Brandy flops

I have a theory that baking can be influenced by attitude.  It may sound like nonsense and it probably is, but anytime I have started baking or cooking in a bad mood things seem to go from bad to worse.  Exhibit A – the Cornish pasty, I was grumpy and you saw those soggy bottoms.  Exhibit B – a now infamous dinner my husband and I refer to as the hate nachos.  While making nachos we got into a big fight and we had to sullenly choke down some burnt chips for dinner.  Exhibit C – Brandy Snaps.

I don’t limit the phenomenon to mood alone.  I also credit multi-tasking and dish disrespect for my baking failures.  These Brandy Snaps were a perfect storm.  Let me set the scene, after work last Tuesday I was in peak hangry mode and thought a whole bbq chicken would be the perfect thing to make for dinner.  Why on earth would a meal that takes 90 minutes be a good idea?  It wasn’t.  So hungry and grumpy with 90 minutes to kill I started my Brandy Snaps. 

Paul’s Focaccia – bring on the gluten

I love bread!  I love it so much!  Any kind of bread really, white, sourdough, buns, bagels anything with gluten.  And I especially love focaccia.  It’s perfectly flavoured, with big chunks of salt, just enough oil that it doesn’t need any extra butter and you can really go all out with cheese and herbs if you’re feeling crazy.

Becuase of my love for this flat, salty loaf I had made it a few times before attempting Paul’s recipe.  My first memory of making focaccia was in high school.  My Uncle lived with us for a couple of years while he went to culinary school and I remember making all kinds of food with him.  Or really just requesting he make different dishes for me to eat.  But I think I participated in the focaccia…at least that’s what I’m going to claim.  Since then I’ve tried it a few more times on my own with different recipes and although the results vary it’s always delicious!  And Paul’s recipe was no exception!

Tarte au citron – so much lemon

I really like lemon desserts, and that lemon souffle rocked my world but I’m kind of over lemons right now.  It’s mid-June and I’m craving strawberries, rhubarb, ice cream, s’mores and everything else supremely summery.  While lemon is a nice light flavour I can’t help but think to myself “lemon again?” But I am a dedicated soldier in the Great British Bake Off army and I follow orders!

We had a busy weekend, my brother in law got married! Where ironically a lemon tart featured prominently in my father in law’s speech.  But since I felt behind in my baking I used Sunday to do two bakes.  As with my last double header I had a 50% success rate. Sadly the tarte au citron was not in the winning 50%. 

Mary’s Battenberg – Hello Series 2!

We survived series 1.  Phew! There were some close calls and some big successes but its time to move forward. Series 2 is when the show really starts to hit its stride.  Mel and Sue begin to crack some great baking innuendos and the bakes get more advanced, technical and supremely British.  This first technical of the series,  the Battenberg, is one of these very British recipes.  At least that’s what I’m assuming since I’ve never heard of or seen one of these cakes before the show.

As is tradition I rewatched the technical before attempting this bake and I learned a lot. One of the seemingly endless food historians that the show interviews talked about the history of the cake and it’s connection to Prince Philip.  After binge watching the Crown on Netflix and learning all about cheeky Prince Philip I was excited to pay homage to him in cake form.