I’ve Been Bad Part 2.

 

Part 2 of ‘I’ve been bad’ involves baking. I’ve been doing a lot of baking. The above tart is the one that I am most proud of. Remember I am new to pastry. However, I decided to be brave and give it a go. I decided to use Peter’s recipe from GBBO as it was there on the website. Plus it looked delicious. There were a lot of things new to me. Not only making the base but also the delicious (for it was delicious) fruity layers. This is a blackberry and lemon tart. I couldn’t have been more pleased as to how it turned out. If you can’t take my word for it then trust my sister who loved it. I am thinking of making it again for her birthday dessert. I did forgo the caramelised nuts for decorations because I just didn’t want to but I did do the rest. I think that I did need to add more of the gelatine (I used a vegetarian substitute). If anyone can tell me how to accurately work that out I’m all ears. 

I’ve also been baking banana bread (requested by work friends) and soda bread and right now I have just finished baking my peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. You’ve seen all that before though. For bread week on Bake off I chose the steamed rolls. They just looked so good. Again I chose Peter’s recipe of Chicken Katsura rolls. However, I swapped out the chicken and used paneer instead. They don’t look pretty and I’m sure that Paul Holllywood would say they are a mess. But the tasted so good. I even have enough filling in the freezer to make more.

A wee sneak peak of the inside. I haven’t make anything for 80’s week, dessert week or patisserie week. Mainly because I’ve been too busy and I haven’t really been inspired. I have considered the quiche but not enough to do anything about it. Cheesecake is the only thing from dessert week that I would make and I’ve made plenty of those in the past. Pattiserie week it would really be the cubed cakes but I’m not buying moles just to destroy them once I’ve finished with them. Maybe I should try some patisserie I have always wanted to bake. Anyway, looking forward to the final tomorrow and I have some cookies to munch on while I watch. Sadly, I am working and don’t get home on time but thanks to All 4 I will only be 20 minutes behind.

GBBO 2020 - Week - I Don’t Know

 

Apologies for not posting in a while. My mood hasn’t been that great. Nothing to worry about. Just stresses from work which is to be expected given the way things are. If you have followed me on twitter or Instagram then you might be aware that I have a new job and I finally have a start date. That job will get me back to doing what I love doing. Concentrating on my patients. I am already counting down my shifts. 

In the meantime, while I have been away from the blog, I have kept busy. I have been knitting and baking on my time off. I have also been reading more. I was sad to be behind in my Bake Off posts though. I have been watching every week and I have been enjoying it. We have had biscuit week, bread week, chocolate week and pastry week. There has been dramas where people haven’t agreed with who is being sent home. And someone is being accused of being an unfair favourite. This seems to happen every year. For me, I have been just enjoying the bakers and the baking. They seem to be a lovely group and they certainly keep you on your toes. They all failed miserably at the easiest of bakes - brownies. Then most of them excel at pastries. We have said goodbye to Mak, Rowan, Sura and Linda. As to who is leading, well there are a few stars but it’s not clear as to who might win.

I have continued to bake along with watching. I made the coconut macaroons from biscuit week. I chose only to do the chocolate ones and I used milk chocolate rather than dark which is just a personal favourite of mine. Sadly, I didn’t enjoy them. They just weren’t for me. Easy to make though.

For bread week I made Mark’s stout and chocolate soda bread. Again easy to make and I was chuffed on how it turned out. Not for me again though. This time I took it in to work and it was quickly devoured with everyone raving about it. Glad it was just me who didn’t like it but I wonder if sweet soda bread just isn’t for me.

Next I went to the Good Food website to bake a plain soda bread. It’s so easy to make. Definitely a good way of getting into baking bread. This time I enjoyed it. I have plans to make it again along with some home made soup at the weekend.

For chocolate week I really only had one choice. That was the week of the ill fated brownie. I’m not a huge fan of brownies anyway. Plus, I wasn’t going to make a three tiered white chocolate cake. So I decided to make the technical option which was the babka. I ended up using a recipe by Martha Collison which sounded very similar to the one on the show. It was actually fun to make. Not only did it turn out but I actually liked it. Would definitely make it again and I recommend the recipe I used. 

