Scrummy Handshakes - A Great British Bake Off Fan Podcast

Hi All - it is with mixed emotions that I am announcing that this is the last episode of Scrummy Handshakes - at least for now. Alison can't return and doing this withougt her makes me ... well... sad. Maybe the future will bring a different path, but for now, this is what I need to do. I hope you enjoy this last episode where we tear through the rest of Juniors! We see: Amazing builds of meringue, illusion cakes, mirrors, jellies, and much more. Floor cookies and the worst floor cake in bakeoff history. Some touching moments. Laughing with Harry. Hurting Harry! Lola. All the Lola. Victories for all. A deserving winner and a satisfying final round. I will still keep the Instagram alive: @scrummyhandshakes but feel free to follow my personal one as well: IG: @iwassheldonfirst Keep on Baking!

Still traveling a lot so baking limited - but did make some brown butter CC cookies! And then had some my employee made - hers were better so I got her recipe :-) Ellie Jean Taylor is having a baby! Bake off starts in UK on Tuesday sept 26... still no confirmation from Netflix on their having episodes 3 days later. Last round for Heat B before recombining the groups. Pastry - the differentiator in my book. A lot can go wrong and the options are wide. In the technical they ere asked to make pop ta.... (i mean) STARS. They had to make their own peanut butter to go with jelly inside the pastry. Keys to this were get the thickness right, make the peanut butter smooth, and crimp to hold it all in. Aisya and Fraser did this pretty well. Frasers got a bit overbakes=d though and it pushed him to 2nd in the technical. Salma did a decent job. Both Tomas and Gabriel struggled. Tomos with uneven rolling of his pastry and gabriel with over saltiness and not blending his peanut butter smooth... and not crimping, earning him last. In the showstopper they had to make a family crest using pastry. some went sweet (Gabriel and Tomos) while the other went savory. Salma went with what was more of a dough than a pastry crust. It was yeasted and had no butter. Hers was "good" but Liam was wanting for short crust so it cost her I believe. Aisya went with a spicy chicken pastry and traditional short crust. Colorful... but a little messy. Tasty though. Fraser - delicious and used star anise brilliantly, but very simple in its design. The two sweet pies both used fruit - a risk for sure because of moisture. Gabriel added a creme patissiere ... which looked very lumpy... but apparently tasted good. He blind baked his crust which was smart. Tomos... did not blind bake and this was a mistake. Soggy bottom. Kiss of death and he was sent home. Star baker went to Fraser who is a brilliant baker. I was pulling for Aisya, but at least they both head to finals. So we combine both groups next episode: Heat A: Lola, Quique, Macy, Kezia Heat B: Fraser, Aisya, Gabriel, Salma My bets are on Fraser or Aisya. I'm excited to see them all again though - hope its a good contest.

Sheldon talks about making Christina Tosi's (Milk Bar) Cornflake Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Cookie - - one word "yum" and talks about the next step of making his own recipe. Where are they now with Nancy Birtwhistle - Season 5 winner. Rav's dress looked amazing! No new bake off news yet...was hoping for contestants. Technical "Rainbow baked Alaska". Banana ice cream... eww. Biggest challenge was getting ice cream to set. Gabriel's forgot butter and flour in the cake... so added it after. Salma and Fraser nailed it. Gabriel and Mia and Aisya did not. Setting issues. In the showstopper - illusion desserts. Most made a cake, Salma sort of did but used Maltese biscuit. Three people chose pizza to make an illusion on - Mia, Salma, and Tomos. All had different flavors and approach. Salma's stood out. Mia's stood out the other direction... Fraser's meatball sandwiches looked absolutely professional - flavor of mint maybe not a great choice. Aisya's "chicken satay" was amazing. Gabriel's "fish and chips" looked a bit messy to me... Rav seemed to like the flavor, but in my personal opinion, Gabriel did not meet the visual part of the brief. Apparently Mia's jam snafu on the pizza though was worse as she ended up going home. I disagreed in general... but as I've said before - I didn't taste them. Next week = Pastry for B to decide who goes on to finals week.

Episode 50!!! Very excited to bring the show to you - it's fun and I love talking about this topic. Tell your baking friends to come along for the ride!  Follow us on IG @scrummyhandshakes So I made a little investment in my baking journey.  Alison turned me on to Christina Tosi of Milk Bar fame - she also does a show on Netflix called Bake Squad - 10 out of 10 must watch if you love GBBO. I kept seeing a “masterclass” kind of thing for her on a platform called Studio.  She teaches 3 of Milk Bar's famous recipes - Cornflake Choc Chip Marshmallow cookie, Milk Bar Pie, and Birthday Layer Cake - but she also teaches her process for recipe creation, prototyping, etc. Something like 16 hours of classes.  So  - I decided I wanted to up my learning and I got it!  Started on the cookies and these look exciting. There is a sub recipe for the “cornflake crunch” aspect of the cookie and just that is a fantastic mix in that could be used for a ton of stuff. I bet you could top ice cream with it and it would be amazing. Very excited to see how these things go! Bake off news:  it's starting soon!  Expect to see the line up of bakers ANY day now!  ALSO - big format changes! Reading several articles on the subject and and it appears that there will be no “national themed” weeks this year based on feedback from the fans.  This is probably for the best as there have been a few cringe moments sprouting from those weeks.  Best to play it safe. New theme is “Party Cakes”.  It also appears the bakes will be more “approachable”. Paul says “In a way we've returned to the philosophy of the first three series”.  I like it already! In where are they now this week, let's take a look at series nine and someone that I very much enjoyed on the show Briony Williams. She was one of the only bakers I can recall that had a visible physical “difference” - she has no fingers on her left hand - It in no way should be called a disability at all - she rocked in the kitchen and nothing slowed her down.  Post bake off she was a presenter for Channel 4's “Food unwrapped” as well as “Escape to the Country” and writes columns for publications such as BristolLife. Follow her on her Instagram along with her 150k followers @brionymaybakes where she posts a lot about her life and adventures as well as tons of recipes. Bread week for Heat B! First comment - I just love Rav and Liam as judges. They almost look like a "couple" they are so comfortable with each other. The bakers kick things off with a pull apart bear bread with spicy harissa and parmesan with tapenade side. This is a non-yeasted bread and Aisya knew right away what to do with it. She gave almost a mini-tutorial. Fraser and Mia had strong looking bakes, while Sasha dropped a couple of hers. D'vonte and tomos were "ok" along with Gabriel. Taking technical was Aisya took the top spot followed by Mia and Fraser. D'vonte at the 7th slot with Gabriel last. Over blitzing the tapenade and not baking the bears "together" were the two big challenges. In showstopper it was your best day in focaccia! They were allowed to make dough the day before (I wish they would show that footage!). These were pretty straight forward with a few nuances - Fraser went sourdough - a bold move that paid off. D'Vonte made 2 types but gave up the send proof - a gamble that did NOT pay off. Aisya's was gorgeous. Mia's had lots of promise but she should have cooked her sausage first. Gabriel did one with veggies and chili salt, but the chili wasn't present - only the salt.... salma did a nice job but had a way to go from being 5th in technical. Star went to Fraser... not crazy that he won (must have been delicious) but I thought Aisya was stronger as a whole. They sent D'vonte home - that 2nd proof miss... but honestly ... I felt Gabriel deserved to go more. Last in technical and over salted with poor design. Will see when actual new bake off starts but will continue with Juniors until then!

