little post-processing crop, but BRAVO to Kelly for being the official First Baking Challenge photographer.