I am one recipe behind and that’s pastry. I had to order a few pieces of equipment for that but it’s items I have been meaning to pick up for other recipes (I can justify just about anything). After my three shifts on I plan to attempt a tart. I think that will be a challenging one for me but I’m excited about trying it.

The first image isn’t mine and belongs to GBBO. Most of the recipes you can find from there. If you go to the BBC Good Food app you will find the Irish Soda Bread. Definitely worth a try.

What's New in November

Monthly boxed items is a bit of a hit just now. I did do Birchbox for a while but stopped when the products became very similar each month. I still recommend it but I got a little bored with it. I also started a new one called bookishly. Each month I am sent a classic book along with some tea. None of these are craft related and so not really relevant here. Little Box of Crochet is another that I have just recently joined. I have been a follower of this product and the person behind it both on Instagram and facebook. I'm not the most confident when it comes to crochet which put me off joining. Then an opportunity came up to purchase one of her boxes as a one off on etsy and I took it. As soon as it arrived I signed up for the monthly club. If you like little fun projects then this is most definitely for you. You can sign up via her website here.

I have also started a bullet journal. Good way for organising everything for an organise freak like me. I have been aware of bullet journals for quite a while now thanks to pinterest but only started it myself the last few months. The good thing about this is that it can be as basic or as decorative as you like and it can be adapted for whatever you need it for. As a result I have two, one for work and study and another for everything else. The originator has a website with some videos which are worth watching if you are interested. You can find this here but I will be doing a full post on it at some point in the future.

This is one of those things that I had meant to post long ago and well, forgot. As a result, I'm afraid it's too late for people to sign up for this although perhaps not for next year. I love an advent calendar and I have always admired those ones that contained something other than a chocolate. Last year I got my sister a lego calendar (I got her Lindt chocolate one this year as she said she would prefer chocolate). I was tempted to get the yankee candle calendar but I didn't like most of the scents within it. Would have been a waste of money. So this year one of my favourite crafting people (Lisa of For the Love of Yarn) had sent out a sign up for her advent calendar. A yarny one! I of course signed up and it is here on my mantlepiece patiently waiting. I'm afraid Lisa's isn't the only one I signed up for. Bluebell yarn is another indie dyer and I signed up for hers too. The hard part will be to not open each of the little parcels up ahead of time.  Will power is needed here.

I have also bought my first Christmas decorations in my new flat. I got these from another seller on etsy, Designosaur Yeah. As the title may suggest all of her makes are dinosaurs. I bought a bracelet from her for my sister and she loved it. These little dinosaur Christmas baubles are now a favourite of mine.

Lastly I have started using this book. It was a gift from my mum one Christmas and I have only now put it to use. I've tried out a few recipes and I plan to review it in the next week or two. So look out for that. If you can't wait you can get your copy here.

GBBO - The Final

The last 10  weeks seem to have flown by and we are at the final of Bake Off. I was sadly working and while I had every intention of watching it on catch up I went to my bed instead. Nothing wrong with that except I stupidly went on the internet before I watched it and spoiled it for myself. Lesson learned (at least you would think so, alas it's not the first time).

The final was a little sad on my part knowing that Bake Off won't be the same again. As I said before, I probably won't be watching when it moves channel.

Moving away from the down side. The bakers had to create a Royal meringue crown. It had to contain at least three layers and be fit for a Royal banquet. Andrew was my favourite however, he made a mistake early on. Mary said at the start that the sweetness of the meringue had to be contrasted with a sharp filling. Poor Andrew made the mistake of using a praline which made it far too sweet. Jane and Candice on the other hand both received a Hollywood handshake. Jane went for a simpler design but it turned out beautifully and won Paul over with the flavours. Candice went for something more complex in both design and flavour. Think she has to be congratulated for her Victorian crown at the top.

For the technical challenge the Bakers had to make a Victoria sponge. Sounds easy for the technical challenge of the final. Not when you consider their instructions which consisted of "Make a Victoria Sponge". I know I wouldn't be able to do that. All three bakers did well but Andrew came out on top this time with the perfect sponge. This put all three bakers on an equal footing again. If like me you need more instructions than these bakers had you can get it here.

The show stopper certainly tested the bakers skills. They had to create a total of 49 items for a picnic fit for the Queen. It had to contain one showstopper chocolate cake, 12 savoury scones, 12 quiches, 12 sausage rolls and 12 tarts. All three bakers had issues with flavour in their scones. Jane and Andrew had undercooked pastry in their sausage rolls and Andrew also had some soggy bottomed tarts. Candace clearly came out on top here and....