Episode reviewed:  Juniors S7E7 - Heat B Biscuit Week Start off with bakes - It was Ghirardelli baking week for Sheldon. Brownies, White chocolate macadamia / cashew cookies, and straight up chocolate chip.  Oh and Ovens are the devil. 11:37: where are they now.  S12 finalist - Crystelle Pereira IG: @crystellepereira has been doing great it appears since her finalist appearance on season 12 of GBBO whee she, Giuseppe, and Chigs battled for the win. Her instagram is full of fun and tips - most recently she has been doing unique fruits and veggies. She has a new book - Flavor Kitchen (yes the US version has no “u” hahaha) 15:42 - Covering of the episode. Biscuit week after no-one was sent home last time.  Technical: Snack-cessorie - sable biscuit sunglasses with boiled sweet lenses and a “surprise between the lenses.  Some issues with some bakers on their shaping of the biscuits.  Mia dropped most of her tray and was only able to deliver one pair vs the three in the brief. Olivia was put at a bit of an unfair advantage - one task was to bash up the sweets and she was a bit too tiny to do this effectively.  Set her back on the bake but she still managed to be 6th. Nice work by Frazer and Aisya on this one Showstopper: Cookie box about your life. The big takeaway was “neatness was tops” - a lot of comments made when there were gaps in edges. Mia's was all beat up and her lemon poppyseed biscuits needed more lemon. Frazer- proving he is 45 and not 15 - used self-harvested hogweed as one of his flavors but it looked amazing as did Aisya's. Salma had five different flavors which were all pretty good but didn't necessarily complement each other. Olivia had some uneven bake and maybe too much clove in her gingerbread. Tomos was a bit untidy and used orange extract that tasted artificial.  He and D'vonte didn't chill their dough which led to some wonky edges. It ended up that Fraser was Star - well deserved, but then Olivia was sent home.  Now granted, I didn't taste the bake, but I felt Mia overall had the worse day… and Olivia was almost star on day 1… I felt that “feats of strength” candy smash unfairly set her back, so I disagree with sending her home. But alas - I'm not the judge!  Follow us on IG: @scrummyhandshakes

Episode reviewed:  Juniors S7E6 - Heat B Cake Week Start off with bakes - Sheldon takes on Bundt and the return of Choux - hear how it turned out. 12:35: where are they now.  Former host Sandi Tosvig. So many interesting things I learned about her - I spend more time than I normally would on this segment, but she is fascinating and up to some very cool things. 19:30 - Covering of the episode. 8 new kids in the tent from 9 year old Olivia to 15 year old Fraser and Mia. The have a good mix of bakers. Sheldon has some “opinions” on one… it's possible he's never baked before hahaha. Technical: Upside down pumpkin spice cake with toffee sauce - image of Liam's face on the bottom. Strong showing by the youngest in the group! A couple of absolute disasters. Showstopper: Wildest dreams in cake. There are definitely some wild dreams and some great cake.  Super impressed with Salma, Olivia, and Aisha. Fraser gets my honorable mention. At risk next time if they don't improve: Gabriel, Tomas, Mia. Maybe D'Vonte. Rumor that GBBO may be starting again mid-September.  If that's the case, we will accelerate coverage of the Juniors and cover actual GBBO each week it is released on US Netflix. Follow us on IG: @scrummyhandshakes

It's Juniors S7E5 - pastry day for Heat A! For bakes this week I took on some oatmeal butterscotch cookies - but with a little twist of my own in how I prepped them.  I had two delicious desserts from local bakers, a cinnamon chop oatmeal cream pie and a chocolate chocolate chip bunny cake with cream cheese icing. Where are they Now:  This week we take a ride to Season 10. We look at one of the finalists  - Steph (Steph) Blackwell.  Steph struggled in the tent for confidence, but she was an amazing baker that always just brought the goods.  I like to start my research on Social Media and we head to her IG: @stephiblackwell where she has 139k followers.  The last time she posted was in May of 2022 where she was showing us her 2nd book “Bake Yourself Happy” a follow up to her first book The Joy of Baking.  Prior to bakeoff Steph used to be a very strong athlete - all country in hurdles before an injury sidelined her. She was star baker on the show FOUR times. She talks openly about mental health struggles including her own eating disorder that she has under management.  But I'll be honest aside from that IG post over a year ago the only thing I've been able to determine is that she still shares recipes and a column in Chesire Life Magazine. See one published in August 2023. Other than that … that's it. Warning. - spoilers below Two bakes as is typical with Juniors. The Technical brought us the “religious” - which is normally a nun, but Rev threw a curveball and asked them to make a choir pastry Harry with hazelnut pastry cream.  A few didn't get the pastry right (Lola and Macy) a couple botched the cream.  Quique and Kezia did well with Kecia taking first.  Lola was at the back with Eliza 5th.  Eggs were the key to the choux and over whipping was the cream's biggest faults. Showstopper was “Takaway pie” (takeaway is what we call take out in the States.).  First time they had to do Savory.  All the bakers went for short crust.  The key to a great shortcrust is WATER and the amount of working. Some very creative bakes - Lola with a beep dish “alliteration pie”, Macy with Korma. Bothe Quique and Eliza took on “Chinese” - one with pork the other with duck. Kezia did a chicken and lamb doner pie.  Lola did well, Macy had some constructive comments but not bad, Quique was a bit underbaked but good on flavor, Kecia knocked it out of the park, and Eliza ran short on time and was underbakes and her duck was over cooked.  Eliza impressed me again with her kindness and maturity, but alas it wasn't enough… she was sent home.She was crying at the end, but ultimately was a good sport and left with dignity. She will be missed. Kecia - always humble - took a very well deserved Star Baker. I am shocked that both of the youngest two made the finals for the heat. (Lola and Quique) Next week we see Heat B for the first time. Follow us on IG: @scrummyhandshakes

It's Juniors S7E4 - dessert day for Heat A! Baking was limited to making some homemade pancakes and discovering the multitude of recipes for self rising flour.It was maddening! Where are they Now:  Season 11 winner Peter Sawkins. From Edinburgh Scotland, Peter was the youngest winner in Bake Off history. He was known for his big smile and gluten free ability. Has continued to bake a lot post GBBO and can frequently see him posting about it on IG: Peter_bakes He approaches his social media and baking with humility that makes him easy to like. Had a little snafu with social media a while back when people assumed he was coming out based on a video snippet - he handled it beautifully and with kindness in explaining that this was not the case. He has released two books - Peter Bakes and Peter's Baking Party which is designed to help kids with baking. Warning. - spoilers below Two bakes as is typical with Juniors. The Technical brought the art of meringue to the tent, testing the bakes ability to make, pipe, and bake the tricky egg white delight. They had to create Fruity Pineapple (shaped) Bombs with mango and passionfruit cream in the middle Most did fine with it a few cracks in the meringue, a few missed steps, some “floor meringue”. A couple of issues with the cream for some, but overall the bakers did well.  Mia struggles a bi with time and ended up spreading and not piping the meringue and didn't make the “leaves”. This left her last in the technical, with Quique fifth, and Macy 4th. Kezia and Eliza did some nice piping work but Eliza's cream was a bit over whipped leaving her 3rd and Kecia's color was off giving her 2nd. This left 9 year old Lola at the top of the technical!  She was beaming. Showstopper brought us cheesecake dream vacations.  Goos efforts by pretty much everyone! Macy made two layer campfire cheesecake. Quique did a Basque cheesecake - he had a little upset that dinged up the side - he recovered nicely. Mia did white chocolate with coconut lime flavored Antartica cheesecake - he flavors weren't quite there but it looked nice. Eliza did a delightful tiramisu cheesecake with included the use of tuile - very nice. Kezia did a LOT in her Hawaiian dream cheesecake with homemade biscuit base and orange sponge “dirt”. Lola did a mermaid dream with ginger nut biscuits and cream cheese based cheesecake delivering an attractive and tasty result. Star baker went to Lola! I've never seen anyone SO happy to win it.  The last place technical and miss on flavors led to Mia going home. She didn't take it so well… but alas … she's a kid. Open sobbing that kind of took away from Lola's moment in my opinion. Next week Pastry day for Heat A! Follow us on IG: @scrummyhandshakes

