Bake List: Tart au Citron

The latest item ticked off my Bake List is Mary Berry's Tart au Citron as featured in last year's The Great British Bake Off. This is one of the absolute tastiest tarts ever - so lemoney and lick smackingly good!!

The recipe is pretty straight forward although I do think the whole thing is a bit faffy. It's def not a quick make due to all the stages of getting the pastry done. But it is most certainly worth it!!

The crust baked quite well which I'm pleased about as the first time I made this it shrank wich meant I coldn't use all of the filling. TIP: Do not trim the pastry until after the blind bake - this allows for shrinkage.

Check out the rest of my Bake List and the progress so far.

Bake List: Butteries

Another item ticked off my Bake List! Butteries are something I have always wanted to make, particularly as you can't buy them in England and so the only way to have any is to make them yourself. I decided to make these yummy baked treats for the weekend as I was staying at my mum and dad's along with my aunt and we are all big buttery fans. They went down a treat!

I have a great book of traditional Scottish recipes called 'Taste Ye Back' and so used the buttery recipe from there. It called for a shocking amount of lard, vegetable fat and salt and knowing what goes into them has slightly put me off eating too many. Heart attack on a plate, esp when you add whatever accompaniment you have with them!

The method is pretty easy, a bit like making bread, but a bit 'stagey' as you have to prove them twice before baking. And handling the lard was rather gross, might wear rubber gloves next time!

If you've never had a buttery before, the best way to describe them is: like a very salty, dense croissant. They are best warm and toast really well. I had mine with some ham which balanced out the saltiness, my mum had hers with strawberry jam and my aunt had egg and bacon with hers! So that goes to show there are several ways to eat them. Next time I will use a bit less salt as the recipe called for 40g which we all felt made them that bit too salty.

Check out the rest of my Bake List and the progress so far.

Bake List: P-p-p-pumpkin Pie!

This is the season for all things pumpkin and in true American style, I made a pumpkin pie last weekend, using the tart tin I got for my birthday. Now, I've wanted to make a pumpkin pie for ages but was saving it for the right time of year. It even made it onto my Bake List. I even had a can of American pumpkin purée which I got at the posh deli shop. I was super excited about making this pie!

Pumpkin pie

Imagine my dismay and sheer disappointment when I tasted this scrummy looking pie and discovered that I don't actually like it. I could've cried. Now, I've never actually tasted a pumpkin pie, but there was no reason to know that I wouldn't like it. I mean, it's a pie. With proper pastry and everything. What's not to like? Apparently, everything about it is not to like - taste, smell and texture, bleugh! I didn't even finish the slice I thought it was that bad. Mr PC wasn't keen on it either. Major disappointment.

So now it is cut into slices and in the freezer until I find someone who would like it. It's just too pricey for me to throw out (nearly £5 inc the tin of purée). So, if you like pumpkin pie, give me a shout!

On the plus side, the pasty base was perfect, not soggy or undercooked. A perfect bake, as Mary Berry would say. It just tastes yuk!

Here's hoping the next item off my Bake List tastes better!

Have you ever made something that you didn't like?

PS. Have you spotted my new Bake List page?

The Bake List

The second series of The Great British Bake Off has been amazing foodie telly and the list of things I want to learn to bake has been getting longer and longer! After reading this post on Cake and Feminism I was inspired to write my own Bake List. There's a huge list of things I want to make/eat and so I decided to write the top contenders into a list which I can work my way through (and tick off as I go along!).

There are 12 items on the list (in no particular order) which I think is plenty to be getting on with as I plan to do one a month.

The Bake List

1. Butteries
2. Tarte au Citron
3. Chocolate Eclairs/Profiteroles
4. Pumpkin Pie
5. Macaroons (flavour tbc)
6. Shortbread
7. Bread Rolls (flavour tbc)
8. Cheese Twists
9. Chocolate Pavlova
10. Tipsy Cake
11. Bagels
12. Melting Chocolate Puddings

A Cook List is also in the pipelines and  I'll share it once I make the final decisions. 

What would be on your Bake List?