...unsurprisingly Candace was named the overall winner. She may not have been my favourite baker but the win was very well deserved on the day. I also like the fact that both she and Jane are planning a baking road trip together.

If you were a fan of last years bakers there was also a follow up on them including thoughts on their time in the tent. Well worth the watch.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on this years Bake Off. As always, none of these images are mine and belong to the Bake Off website.

GBBO - Week 9

Patisserie week is another firm favourite of mine and it was left to right at the end. However, patisserie weeks of the past have always involved slightly more delicate bakes. Not to say that it wasn't challenging though.

The first challenge involved the bakers making palmiers. I had never heard of them before but it involved making layered pastry with a specific shape. To add to the challenge the bakers had to add their own fillings while ensuring that the layered pastry was seen. The one person who managed it successfully was Andrew. This was a bit of a surprise as Andrew decided to start again with his pastry an hour in.

The technical challenge was another bake I had never heard of. A syrup soaked cake called Savarin. Looks yum and I like the fact that the syrup has an orange base. Glad I'm not doing the technical challenges anymore as I don't fancy buying a mold just for one dish. None of the bakers quite got the proving right but Jane came out on top for this one with Andrew coming a close second. If you want to have a go yourself the recipe is here on the BBC Bake Off website. Let me know how you get on.

The show stopper is a firm favourite of mine (my sister is also a fan and I think I will have to bake these at some point). The bakers had to make fondants (French Fancies in the Mr Kipling world). I loved how each of the contestants took their own take on them and tried out different flavours. Andrew, however, once again came first on this as he had the neatest with good flavours. I loved his simple choice of decoration too.

By the end there was little doubt that Andrew was going to be star baker. He had come first in two of the challenges and second in the technical. It was very well deserved.

Sadly but the end there was also little doubt that Salasi was also going to be leaving. His palmiers were under baked (almost raw), he had come last in the technical and his flavours failed him in the show stopper. It was the first time we saw Salasi worried and I was a little sad as I always enjoyed watching him.

We did see one of the funnier Salasi moments this week. Since Salasi hasn't quite made it to the final he can always stand in for Mel & Sue.

I'm looking forward to the final as it will be the last one I'll be watching. I am working but plan to record it and watch once I am home (maybe with some cake). At this point I think it's anybodies guess as to who will win. Jane has always been a favourite of mine but I kind of would like Andrew to win. It's been a while since we've had a boy winner.

As always these images are not mine but belong to the Bake Off website.

GBBO - Week 8

It has been a while since I have posted and as a result I am behind in my Bake Off updates. I apologise for that. I have been studying. My course started earlier than I thought and so I have been catching up as well as working full time. I am now caught up and back into studying again.

I had planned on doing what I did when I got behind with my sewing bee updates which was do them all in one post. I decided against it though and instead I am just going to go over who we said goodbye to. Week 5 was pastry week and we said goodbye to Val. She didn't have a very good week at all. While I felt that she was skating a little throughout the programme I did actually like her personality. I think she livened things up a bit and it was surprisingly a little sad when it was her turn to say goodbye.

In week 6 it was botanical week and we said goodbye to Ravi. A little unsurprising as Ravi was probably the least able to be visually creative. Something which he admitted to himself. Again, I liked Ravi but he wasn't the best baker in there. On another note, botanical week was new and to be honest it wasn't quite as impressive as you would hope it would be. I think the last few years the bakers have been better at the aesthetics than this year. But as Paul Hollywood is forever reminding people you need to get the flavours right too.

Week 7 was dessert week. We said goodbye to Tom. Tom was one of the bakers I thought might have made it through to the end. He was adventurous with flavours and he liked to try new things. His choices with his desserts though were poor ones and the flavours didn't quite work.

Last week was the quarter final and we had another theme new to the Bake Off. It was Tudor week and it involved all of the things that I like least in baking.

 First off we have the Tudor pies. The baker had to make Tudor pies and display them in some sort of pattern. Some chose traditional Tudor style designs (the Tudor rose was a favourite). While I don't like pies and I dislike the pastry used I can still be impressed with he bakes. Andrew was last weeks star baker and he defeated the star baker curse. I was impressed with his DaVinci style pie display.