It's Juniors S7E3 - Bread day for Heat A! Kick off with some GBBO news - our friend Giesseppe Dell'Anno from Season 12 has a new book - Giessupe's Easy Bakes available for Pre-order.  This is his 2nd book - the first was from about a year ago. I'm tempted to get it  Where are they Now:  Hermine Dossou - Season 11. From west Africa and moved to London in 2001 for education. Has been baking her own things since age 8 and kept on rolling. She loves high end French baking, and it showed in her style and flair on the show… but she was just shy of making it to the finals. So what is she doing NOW.  Well she has a new book available for pre-order - The Thrifty Baker. She posted this on instagram - bakealongwithhermine - back in May.  She hasn't really been active on the channel despite almost 100k followers.  2021 interviews - Hermine is an accountant prior to bake off, with one child. She was a semi-finalist and was also on the holiday episode of bake off. She did a special food truck tour this year called “Give peas a chance” which supported an effort to help farming families in Malawi become more self-sufficient. The country was recently hit with a massive cyclone that left over 500,000 without homes and destroyed many crops at their peak. Two bakes as is typical with Juniors. The Technical brought a steamer to the tent for the first time (in Juniors). Panda steamed buns. They gave them an hour to make these mushroom and ginger filled concoctions. It involved black food coloring and the messiness did not disappoint. Some challenges with making neat pockets of dough, proofing and steaming times. Lola had the toughest go of it - she barely rolled out her dough so not much filling which left her at the end. Kezia had great forming technique and flavor earning her the top spot in this round.  I do have to say Eliza impresses me not only with her cool head, but in her willingness to help others - she does it multiple times each episode. What a great example of a kid! In the showstopper, they had to make their heroes in a sweet bread. They were allowed to start their dough the day before to proof overnight. Some that had a sweeter dough like brioche… that was a lot of proof time.. Eliza's looked like a bread blob spilling over the bowl onto the pan. Interesting takes by several - there were two Frida Kahlo takes. Eliza's had three types of flavors in it, and Mia's had a honey dough, but both come out really well. Though Eliza's lack of a second proof left hers a little tight. Lola did Captain Tom in bread, filled generously with Hazelnuts and chocolate spread. Looked great. Quique had the MOST adorable story of how his was his teacher - the way he described her melted my heart. His result was good, but a little under proofed. Will had some challenges - skipped a 2nd proof, and burned a part of the design so had to remake. Macy kept it simple in her brioche and icing sugar Toni Duggan and it paid off. Kezia did a strong bake in her brioche tribute to Jemma Wilson. Will's weak showing in the showstopper sent him home despite a reasonably strong 3rd in the technical, and Kecia brings home Star Baker. Follow us on IG: @scrummyhandshakes

Juniors S7E2 - Heat A Biscuit week! Been a quiet week for the hosts - no baking, but a shoutout for a local to Richmond biscuit maker: Cafe Warshafsky - https://www.cafewarshafsky.com/ We do a quick where are they now with one of the "controversial" bakers - Ruby Tandoh. Two bakes this week: Liam's Peanut Butter Millionaire shortbread, and a "biscuit Piniata" Spoilers below: In the Shortbreads, the issues came mostly to getting a good bake on the shortbread (several underbaked), or getting the caramel. Lola, Mia, Joey all ruined caramel first try. In Judging several had issues with soft bakes, Will over stoked his peanut butter caramel and it came out hard. Bottom of the heap: Joey and Quique with Eliza Taking top honors. In the showstopper - bake time reared its ugly head again. Mia, Will, Kezia all had structural issues from underbaking. Joey tried brandy snaps as his structure and it did not pay off. Biggest surprise - Quique bringing home a handshake for his beehive pinata ... and then getting STAR BAKER. I personally felt Eliza should have been the win. And, no surprise based on the day, last episode's star baker Joey... was sent home. Follow us on IG: @ScrummyHandshakes

Cupcake win! Had a great result using Bob's Red Mill buttermilk for my cakes. Nice buttercream color as well from the Ann Clark food coloring I picked up and the 1M piping tip! Nice to finally report on a triumph hahah! Couple of news stories - Network ITV has given new GBBO host Alison Hammond a very nice contract to lock her into the network. In another article (both of these from the Irish Mirror) Prue talks about how nice it is to have another woman on the show and that she didn't get a lot of the jokes when it was 3 men. A quick "Who are they" segment about Juniors host Harry Hill (not his birth name) where we learn a bit about him including his original profession - I was very surprised! Heat A of Juniors follows the "formula" two very young and absolutely adorable little ones - Lola and Quique - are my out of the box favorites. Lola's attitude on baking is what EVERYONE's should be! "Hey Ho, let's give it a go!" Mia age 11, Macy, 10 and Eliza are the "middle of the packers", Will, 11, is the one I feel is going to bring nice artistic flare. Joey, 11, is probably the "ringer" who is a liiiiitle arrogant but knows his stuff it appears, and then the "veteran" is Kezia at age 13. Paul was substituting for Liam who was out sick so the kids had a nice surprise when he showed up! First technical challenge was "mini piggy rolls" essentially swiss rolled sponge with berry and mascarpone filling coated in pink chocolate and decorated to look like a pig. The big test here was "the sponge". Very easy to overbake this or not cool it right and you get a cracked mess... which many did. One comment - they only had an HOUR for this... that's a tough call. Mia had the most problems... and only delivered 3 of the 6 ... which landed her last in the technical. Lola - who approached the whole thing with a smile created what Paul called "abstract art" and landed 7th. There were a few that were dry and not so nice looking... Quique went a little chocolate crazy, Joey came out decently and Kezia was the definite "most attractive pigs" which landed her the technical win. In the showstopper, the bakers had to create a cake depicted their proudest moment. There were some sweet stories, and a lot of "lemon cake" choices. Fondant or Buttercream were the typical toppers with a few interesting flavors. three interesting cakes: Macy with carrot cake (it collapsed a bit - as carrot cake can do - under the weight of the fondant); Quique with an almond cake that used olive oil, and Joey with a Japanese Chiffon cake. This paid off for Joey even though he overbaked them and they burned a bit... but they still tasted amazing. He pulled out the Star baker with this. Picked up a tip - when using artificial flavors - like will and his bubblegum buttercream - a little salt can balance out the artificial flavoring. As usual - on day one of Juniors... nobody goes home. follow us on IG: @scrummyhandshakes

