Betty's Cakes and Bakes!

I recently convinced several of my friends to come along with me on a cookery course at Betty's Cookery School. Woohoo!!! My friends picked the "Teatime treats" course, and the five of us made up almost half of the class!

Pre-baking morning coffee and croissants (already in our tummy)

One of the items we made were scones. There's a big to-do about how one says that word here in England. I've come to pronounce them sk-ons as they tend to do in the North. Other places pronounce them sk-owns (as we do in the US), but that pronunciation is for some reason frowned upon in North Yorkshire. 

We made a savory scone, so one would only put butter on it. However, another area of contention regarding sweet scones is whether you spread the clotted cream or the jam on the scone first, followed by the other. I have seriously heard women argue about the proper way to do up the scone. I have not yet chosen sides. 

Chive and cheddar scones

At Betty's Cookery School we all share workstations and clean-up responsibilities. My friend Cindy was a trooper throughout the course, but clean-up is much more her forte than cooking/baking. 

Cindy would much rather clean than cook

We all got grouped together in a double-wide workstation and had a blast! Several of the gals are now hooked and want to sign up for more classes. And I imagine they'll twist my arm into going back… Darn! 

All the baking ladies… all the baking ladies… Oh, oh, oh… Oh, oh, oh...
(you know, the Beyonce song… anyone? anyone?) 

The finished products of the teatime treats class were as follows (going clockwise from 12:00): apple muffins, vodka orange cake, strawberry custard tart, cheddar and chive scones (far left), and pistachio and walnut loaf (right, with a few pats of butter on the white plate).

Finished products!