My Attempt at Baking with Mary Berry

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Have any of you watched The Great British Baking Competition on Netflix?

It may not sound like much, but it is addictive. Alan even watched it with me sometimes. I’ve seen every single episode of all the seasons, so we don’t watch it anymore, but I watched it around the clock last year.

On the show, there are 2 judges. Well, really there’s 3. For the first few years you have Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. Then for the last few seasons you have Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith. I enjoy them all, of course.

So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered this gem while shopping at Target!

Yes!!!! I DO want to bake with Mary Berry! I DO I DO I DO! So much. I was supposed to be Christmas shopping, but that book went straight home with me, and I’ve already baked around 7 different things.

I cannot share the recipes with you. Obviously, that’d be copyright infringement, but I will tell you a little about what I’ve made from the book so far.

Oh, there are several different categories of things to bake in this book: breakfast fare, cakes, puddings, cookies, pies, British favorites, etc.

I have this weird OCD-like quirk though.

I have to read every book from cover to cover. That means I cannot simply get a new cook book and skip around in it. No. Instead, I must forge straight through from first recipe to last in trying them out. And if the first few recipes don’t turn out well. It also means I will toss the book and not ever bake the things in the back.

Yes, I do realize this makes no sense at all. Why not just choose what I want to make most and make that thing? Well, now see, the reason is simple. I spend as little time in a day making decisions as possible. Even my clothes are kept in an order so that I don’t have to decide what to wear everyday. Okay, enough about me….

Here are a few things I baked from chapter 1: Breakfasts.

Yes, most of them turned out well, so I am continuing on in baking my way through this book. Yay!

#1. The first thing I made was a baked oatmeal dish called flapjacks.

These would’ve been delicious……IF they hadn’t completely stuck to the pan. I watched YouTube videos of other people making them too, so I’d have a clue as to what they were, and still…not enough grease on the pan led to disaster.

Best advice: parchment paper next time.

Sorry I didn’t get a photo! I’m bad about forgetting, especially when I fail. Ha!

#2. My Personal Favorite: French Pancakes

No, I’d never heard of it either, but the instructions were very clear. I gotta say, of all the things I’ve made from this book, this one was my favorite by far. These are DELICIOUS. There’s no other word for it.

The only thing about mine were that it was supposed to be made in 3 inch muffin cups, and I don’t have a muffin pan that size, so ours were extra small, but that’s okay. They still tasted the same.

#3. Blueberry & Vanilla Muffins

These were the sweetest, yummiest muffins ever. I called them cupcake muffins.

#4. White Chocolate & Strawberry Muffins

No photo of these. Sorry! These were not popular at our house with the kids because they have jam in the middle, which I think is actually their saving grace. Mine were overcooked and dry, so they were a disappointment. I now realize that my oven works a little faster than Mary Berry’s.

#5. Double Chocolate Muffins

Again I forgot to take photos, but at least the kids did eat these without any coercion. Big surprise, eh? They’ll eat anything chocolate.

#6. Zucchini Loaf

I didn’t bother trying to feed this to the boys because I only ate one bite. It was SO dry! My super-fast oven strikes again. Plus, maybe I drained the zucchini too much.

Alan, on the other hand, seemed to like it and ate half of the loaf by himself!

#7. I skipped the Date and Walnut loaf because I had no dates in my pantry.

#8. I skipped the Fruity Banana Bread because I was also out of bananas.

#9. Apricot & Cherry Loaf Cakes

I LOVED this. First, I feel healthy because it has dried apricots as well as cherries. Second, it’s just yumm-o.

Alan liked the zucchini one better. The boys are so finicky about trying new things like fruity breads that I didn’t even bother them with offering these last two breads. The apricot and cherry loaves make 2 loaves, so I froze one for later.

And I must confess, I ate half of one of them by myself…in one sitting. Apricots are so good! Plus, Alan chopped them up super tiny for me, so it isn’t overwhelming at all.

#10. Next Up: Danish Pastries

This is what I’m planning to make next!! I’m shaking in my black flat shoes over these. I’ve never made anything like this before. Feel free to send any tips you may have!

“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”

Numbers 6:24-26