Food coloring is the kick off topic - imagine wanting patriotic red and Blue and ending up with Baby blue and pink?! So Sheldon invested in some of the "good stuff". Details coming forth! Also - it was finally time to "harvest" the homemade vanilla started last November. This looks to be delightful - hope to test some out soon. We do a quick "where are they now" with Jurgen (or is it Juergen?) Krauss from season 12. In a recent interview he stated had it not been for the "fully sequestered" nature of his season, he probably would not have applied! He wanted complete focus on baking. He continues to trombone and bake like crazy! New book coming in September "The German Baking Book" - IG @juergenthebread Five bakes in this Masterclass: Mary's Tipsy Trifle - Key tip: don't use raspberry jam if soaking with booze... it turns grey. She used strawberry. Mary sifts her flour - is that still a thing? Paul gives a side bar tip on avoiding soggy bottoms - blind bake... yeah ok. But interesting tip - he used plastic wrap to line the tarts... never seen that. Ile Flottant (floating islands) are a poached meringue - the big tips from this are that when you are scooping and forming the meringues use a wet spoon to get a smooth exterior. Also - once you pop them in the pan to steam - do NOT open it until they are done. A glass top is very helpful so you don't boil and you can tell when things are done. Spun sugar... looks cool... but does it add anything? Mary does not recommend making it in the kitchen hahah Egg custard tart is next - its a golden short crust made even "shorter" by Paul by using partial ground almonds replacing part of the flour. Paul gets in there with his hands as usual. Seven egg yolks used for the custard! A key to this recipe is rolling the crust very thin. Tip was using a tooth pick to impress a design around the perimeter of the crusts. A big key to these is to use something with a "pour spout" when filling the tarts - if you spill outside the crust wipe it up immediately or it could run behind the crust and STICK. Also critical is cooling time... remove too soon and you could have a mess. Double crust fruit pie - Mary's "wobbly" pie names for the shape the top crust takes forming around the apricot mounds. Mary uses a sweet crust made in the food processor. Key to this is using only an egg as the liquid and not letting it get to "ball" stage in the food processor - Mary takes it out and finishes the crust to a ball by hand. In this pie is marzipan. A tip is to shred it using a cheese grater so that it gets better distributed and melts completely. Phyllo (filo) Pie is the next one. On GBBO the bakers could do sweet or savory. Paul chooses Spanakopita ... even though he doesn't like spinach or feta. What was fascinating - watching Paul knead "automatically" while having a full on conversation with Mary... just wow. Paul uses a pasta maker to do most of the rolling (the bakers did rolling pin or one uses a broomstick to get the width!). Paul then proceeded to do the rest of the stretch by hand...that looked very precarious to me. Butter AND egg on the top make for a delightfully delish looking finish. Follow us! IG: scrummyhandshakes for more Great British Baking Show episode review, fun baking antics, and just good ole fashioned entertainment

Croissants. It's been on Sheldon's list to try. Well, he did. we discuss this and the lessons learned. There were many. The experience required a cupcake recovery bake. I find a nice buttercream recipe from natashaskitchen.com We also talk "mixers". We dive into the Masterclasses of season 4 with the first one today. Five bakes: Spiced orange cake with orange buttercream. Mary boiled a whole orange. Victoria sponge with self rising flour AND baking powder - why both? Key - keep oven doors CLOSED - we saw the debacle from a contestant on the show. Tip from Mary on flipping out cake without getting "grid marks".We also see Mary make crystalized orange peel. yum! Next up - Angel Food cake with lemon and passionfruit curd.This cake uses a massive TEN egg whites. I hate when I have a ton of eggs and the recipes only needs one component... I need a list of recipes for "yolk" or "whites" only to use when I have this situation! Special pan needed... but Mary gives a tip if you don't have it. This cake you cool upside down! Keys: pour batter close to surface to retain air. Stir curd constantly at VERY low heat (Mary touches side of pan). When making meringue - just a spoonful of sugar at a time. Yeasted breadsticks made the next appearance. a very soft and sticky dough - so much that Paul even uses a mixer! The dough structure looks amazing. Tips: listen to mixer - if motor struggling, add water. Temperature is critical - must be very hot of you want that crisp. 220C Fan! We get a quick tip on two tone icing from Mary. English Muffins - one of my favorites. A reasonably easy looking recipe. Paul says "you can see if it needs more milk".... can you, Paul? Show us! Full 10 minutes of kneading and REST time. 30 if in warming drawer... 90 if in the kitchen. The hot griddle (a hot cast iron pan can also work!) is the key for that nice brown finish. MUST let these cool 90 minutes as they continue to "cook". Final bake was the E1 Showstopper - a Chocolate Fudge Gateau. Three different cake sizes makes this a logistical nightmare to keep track of for us normal folk... Tips on tempering chocolate: heat to 47C cool to 31C (Paul adds chocolate to facilitate cooling). Acetate used (available at a hobby store) to pipe the chocolate on and apply to the cake. Something they seem to do a lot - cover the cake in sieved apricot jam to hold the crumbs in - could a crumb coat do the same? Next week - S4E12 MC. Follow us on Instagram: scrummyhandshakes

Follow us on Instagram: Scrummyhandshakes Lots of baking - cookies 3 ways and an 8 egg yolk vanilla cake with swiss buttercream... Sheldon gives himself a B to B- New Season of The Professionals! No Tom! New host is Ellie Jane Taylor - a comedian, TV host, and author joins Liam, Cherish and Benoit. I am not familiar with her, but she looks like she could be a lot of fun! Follow her on IG: @elliejanetaylor In this episode the three finalists from Season 1 take on a wedding cake challenge. SPOILER ALERT - we reveal the S1 finalists below and in the episode! There were two challenges: Create a "traditional British" wedding cake, and then create your own "modern cake". They had 11 hours for the first one (which to me would just feel exhausting... but that's not a ton of time for a 3 tiered wedding cake), and five hours for the second. For the first cake: Miranda: Wrapped her tins in brown paper. Made one continuous batch. Decorated with 200 sugar paste (which we know as fondant these days) primroses. Overall it looked delicate and spring like. I felt her decorative beads were mayyyybe a little wonky. Ruth: separate mixes for each layer. She is VERY fast in her work - impressive. Made Sugar paste roses which were beautiful and made the surface look a bit pillow like. Hers was my personal favorite. Romantic and elegant. Edd: Non-traditional - no nuts, lighter cake. Decorated with very neat looking sugar paste daisies. He had to level things up inside with some almond paste. He brought it all together with some ribbon and a nice looking "band" around the cakes. In this round - Mary liked Miranda's cake - boozy and rich. Paul leaned more to Ruth's even though in one of the layers it looked like the fruit had sunk a bit. Some fun history of the British Wedding cake. The originals were more "bread" like, sugar only for the very wealthy. Paul does a little trip and shows us the way they were made. 3 tiers: One for the day, one for first anniversary, one for first child christening. Original idea thought to be of a baker who saw St. Brides church and modeled it after that. Queen Victoria created the modern decorated wedding cake - the "royal icing" comes from this. Traditional cakes used fruited cake as they had to sit several days to allow the royal icing to set. WW2 was a time of rations and we learn of some of the history. Also dive into how in the 1980's we started to see a turn away from "tradition" and why. The second "cake" let the bakers go wild: Miranda went with w white chocolate rose cake with 4 toppings: white chocolate ganache, buttercream, sugarpaste roses and real roses. Hers was the closest to a "wedding cake". Incidentally - white chocolate ganache can be a real pain as white chocolate has only cocoa butter so is finicky. A very pretty cake but still a little what looked like non-straight lines when I saw the result. Ruth went all in on lemon meringue pie. Using short crust, lemon curd, a lemon drizzle sponge, and italian meringue she had some complex elements and despite some shaky moments with the italian meringue - tricky element that requires 115C sugar syrup on the nose. Overall hers looked fantastic - especially once she pulled out the glitter. Edd went what I consider an odd route... he basically just made a bunch of macarons and stuck them to a styrofoam cone. They looked really good but was this a wedding cake? I'm not so sure. So then came the end... which was weird... Paul and Mary each had their overall favorite... but no winner was chosen. 16 hours worth of baking and ... that's it. Super weird.