For the technical challenge the bakers had to make Jumbles which are a Tudor style biscuit. They had to get the Celtic knots down perfectly as well as the bake. I think this would be an interesting one to try as the biscuit doe uses lots of spices. Poor Jane came bottom of the pile for the first time ever and Candace won this one. If you want to have a go yourself you will find the recipe on the Bake Off website. Sadly, I haven't kept up with the baking as I had to make study my priority.

For the technical challenge the bakers had to create a centre piece with a Tudor favourite (and something I can't stand). They had to make marzipan. The Tudor style is crisper than what we are used to as it doesn't use eggs. Some bakers chose to use both styles. The winner was Candace who created this impressive peacock. However, I kind of feel that a display like this has been done before and it won that person star baker too (you can see Nadiya's peacock here).

Jane's Swans were actually my favourite. It's a little more subtle than the peacock but it's so delicate and pretty. Maybe not thought impressive enough as a centrepiece but I liked it.

Candace done well again this week and I think this is the third time she won star baker. Well done since she did poorly with her pies at the start.

Sadly we said goodbye to my favourite baker Benjamina. It was a tie between herself and Selasi as to who was going to go. I personally would have chosen Benjamina to stay. However, I think her place in the technical challenge was the clincher.

This week we will be down to our last four bakers. I think that it's between Candace and Jane. I would like to see Jane win but I have a feeling it will be Candace.

The next few posts will be my last ever Bake Off posts. With the move to channel 4 I was dubious about whether I will continue. Sadly Mel, Sue and Mary Berry will not be moving with the show and therefore I have decided to end my viewing of my favourite show on a high. It just won't be the same with only Paul Hollywood continuing on and I am actually disappointed that he is. I'm not sure the show will survive without them.

As always, none of these images belong to me but infact belong to the Bake Off website.

GBBO - Week 4

Last weeks Bake Off episode started with a tone of sadness. Not the episode itself but the viewers who (from what I've read) are all saddened by the recent news. If you have been hiding in a cave you may now have heard that the BBC have lost Bake Off and channel 4 will be it's new home. As a result there will be no more Mel and Sue and who knows what other changes will take place. This is one of those shows (in my humble opinion) which doesn't need changed. Bake Off fans like it the way it is. That's a year away so for now we can enjoy it.

Last week was batter week. Sounds easy but far from it. I've never really worked with batter before. I think helping my mum with pancakes years and years ago doesn't really count.

First up was Yorkshire puddings. Not only did the bakers have to make perfect mini puddings but they had to fill them. Val mentioned that you can be kicked out of Yorkshire for a rubbish pudding (paraphrasing) and another said that there are lots of debate on the perfect recipe. A friend of mine once told me that she judges everyone on whether or not they make their own and it should be perfect. Unfortunately Val and a few others didn't quite manage it. There were a few flat puds about. Selasi did not have that problem as most of his could be described as giants and they were well filled with a Sunday roast. Jane also did well with her Sunday roast filling. However, Salasi received Hollywood approval for his crackling.

The technical challenge involved pancakes. Seems simple for bake off but they bakers had to make sure that they were lace. This has proven to be popular over recent years. Facebook is flooded with these videos of people creating famous characters from pancake mix. A few over cooked their pancakes while others didn't quite manage the lace pattern. Benjamina won with the perfect design and bake. If you want to try your own the recipe is here on the Bake Off website. I am going to have a go this week too. Who doesn't love a pancake. I don't promise that the pattern will look brilliant mind you. Decoration is far from my strong point.

For the show stopper the contestants had to make cheeros which is a spanish sweet dish popularly sold at street vendors. You have no idea how glad I am that this wasn't the technical challenge as I don't do hot oil. Benjamina again made the perfect cheero. She went with a simple design and flavour and put her flavours into the dip. A fab idea as she was the only one who impressed Paul and Mary. Tom and Andrew made the mistake of making the cheeros as is commonly done which involves cutting the batter straight into the oil. This made for lots of uneven cheeros. Rookie error as Paul and Mary like their conformity. In fact poor Tom did not have a good week overall as he succumbed to the curse of star baker.

