Major delays

If my life this week was a traffic report, it would say "Major delays in the baking area, with available time backed up until at least Saturday evening.  Hopefully cleared by Sunday.  We urge all commuters to be patient with the unfortunate delay."

Thus said, this week's Baking Day shall appear sometime this weekend.  And just in case you may think I'm resting on my laurels (and so what if I am!) I can confirm that I have purchased the quinces, and a tarte tartin awaits.  Oh golly, bring on Sunday!!

xx Leah

Ode to Apple* Slice

When I was a girl, so small and wee,

My family would visit the bakery.

My father would lean down to my height,

And ask me which sweet treat I'd like.

Now Dad, he liked the chocolate eclair, 

And this is a fondness I still do share.

But yet, another treat won out,

My mother and I, as one, would shout:

Apple Slice! Apple Slice!

Perhaps two squares would be quite nice!

The apple so sweet, the sugary pastry 

That crumbles so badly, but's oh so tasty!

Today I gave it a red hot go,

And baked and apple slice - although

I didn't have any apples about, 

So I used pears.  Now there's no doubt

That my results - though not precise

In replicating that Apple Slice,

Were still delicious, and I dare say

They'll appear in my kitchen again someday.

xx Leah

Queensland Cornflake Crunchies!

This week is about all things simple.  I'm on holidays at the beach (yippeeee!) and life is revolving mainly around sleeping, eating, some swimming and bushwalking - feels like a slice of heaven! 

So I'm taking it as a good sign that I only remembered it was baking day at 4pm this afternoon.  We have no real baking ingredients in the house, so the answer was...Cornflake Cookies!!!!  I adore these biscuits, blending a yummy doughy mixture with sweet sultanas and crunchy cornflakes (I opted for the Crunchy Nut variety - holidays are for splurging, right? Of course.)

So we picked up some flour and cornflakes, used the magarine that's in the fridge (holidays, remember?) forgot about caster sugar and used the raw sugar in the pantry.  I didn't even think twice about not having any vanilla - and must admit, embracing the "anything goes" baking mentality was quite refreshing!

And you know what?  They turned out great!  Not the perfect cookie, but the perfect holiday cookie.  And let's be honest, perfection isn't really commonplace in this blog.  So join me next week for some more Enthusiastic Amateur Adventures!

xx Leah

Cherry Love...

And the Great Pastry Road-Test continues!!

This week of baking provided me with some interesting confirmations:

• There's a reason my Mum always always always uses lard pastry.  It's so easy to handle!!!  You don't need to keep it cold, you can knead it over and over without it losing texture, you can fling it around without it falling to pieces...Frankly, if butter pastry were a woman, she would be super high-maintenance. 

• Lard Pastry tastes different.  Awesome different.

• I like pastry better without sugar in it, even if the filling is sweet.

• Pitting cherries is messy and time consuming (even with a cherry pitter) but sooooo worth it.

• I love love love my french rolling pin with no handles.  This is not a new discovery, just a re-confirmation.

Ok, so onto the photos - oh, I haven't yet mentioned that today I baked a cherry tart with pastry cream filling (very similar to a thick vanilla custard).  Surprisingly, nothing really went wrong, so there's not much more to write about!  I tweaked the filling with more egg yolks to make it more custard-y, and my taste buds later threw a party in my honour.  

Well this week concludes my pastry experimentation for a little while.  See you next Wednesday for another baking adventure!

xx Leah