Follow us on Instagram: Scrummyhandshakes Houston's tortillas, Cookie madness, and Sheldon tackles puff pastry! Where are they now: Season 1 winner - Edd Kimber (Theboywhobakes) Season 3 E15 - Christmas Masterclass Christmas cake: like a fruitcake. Tips on treacle. Mary Origami. So much TIME. Want more visuals when discussing the "crossroads" of a bake. Mince Pie: UK eat 70MM a year! Sweet short crust pastry - looks fun! No blind bake needed. Paul swears it's more robust because he uses his hands to mix. Buche de Noel: essentially a chocolate ganache covered swiss roll. Special pans needed. Baking parchment with foil - where is this marvel? Tips on gangle minimal mixing to avoid reducing volume. Rolling secrets! How not to ruin ganache. Paul's Panettone: Brioche meets panettone. lots of fruit means lots of yeast needed. Room temp eggs and warm milk get things started. Look for the webbing. Then after butter - you want that sheen. Chilling overnight CRITICAL. Another special pan? ... maybe a paint can will work? A side story of the christmas pudding - Agnes Weston and the sailors that she took care of. Christmas pudding: tip on how to get rid of muscovado sugar lumps. Bread crumbs are better with JUST 1 day old bread - too much more and the crumbs are too small. Parchment foil... or parchment, then foil. Mary the foil engineer...7 HOURS in a water bath... Finally, Paul needs to can the "old" jokes. Christmas chelsea buns: Great way to use Christmas leftovers. How much liquid for your dough? You have to "feel it". Rolling vs kneading... For enriched dough Paul is generous with the bench flour. Tacking the dough important for this recipe - you need to "lift, tug, roll" to get the tight bun desired. Next week - perhaps diving into S1 "wedding cakes episode" or S2 masterclass.

Follow us on Instagram: Scrummyhandshakes ! Roku app messing with my head! Tackling Tuiles - a tale of 2 recipes. Sheldon tries one from a book... result is spotty... then recognizes some MAJOR differences from Mary's Where are they now - Brendan Lynch Season 3 Easter Masterclass - SIX recipes! Easter Simnel Cake - it's all about the marzipan! Crystalizing flower that are edible - it's pretty EASY! WHY Slather with butter AND line with parchment?? Hot Cross Buns - Paul's dad had a bake shop (news to me) and they used "bun essence" to juice sales. Careful with the milk! Kneading serves multi purposes. Master the "Cage roll" What the heck does "squidgy" and "unxious" mean? Easter Biscuits (cookies for us Americans) - You must "feel" the dough to know if it's ready. Minimize Mixing! The Palette knife trick. TWELVE lemons in the icing??? Tsoureki - Cypriot Easter Bread. Special spices. PAUL USES A MIXER! Blood of Christ eggs... a little weird. Some lacking advice on oven temp adjustment. A brief history of the Easter Egg. Easter Lemon Pavlova - Good example of "cloud like eggs". I now know what to do with leftover yolks! Warm lemons give more juice. You can microwave a lemon... if you dare. Took much heat will split your lemon curd and ruin it. Mary is human - even her pavlova cracks sometimes. Chocolate custard tarts - FULL puff pastry! Paul's rolling technique looks SO easy - we all know it isn't. Marbled butter is the KEY to puff pastry. KEEP IT COLD. Relaxing the dough - a move that gets brushed over, but one worth practicing. Pretty sure "corn flour" is American version of "corn starch"... maybe.

Sheldon dives into S3E12 - Masterclass where they take on the signature bakes. But first, a little baking! It's cookies galore - some successes … but also a big fail involving getting confused about whether baking soda was added.  Pro tip: too much baking soda can reallllllly toss a hand grenade on a bake. Redemption came in the form of an old standby chocolate chip. FIVE bakes in this one, all were Paul and Mary's takes on some of the signature challenges in the season and lots of lessons. Flatbreads - Paul chose a recipe with camembert cheese and quince jelly (we discuss what these are). We hit on the finer points of flatbreads (Sheldon having his naan failure flashbacks).  Good tips on why he uses oil not flout for these kind of doughs, how to test if a pan is hot enough to cook flatbreads, and the importance of how to work these doughs for success.   Then a little sidebar with Mary showing how to completely line a cake tin with parchment. Let's just say after watching Mary do it, Sheldon is opting for a heavy greasing as the alternative. Next bake it taste tannin and Mary chooses a bake with apples and caramel. Mary chooses a rough puff pastry here, using VERY cold butter and lard so it can be grated. Typical tips on making something with butter - the colder the butter the better the rise and “puff”.  Twice in this episode we get good puff pastry tips - we watch the importance of the “fold” / turn and they do a total of 4, with refrigeration after the first 2.  This is to keep the butter from melting. Reminders on making caramel - never use a non-stick pan and when you pour it into a pan make sure it is UNgreased. She chooses “eating apples” - pink lady, leaves on the skin, and slices SUPER thin..  Tips : add some lemon juice to apples to keep from browning, and don't turn out this dish until right before serving. We then move to beef Wellington - moooore pastry lessons. Good tips on rolling out super cold butter - coat in flour first! In Paul's puff he uses an egg - he insists it gives more flavor, color, and spring. Mary learns how Paul “tacks” the pastry to the board when rolling up as it allows him to roll more tightly.  Sheldon also learns that “kitchen roll” is what Americans call paper towel.  Sheldon also discusses his “blue collar” idea for beef Wellington - the Meatball Wally. Sticky toffee apple and pecan sponge pudding is next. Toffee. It's ALL about that toffee sauce… Mary with a good tip on adding only part of the egg and then a bit of flour to stabilize prior to adding the rest of the egg. Sheldon has questions on UK vanilla… is it light in color? Looks much lighter than his own. Mary basically is a kitchen engineer with her foil steam covers and cradles for the bake… impressive.  Finally Chelsea buns. Paul uses fruit in his. Sheldon would choose nuts and add some of that toffee sauce from Mary's last recipe. We get some clearer tips: plain dough use oil, enriched dough use flour.  Beautiful bakes all around. 

Baking adventures - Cookies galore, trying some local GIANT macarons. Sheldon gets a new work surface! 5 bakes: Queens Pudding, Jam donuts, chocolate tea cakes, Fraisier cake, and fondant fancies Couple ongoing themes: using the "Bain Marie water bath cooking seems to be a recurring theme. Caster sugar also seems to be used an awful lot - I mean it's the "same" but will it impact regular bakes? Queens pudding key lessons: Make sure you pan fits in the Bain Marie bath before you butter it. When adding hot milk mix to eggs - just add a splash to temper the egg temp or you might cook them. When making jam - use equal weights fruits and sugar. Caster sugar for meringue. Use FRESH eggs and never a plastic bowl with making meringue. Jam donut lessons: add more yeast than breads - enriched dough. Kneading speed helps prevent sticking. Using a mixer with dough hooks could create overworking of dough. For an enriched dough knead with flour not oil. Cool completely before filling. Chocolate tea cakes lessons: Tricky chocolate work. Using a mold - let chocolate cool a bit before spreading around mold or else it will run down the sides. Let chocolate harden up in the room - NOT the fridge - otherwise it will oxidize and lose its shine. Put a bit of melted chocolate on meringue so biscuit adheres better. Faisier cake lessons: Using self rising flour makes it easier - it is AP but with some salt and leaving in it. Side bar: SO many flours - the key difference is often the protein content. The danger zone on this cake is in mixing in butter - don't do it too much or you can lose the air - and when pouring batter into mold pour in close to bottom of mold so you don't knock out air. Mary uses corn "flour" in creme pat. Most recipes show corn starch - these are different things technically so a bit confusing. Whisk corn flour with sugar first - coats it and prevents clumping. Fondant fancies lessons: A basic sponge where all of the ingredients are the same weight. To keep cake as flat as possible, Mary pushes batter to corners creating a "dent" in the middle that will fill in and even out. On genoise especially do NOT open the oven door or it's toast. Mary puts buttercream on the sides of the cake so fondant doesn't pick up crumbs. if after chilling it doesn't smooth well - heat knife in hot water. Use hot water with fondant to smooth it out until dippable.