Benjamina was the clear star baker. There was really no contest. She did well with her Yorkshire puddings and came out on top with the final two. I have always like Benjamina and she seems to do well with most of her bakes. I'm hoping she continues to do so despite winning star baker last week.

Sadly it was the turn of Kate to leave the show. I was actually a little surprised by this. She did have a bad week with all her bakes. However, Tom had a bad week too and Val seems to be scraping by each week. I have a feeling that Val's time on the show is growing short but I can't help but like her.

As always the above images don't belong to me and were courtesy of the Bake Off website.

After humming and hawing for days over whether or not my first bread attempt should be the technical bake (Dampfnudel) I decided to stick with my orignal challenge. I had no expectations as to whether or not I would manage it or even like it. I actually surprised myself. I managed it and they actually tasted good. They aren't as doughy or revolting as I thought they would be. Like Mary said they are a little like a sweet bun without the icing. This is thanks to the lemon zest that is added to the dough.

I confess that while I liked them I don't think the effort that went into them was quite worth it. My favourite was actually the sauces which went with them. The vanilla sauce tasted much like vanilla ice cream and I was impressed with managing to make the plum sauce. All first for me. Anyone else have a go?

GBBO - Week 2.

So this week was biscuit week. One of my favourites. And just so you know I am anti-dunking. An argument my sister and I have consistently (at least every time I catch her dunking). Why would you voluntarily make a biscuit soggy and then eat it? Biscuits are meant to crunch, just ask Mary Berry.

First up the contestants had to make 24 identical biscuits. A few people failed in that their biscuits were more cake like and lacked a crunch. Others failed because they didn't do all 24. I felt sorry for Val as she ran out of time and wasn't allowed to forget it throughout. Poor woman may have got all 24 done if she hadn't dropped and broken some of them but she kept that to herself. I thought Benjamina's (pictured above) were rather pretty. A huge congratulations to Tom who got the first Paul Hollywood handshake for his chai tea biscuits.

For the technical challenge the contestants had to make 12 Viennese whirls. Last week the jaffa cake was classed as a cake although most of us Brits think of them as a biscuit. This week the whirl was questioned as some class it as a cake (thanks to Mr Kipling). It's a biscuit people. A fancy one but still a biscuit. I have to say that most of the bakers struggled with these so it was a very well done to Kate (a fellow nurse) who came first. I'm going to attempt these myself next week and you can too thanks to the recipe being available on the Bake Off website.

For the show stopper the bakers had to bake a gingerbread construction and it had to represent something important to them. I was a little disappointed with this round. In the past we have had some fabulous towers and constructions. This year was pretty poor. A few failed to stand up and a few looked rather child like.

Candice's pub won her star baker. She might not have done as well in all the other challenges (somewhere in the middle) but this bake deserved it. She put so much into it that the judges were worried she wouldn't get it done. There was a pool table and little figures and a sticky carpet made with ginger cake. It was the most impressive.

Sadly we said goodbye to Louise. It feels a bit soon for her. She was always somewhere in the middle but this week was a bad week for her. Especially when her biscuit church fell apart. Val was alongside her having a bad week but she was higher in the technical challenge and she just about saved herself with her flavours.

As always the above images are not mine and come courtesy of the Bake Off website.  The following though are mine as I attempted last weeks technical challenge.

Yep, I managed to make 12 jaffa cakes following Mary Berry's recipe. The recipe was actually fairly simple to follow but it is rather bitty.

I was impressed with my little sponges. They turned out well. More importantly I was able to get them from the tin with no problem at all (a first for me). I actually made them twice. The first time I realised that my whisk was back at my dad's. So I did the first by hand. It took me an hour to whisk the eggs up and I wasn't going to waste my jelly on cakes that might be rubbish (they weren't). I picked up a cheap whisk as I wasn't doing that again.

The jelly was actually from a packet. I was a little surprised about that. It also had some orange zest (hence the little bits). To make it extra difficult I used vegetarian friendly jelly which is made slightly differently from the normal jelly and meant I couldn't make it as per the recipe. It turned out though. I used a little cutter and then waited for the melted chocolate to cool so that it wouldn't melt the jelly.

Turned out well I think and my sister loved them (who is a huge jaffa cake fan). So high praise.

Speaking of my sister, she will be guest posting on Monday in preparation for starting out her own blog. Please look out for that.