Great British Bake Off – Episode 2

I meant to write a post last week about my experiences of the show and of the cotswolds but never quite got around to it so this week I was prepared. I loved filming this weeks episode, the weather was so much better than the previous week. You couldn’t tell on the show but it rained almost the whole weekend and it was bitterly cold as well. Scotland was warm and sunny and when we were not filming we were out enjoying the sun. I also felt very comfortable in the kitchen compared to the week before, I was relaxed and excited to be there doing what I love.

For the first challenge we had to make biscuits and yes my definiton of biscuits includes cookies! I went with my oatmeal raisin cookies which were inspired by and adapted from a recipe from a New York bakery called Momofuku Milk Bar (original recipe here). The really interesting thing about the recipe is that they used milk powder to make crumbs to add a creaminess which I loved. So I played around and came up with a recipe using the same idea. For the show I adapted it further and changed the way I make them to make simpler and more straight forward. The recipe I used on the show isnt on the BBC website but my original adaption is here.

The Second Challenge was scones and, well… yeah I didnt do great on the challenge. I grew up on my mum’s wonderful scones and holidays in devon with real cream teas, but the ones my mum taught me to make are slightly more rustic so maybe ill just brush over this challenge…

The third and final challenge was the big one, macarons, meringues and choux buns. I make macarons a lot but not so much choux pastry and meringue but i wasn’t uncomfortable with them either. My macarons were filled with raspberry jam and a rose flavoured French buttercream. If you want to look at the recipes I use most often take a look at this post here.

Paris Pastries

I meant to post this last week but things have been a bit hectic around here so hopefully ill post numerous times this week. You already know I ate a lot of macarons in Paris but they were far from the only sweet thing I ate, there was much more, which may explain why I spent last week still not hungry and with little desire to eat anything. The thing that sets Paris apart from other cities, for me at least, is the creativity used with their pastries. Paris patiserries are stunning, from the simple elegance of a lemon tart to the nearly ridiculous and over the top entremets, I find it so inspiring walking into the boutique-like patisseries and am constantly being blown away by the creative aspect of it all. Over the week I visited many (12?) patisseries and got something more substantial from 7 becuase if I had eaten much more I seriously think I may have been ill.

Paris Macarons

Paris really does loves its macarons, almost every patiserrie I visited sold them (although I suspect some of the smaller cheaper ones buy them in) and I also saw them at supermarkets, department stores and even fastfood places. You could also buy them as keyrings, soaps, kitchen decorations and obviously as the subject of cookbooks (of which I counted over 20 in just one store). But im only really interested in the real thing so first off were they all good? No there were clearly places that were excellent and others that simply didn’t rate as high. But where to start, where should I visit. I wanted to try a broad range from all level of producers, unfortunately I forgot to buy any at the supermarket but I did manage to try some from McDonalds and tried many of the big names. Because I cant think of a great way of doing a comparison im just going to jump in and start.