Sheldon dives into S3E10 - the first of 2 Masterclasses. But first, a little baking! I had a whole lot of extra coconut lying around… it's a long story… and then remembered I had a loaf over pie crust in the freezer! Coconut cream pie it is. Had a little issue with my crust sagging down the sides of my pie plate… might have been that this crust was maybe the “runt” of my batch fro before so I had to roll it a bit thin. Overall, my count cream seems delightful and I got to use my homemade vanilla! Gonna get some whip cream later today and try this pie. FIVE bakes in this one, all were technical challenges in the season and lots of lessons. Rum Babas - this is a bake that I might try. A leavened dog - like cake and bread had a baby. Some good tips on making dough - don't add the butter until you've let it get started with some milk first or the fat in the butter will stifle the growth.  Paul loves making stuff with his hands… but Mary asks the practical question os “CAN I use a machine?”.  Yes.  Yes you can. We also see Mary's “eyeballing 3 tablespoons of rum …. That's more like a cup hahaha. These look delightful and may give me a reason to buy a sprinkler for icing sugar. Next was the dreaded plaited braid loaf. Interesting discussion to start with Paul saying you can use cool water for the bread … and that it will have more flavor! I've always heard “warm” so that the yeast will rise faster - which is true - but Paul has added a new thing for me to research.  Paul uses a lot of oil in his work - as opposed to flour. He has a wooden work surface and it gets me all kinds of worried about what I would use as I don't want to wreck my kitchen. I've decided that I need a “portable and sacrificial” work station for these things… Paul talks through kneading in this episode as well, so if you want some tips I highly recommend watching this one. Important to remember to not use a lot of flour when rolling out the strands either as you need these to STICK together! The process of braiding I'm not going to lie seems a little daunting, but man it's pretty. Treacle tart was next. A British classic, but not something we really make here in the US. Tip #1 was the putting of the heavy baking sheet in the oven to create an even bake (I might use a pizza stone).  Labelling tins with a marker - tip 2. Egg washing lattice before putting on the tart - good idea. And letting the tin do the cutting were all good tips from this section. Bonus: Paul teaches us how to spin sugar… I fear this. Creme caramel is the one I fear the most. Caramel sends fear into me. Key tip - do NOT use a non-stick pan or it will crystalize! Stir a little at first to dissolve then Do NOT stir until it's boiling and clear. Cleaning the pan after? Put some water in it and boil - boom. Learned about why water baths work so well (even and limited temp), and when a custard is done. When making this, do NOT butter the ramekins before putting in the caramel! Let it set up and then butter the REST of the ramekin. Finally - Hand raised pies. Won't spend time on a lot of this as it's very similar to pies from last episode. I do have a couple of ideas on how to prevent some of the failures that the bakers experienced!

Another Sheldon solo - the next several weeks are going to be hit or miss for Alison as her work is needing her to focus on some things - but no fear! Sheldon will do his best to keep the squad entertained. This week we dive back into Season 2 for the second Master class episode - S2E10. Four bakes in this one, all were technical challenges in the season and lots of lessons. Pork Pies using Paul's hot water crust - key tips: lessons in the power of flour. Lard and butter - a match made in flavor.Importance in getting thickness right and working this crust when warm. Be careful with your choice of bacon. Don't refrigerate pork that hasn't cooled first! Next we move to chocolate roularde. A delightful rolled cake that intentionally has a cracked outer surface. key lessons: butter below the parchment keeps it from slipping. Whipping egg whites - be careful not to OVER do it or they get dry. Add whipped egg whites in TWO stages, the first third to "slacken" the batter, otherwise you will lose a lot of your desired air.Put down confectioners sugar when you flip the cake onto parchment or else it will stick and you'll have a mess.Must be COOL before rolling with whipped cream. Mary had an interesting trick of intentionally breaking off about a 1"strip to make rolling easier. A lot of contestants thought the cracking meant they messed up - joke was on them! On to another British treat that we've never heard of - Iced fingers. These are a bread based delight and we got to see Paul in his element. They are filled with whipped cream and jam.For this he used strong (bread) flour as it gave the yeast more to eat. Tricks learned: be careful not to let your salt directly land on your yeast or it will kill it. Mix the salt in first. when adding milk, warm it a bit as cold milk will also slow the ability for the yeast to do its job. this recipe had two proof stages and he showed what a proper proof looked like. Finally, the sacher (maybe pronounced "sacker"?) torte. A dense cake with a nice mirror glaze and scripted writing on top. Mary used a special tinthat the bottom popped out - would certainly make this bake easier - but the cake is robust so as long as you grease well it should turn out ok. she also used a parchment round in the tin - these can be purchased! If you are making lots of cakes - a good choice for sure. Other tips: use caster sugar - finer granules that will completely dissolve more easily. FIVE eggs in this one and again Mary demonstrates the egg while fold in method to slacken the batter. she uses lower cocoa chocolate to prevent bitterness and ads ground almonds for stability.... I am assuming this is the same as almond flour? Her ganache method is perfect - but the one question I am still having is "how cool do you let it get before pouring". I'd like to see a number for temp. The piping on top to me is the most intimidating part, apparently the key is to just continue to roll with it like handwriting. I see a disaster in my future hahaha.

Well - I lied. It's just Sheldon again this week - Alison had a last minute conflict so, with that Sheldon tackles some more learning! First, the bakes. Sheldon went back to the well for the chocolate chunk salted shortbreads he made a couple weeks back. This time it was for a purpose though. A wedding "cookie table". He was a nervous, these would be eaten by strangers and taken home by folks. He adjusted a few things to make enough cookies and the like... but the result was pretty good! Then we get into learning - first - a couple of books Sheldon has picked up that get into some great information of the "why" when it comes for baking. Cooks Illustrated - The Science of Good Cooking, and then one Alison recommended - Bakewise, by Shirley Corriher. Very interesting and a great way to up the understanding of what impacts results. The both look to be full of incredible tips. Now - the masterclass. Four things get tackled: Brattenburg, Tarte au Citron (lemon tart), Italian Focaccia, and the famous brandy snap. We won't get into the nitty gritty here in the description, but for each we talk about some of Sheldon's learnings and reactions (sooooo much oil for the focaccia!) and most importantly the tips and tricks that Mary and Paul provide that will be valuable to anyone looking to try out these 4 technical challenges. Next week (hopefully) we start American Bakeoff!!

