Of Pies, GBBO and Scones

On the way home tonight from work, Mr Ellie and I discussed the highly controversial topic of the pastry level that defines a pie from a casserole - we agree (and I have to say that Mr Ellie is quite vocal on this subject) that a pie is only a pie when there is a bottom on it.  None of this pot of casserole with a half-hearted lid of puff pastry on the top - no, no dear friends, a pie must have a base of delicious all-butter short pastry as well as a top to seal in all that meaty goodness.  The top can be either short or puff pastry, that is clearly down to the individual taste but it should enclose the meat so that the pie could stand alone without losing a single drop of gravy.  In Mr Ellie's words: "When you live with a pastry chef of this quality, having a pie without a bottom is like having a ferrari and then taking a taxi to work every day" - methinks he flatters me!

I had already decided that I wanted to bake tonight but by the time the ferrets had had their play time and tea was made, it was time for the final of the Great British Bake Off.  As you can imagine, I am an avid viewer of this program and divide my watching time between taking down tips and despairing at why I didn't enter the competition this year!  I have to say that I would be distinctly more prepared than the contestants on this years show - it baffles me that none of them have ever made a croquenbouche or a sachertorte before entering the competition - lets face it, both recipes are in Mary Berry's Baking Bible (more of that later) and surely you'd want to make sure you could bake everything in the recipe books of the judges?  Apart from anything, that way you could ensure that you knew how the judges liked their scones/bread/biscuits etc. to taste/look and thus give yourself a fighting chance.  Anyway, I am pleased for Jo that she won - whilst she is definitely a little rough around the edges in many of her bakes (and I nearly cried when she announced that she'd never made praline before but was attempting it on her final bake tonight) I think she is a very honest baker and there is love in her cooking.  I loved Holly for her technical skills and Maryann for her adventurous spirit and I wouldn't have like to make the final call on the winner but I think that all three were deserving finalists and I was pleased to see that Jo is considering opening a patisserie.  I'd certainly visit if I was ever down that way.

And so to the final chapter of tonight - scones.  After discussions in the office today and watching GBBO, I had decided that I wanted to bake scones tonight.  I had promised the girls in the office that I would bring some in tomorrow but I fear that as we speak, Mr Ellie is polishing off yet another still warm scone and there may not be enough left for me to take into the office tomorrow.  I used Mary Berry's Baking Bible, which really is a brilliant book and one that I would recommend to anyone.  I am hoping to slowly work my way through and bake every recipe in the book:

For the scones tonight, I used her 'Very Best Scones' recipe - a plain scone and I am quite proud of how they turned out.  Mr Ellie certainly enjoyed them and couldn't even wait for me to take a photo before diving in to steal one! For 'artistic' purposes, I put jam on one of the scones - I used the delicious damson jam that I bought at the weekend!

Miss E x