I have to admit I was sort of . . . meh about this challenge. I thought scones were a little bit boring, and having watched my mum make them growing up, I even had the arrogance to think they were easy! But this challenge really was challenging.

I made three versions of the scones over the past three weeks. The first were the originals, and they were pretty flat:

The next weekend I tried the buttermilk biscuits (we lived in Texas for a while, and I came to love these). They rose much higher - so much higher that I did a dance in the kitchen while I watched them bake. I think the difference with these was that I had realised I was using single-action baking powder (we live in Poland now and some research online shows that the German Dr Oetker's brand is not usually single action) so I needed to move pretty quickly from the mixing into the oven. Unfortunately I made these after dark, so the photos are not very complementary.

Finally last weekend I tried the cheese and chive scones. I liked these ones best because the flavourings masked the baking powder taste and texture more (I hate that weird film you get on your teeth). We ate them with poached eggs, fresh crisp tomatoes, and some Polish sausage. Perfect Sunday brunch! (They also rose the most of the three batches, which made me extra happy).

Thanks Audax for a great challenge - this is the first time I have been moved to try a challenge numerous times to really get it right!