This episode is exactly as described - Sheldon takes on a technical challenge selected by Alison and you get to cheer (and laugh) with him as he tackles it! It's on call week for Alison so Sheldon flies solo - so it's a good time for a technical! Starting off with a couple of other bakes - Sheldon got a new bundt pan. We get into the pan and the first bake in it. Results - tasty... but ... successful? You be the judge. More macaroon madness as well! Then we get into the bake. This was from Series 9 E3 (Netflix: S6E3) bread week. This season has a lot of sentimental value for Sheldon as it is the season he really discovered Bake Off and became friends with Alison. So it's an important one. Some of the best Bake Off characters are from this season. Kim Joy (Alison's favorite), Raul, Manon, Briony, and the surprise master of this technical Terry "Mr Handlebar moustache" himself! Some things sheldon learned: * The recipe on the website makes it basically impossible to make these in the allotted hour * "grilling" ... has many meanings * Ghee is basically melted butter where you skim off the undesirable stuff * Add your chopped garlic to the top after - it all just sinks to the bottom otherwise... * Coriander = cilantro * If you are gonna use the broiler - get a pan made for it * If time is your goal - know where you have to make the sacrifices Next week we get to the Celebrities episode with Alison Hammond!

In this episode we review the Great British Baking Show (GBBO) "Stand Up to Cancer" Celebrities edition Season 7, E1. The contestants are John Lithgow (actor), Jon Richardson (comedian), Russell Brand (activist and actor), and Hannah Cockroft (paralympian). We start off with our own antics. Sheldon's salted butter shortbreads were a hit, and this week he tackles macarOOns - this is a super easy cookie that is great for family time. He went "chocolate" variety and had a little trick to make sure he got a decent bake. Alison - she had an adventure! it was off to oklahoma City for a lovely macaron class that her husband gifted her for her anniversary. first - we hear about how OKC is a bit of a mess for driving. This story is fun in itself. When she gets to the class, alison had some goals to learn about certain parts of the macaron making process. She did achieve these goals and I just have to say that the product she produced looked AMAZING!! there were stories though - this is why Alison is so fun when telling stories. The teacher ... well... she maybe took things a bit TOO basic in some of the discussion. She also asked if anyone had ever heard of "The Great British Baking Show".... uh... yes ma'am. Alsion talks about some of the key things she wanted to learn and why they are important. Then to the episode! John Lithgow was a delight as we had hoped. We discuss some comments he made in an interview after the show... joking "it was one of the great traumas of my lifetime" hahahah. First bake - the simple "Brownies". They wanted gooey centers - Alison and Sheldon discuss the merits of a gooey brownie - surprise they have differing opinions. They ask them to be decorated though... we both kind of agree that we don't take the frosted brownie approach. Jon r goes the vegan route - because if he doesn't win "at least he has the moral high ground. We really liked his dry humor. John's were decent - but his icing led to his mouth and hands to be stained in a crazy town looking way. Jon heard his were claggy... that's never good. Russell's were delicious, and Hannah's were decent as well. The technical was a swiss roll - but it was a striped one. Very interesting. it was obvious that some had not whipped the batter enough as it was thin. Also...A lot of food coloring was used. Jon's was the best by far - he was meticulous with instruction. Russell and Hannah's were decent but a little wonky with fillings. John Lithgow's.. was a mess. The showstopper was 3d biscuit scene of your proudest moment. Hannah chose shortbread and her olympic victories, Jon went with savory vegan biscuits and his grad school play, John Lithgow went gingerbread 9how very American) and his performance as Churchill in The Crown (which Alison says is AMAZING) and then there was Russell. We had both been skeptical of his participation ... he can be a bit wild and controversial. We were concerned he would make it too much about him and to "shock". The first 2 events had been good - he was part of the fun and baking well. In the showstopper... he just made it awkward. He could have laid out the birth of his child in a lot of fun ways... he went way to the "shock factor" way. We just didn't dig it. But it tasted good and the judges went with it, scoring him the overall victory. We weren't super excited about it... but overall the episode was a lot of fun until that part. Next week is a bit up in the air due to some work schedule stuff - but the plan is either Celebrities S8 E4 which featured the new Host Alison Hammond, or Sheldon will fly solo and take on a technical challenge. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate your support! Tell your friends :-)

We are back! A few bakes on the books - Sheldon with some "funfetti" cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. Alison does a great job explaining why butter isn't used in them. Sheldon also tackles some popular cookies from Alison Roman (she was at Milk bar with our Alison's favorite Christina Tosi). They came out reallllly well. Alison also made some of her well tuned recipe for chocolate chip cookies, but made a slight modification that was a real crowd pleaser at her work. We have a date! Great AMERICAN Bake Off starts May 5th! we are excited for this new content. Alison curated the pic for this week's review and man she did a great job. Celebrities S7E3 - mark it down and watch it if you haven't yet! Celebrities were Jess Phillips (head of Parliament Labour party at the time), Katrina Johnson Thompson (Olympic Pentathlete), Johnny Vegan (Comedian), and... one of the best guests ever - Big Narstie. He was just all you can hope for. The first bake was straight forward - make 18 shortbread cookies. Some really nice efforts, a couple that were a little under baked. Big Narstie's... just wow... very wet dough... wasn't rolling things out... coming apart.. but he was having a blast regardless. Paul and Prue were even helping him. But - he made some caramel and it looked GOOD. In the technical. Pork pies. Not bad results from 3 folks - supposed to make 4 small pies - again a little under baking, some over filling. Big Narstie - first didn't use pork (this was I believe a personal thing - so he used spicy beef). But then - he just made 2 big pies. totally hand made. Totally ignored the brief. It was epic. Then - in the showstopper - make a portrait cake. Big Narstie was sick...so... SANDY STEPPED IN! And she was amazing. Using a recipe from Paul and Prue she used banana bread to build a brick wall with her little fondant face poking over it. The other three made good efforts - a lot of fondant work, some laughing with looking at Katrina's legs on her long jump replica of herself - but dang these looked great for the celebrities. One of the most amazing and touching moments in GBBO history happens as well - it was awesome. Next week we tackle another of the Celebrity Episodes. Follow us on IG - @Scrummyhandshakes

We reflect about the last 3 episodes for The Professionals and how the Showpieces were better than most of the other ones. We felt the judging was fair for these episodes as well. Before that though we talk a out bakes! Meredith baked garlic knots. They were pre-made, but hey, there was an oven involved! Alison took on 2 cookie recipes - her standard lemon sugar cookies, and then a blueberry white chocolate chip cookie for her friend's son. She used the best blueberries (Maine) and they were VERY blue. Sheldon had 2 adventures - one in decorating where he ALMOST went and piped a logo, Alison surmises that may have been ... challenging... but he opted instead for a stencil and sprinkle approach that was a hit. Then it was "what do I do with the buttercream I bought?" The answer - chocolate chip cookie sandwiches! Back to the episodes. We don't get into too many of the details, but there were some highlights and low points... savory petit fours.. no. So much tonka bean... no. Hidden jelly.... no. But then we started to see some more skills come out in these last few episodes. We lost our favorite couple in the semi-finals though, but we all felt it was fair. Their petit fours were more like petit eights. Teddy bear Picnic was Mere's favorite... but gave Alison the shivers... Alison and Sheldon both enjoyed the awards show show pieces the best. Some nice moments in the final episode with the family messages... but we noticed Elise didn't have one. we were also surprised to hear that Maria V was not originally Kevin's partner but was a last minute sub... we also suspect that they didn't really know each other based on the comment she made during the personal story segment. As far as the overall winner - we did feel it was deserved, but we also never would have picked them to win. We also made the announcement that Mere has decided to move on from the show - she'd got some other focuses right now and is going to put more time into those. We will miss her! Next week - we are going back to some classics! Alison will be selecting one and we will discuss!

