A few months ago, gripped by baking fever, I purchased Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I quickly decided to embark upon a mission to bake everything in the book, and turn myself from an occasional baker into a bit of an expert. My Grandad Ern was a Master Baker by trade; the man responsible for introducing Danish Pastries to England in fact, and I wish it had occurred to me to spend more time learning from him, rather than simply enjoying the fruits of his effortless labours. This project is almost a way of making amends for that; I'd like to follow in his footsteps (if not in my career, at least as a hobby) and continue the proud heritage of baking in my family.
I credit my friend Rachel with the idea to write a blog about my baking exploits, hoping that there will be more successes than failures as I attempt all 213 of the Queen of Baking's recipes.
So as not to bore the husband with a monotonous diet of sponges, followed by weeks of biscuits, I've decided to tackle the recipes by selecting the first bake from each chapter, followed by the second recipe and so on. I'm not going to pick and choose; I'm determined to face my baking demons and learn how to do everything baking-related, even if the consequences are disastrous!
Everything will be photographed, with comment about how I found baking it, and a husband rating (to be taken with a pinch of salt as he has a very selective cake-tooth).


Saturday 24 October 2015

74. Date and Cherry Butter Bars

I've actually been doing quite a lot of baking since my last post: 4 new ones from the book plus some repeats and another date recipe passed on from one of Joe's colleagues. What I've found more difficult is finding a moment to update this blog! So here I am, with lots to add, and probably very few comments from husband who will, once again, say that he can't remember what things tasted like because I baked them so long ago.
Anyway, I chose this one because I had some dates hanging about and wanted to advance the project. They were very easy to make and didn't take very long. It was just a matter of following some simple processes of making a biscuit dough and pressing the mixture into the tin. I over-baked them slightly, due to not being very familiar with the new oven in the new house (another move: this one's a keeper for as many years as we can tolerate it!) but it didn't affect the flavour too much. I don't know why I should've been, but I was surprised by the texture. They were actually like a shortcake with bits of fruit in and very biscuity. I'd expected them to be more chewy.
Baker's verdict: very easy to make and satisfying to eat. Maybe a bit too buttery and the flavour of the dates wasn't very strong.
Husband rating: 8/10 - they were nice, a bit chewy and soft cookie-like, which was good.
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