Daring Bakers January Challenge - Scones

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!

The challenge scone (biscuit) recipe has been especially formulated by Audax Artifex after a large amount of research and experimentation. So if you want to make perfect scones, you should follow the link to his blog and read all the hints & tips he has been coming up with. I myself should have read them more accurately  because my scones were more flat discs than puffy and muffin-like. I guessed I patted them too flat and kneaded them a little bit too long. Resting into the fridge helped the raising process, thats the reason the walnut-gorgonzola ones are higher (they rested longer).

Nevertheless, the taste was great and the baked dough soft. I put them onto my to-do list for my next birthday lunch - a few batches more before should make a perfect result at the end ;)

My modifications were gorgonzola and walnuts for a more savoury and buttermild and passion fruit puree for a more sweet version.

Walnut-Gorgonzola Scones (front) and buttermilk-passion fruit Scones (back)

Daring Cooks January Challenge: Tamales

Maranda of Jolts & Jollies was our January 2012 Daring Cooks hostess with the mostess! Maranda challenged us to make traditional Mexican Tamales as our first challenge of the year!

Honestly, I do not like Mexican food at all - or South American. My taste buds can't get used to those strange and very spicy flavours (I like spicy, but not hot-so-you-can't-taste-anything-else spicy). I didn't liked the flavour of the Ceviche or the result of the enchilada challenge (too fatty althoug the filling was nice). And now Tamales with a list of ingredients hard to find and corn flour (tastes strange too) ... Luckily I know someone who runs an British-American food store and had canned tomatoes with chilies and refried black beans I could use. And I had some corn flour left which I mostly use for bread baking. I made the vegetarian version and one of my own, using salmon and avocado. Instead of corn husks, I rolled them into baking paper bound with dental floss. The final tamales were really saturating - but sadly nothing more than that. South-American food and I will never go well together I guess.