Lots to talk about at the beginning - Alison has some fantastic bakes in the realm of whoopie pies, but also stooped by a mini donut shop for a gift...and boy she had a fun story for us. Mere had a birthday! Her mom made the ever delicious Texas Sheet Cake so we dive into this delectable treat and what makes it unique. Sheldon tackles carrot cake and a GBBO contestant's "Cadbury Egg" cookies ...which were ok. THEN Sheldon mentions he has a protein "pop tart" he picked up to try - Alison stops the press and makes him taste it then and there. Just... I can't even write about it I'm so traumatized. Then we eventually dive into the show! We start off with the announcement then next episode we are going to "wrap up" the Professionals. We are just bored of it frankly and feel you probably are too. So next episode we are going to consume the remaining shows and wrap it up in a bow and move on. Alison has some great ideas on avenues we can go down that we hope is more entertaining. As for this episode - they started off with savory brioche and the straight forward "make a pithiviers" (a puff pastry with an almond filling. What shocked us most was the epic failures on much of the puff pastry... some were very raw which is mindblowing. Then there was some issues with under proofing of brioche... Recognizing that there is a time crunch and that they can't bake 2 things at once (we assume a good reason for this) - why not make and bake the pithivier first and let the brioche proof longer? We didn't get it... Lots of interesting flavors of the teams with all of us liking the thought of Michael and Andrew's Chorizo and manchego the best. Julien and Elise, Lerrick and Lennicker, and Keiran and Rebecca put themselves in the most danger in this round. The showpiece was all about sugar work. Theme was Jungle and required to have blown and ribbon elements. Also had to make 2 kinds of confections - one with alternative to sugar, the other with an herbal flavor. Results were all over the place issues with sugar molds, pieces breaking, some confections not setting... made for a couple of major issues. Then there were flavors - peppermint and lime... no thanks. One that (maybe intentionally) tasted like cough syrup, failed Turkish delight. There weren't many that sounded great - we all wanted to try the coconut and pine nut toffee Kevin and Maria V had though. One team definitively stood out as bad though... their showpiece ended up more like a stand and it sent them home. Our rating of the episode - 3.5 on average... and only that high because Mere was excited about the sugar work!

Mere made hamantaschen and said her triangles were wonky… but it had three sides so by definition - perfect! Alison talks about her “pantry leftovers brownies that looked like they were straight out of a Williams Sonoma cookbook. Sheldon hurt himself, but it wasn't baking so, who cares? Spoilers for E6 below. Chocolate week! To kick it off the teams were asked to create a sharing dessert that highlighted chocolate, but also black and white sesame. Ok - a little weird - but we rolled with it. There seemed to be a trick though - the black sesame had already been toasted and if you toasted it again it would be bitter… Well, one team toasted them again and then added a whole boatload of sesame oil to their dish. It had to have been overloaded. A few teams had issues with their desserts setting and tried to cover it up with deco. George and Geanina carefully tasted their flavors, pulled together what looked like an exceptional looking dessert, and had about 15 minutes to spare. The judges seemed harsh on them. We all felt this was ridiculous as we thought theirs looked far and above more attractive than the other three. Also we kind of feel there is some favoritism being laid out… Both Keiran and Rebecca as well as Stefano and Sara put themselves in trouble with the former group reallllly having issues. Into the showpiece, the teams were asked to make a chocolate house of horrors with a moving part and 24 chocolates (2 kinds). G&G are Romanian and chose Dracula's castle. George even dressed up for the part. We love them. Keiron and Rebecca went with “Pastry shop built on a toxic waste site and the pastries decide to eat the baker”. Oddly specific. Stefano and Sara take on chocolate skull scarecrow (don't worry, we didn't get it either), and Lerrick and Lennicker build “lonely house”. Some curious and some downright odd flavors. A chocolate with bell pepper… hard pass. Then the other chocolate from the same team had basically “powder” inside of it… also… hard pass. Schezwan pepper made one chocolate too spicy, but then salted caramel crickets were surprisingly ok in another. In terms of structure, Keiron and Rebecca had issues with some pieces, but another team had a total collapse… combined this with many other issues and we end up with Stefano and Sara going home. Keiron and Rebecca were VERY lucky but will join George and Geanina and the first place Derrick and Lennicker team as we rejoin the two heats next week. Truth be told… we did feel George and Geanina deserved the win, but it's a moot point. Our assessment of the episode. We all rated this episode 3-3.5. Not the best we've seen.

Well - something is just simple to us. We just like Group B of the bakers better. We like each team in their own way, but we like them all. We all have a special affection for George and Geanina as well. In terms of our adventures. Meredith makes some killer compote and jams, she shares it with the family and they end up keeping it all! Don't worry she can make more :-). Alison talks about her amazing M&M cookies and how they barely last a couple of hours at the office. Sheldon makes ugly “macarons” that taste pretty good… but actually he's never had one for reals so who knows. He also talks about his joy filled trip to Williams Sonoma.. which starts a conversation about oven thermometers. Spoilers for E5 below. It's illusion week. The bakers are asked tight of the gat to make a cone dessert that must include a sponge or biscuit as well as three elements and an illusion dessert that looks like a carrot but doesn't taste of one. An interesting thing about this show… they appear to spend almost all of the time on the cone dessert and we don't understand why… as it turns out the carrots are almost all disasters. Some people took liberty of the word “cone and one made a pine cone… using pine essence…how the heck do you make a delicious dessert that tastes like pine? Derrick and Lennicker take a path making a Christmas tree and Keiron and Rebecca go the traffic cone route. One definitely executed better than the other.A lesson learned y one group - don't promise something you can't deliver! This sound left a couple of groups on the ropes, but on in particular would need a great day 2. Day two brought us something that Alison remembered was once asked for on her favorite season of traditional GBBO. The “religious a l'ancienne” - aka the Old Nun. It's a tower of eclairs and choir buns. It also had to have a time travel theme… again… why overcomplicate? Os it the old nun or is it time travel? The bakers had to make the entire structure of something edible and had to have 2 flavors of eclairs. During the golden hour most prepared the structure - of which all used sugar… except Lerrick and Lennicker who went with chocolate again. Some chose to prepare their choux dough in advance. Interesting themes, all three of us really loved what George and Geanina did about what their 50th anniversary would be - and the roses they made were amazing! Sheldon really liked the steampunk theme throughout there was a little discussion about one of the eclair flavors - coffee coconut caramel - Sheldon was a little weary of it, but the others felt it could work. A smoked peanut eclair also drew some attention of our crew. Lots of issues with structure and some lairs falling off. The team that went home just blew it with over using their extracts and missing on flavors - their choux wasn't even right. The team that got the nod as best totally deserved it, and we look forward to chocolate week next week! Our assessment of the episode. Mixed. Both Alison and Meredith rated it high - 4 to 4.5. Meredith just had a lot of joy from it. Sheldon didn't love the challenges posed and felt execution was lacking so fave it a middle of the pack rating of 3-3.5.

It's chaos Tom! We discuss the A and B format a bit and the struggle of having to relearn all the teams. Overall we all agree that this group just seems more put together than Group B. We discuss each team a bit and what we liked about them. We talk about Meredith's amazing lemon meringue pie, Alison's amazing quest to take on macarons... and how she is just rewriting the rules to making them. Sheldon has a journey of his own of redemption in the form of Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes - ganache flashbacks are real folks. Episode spoilers below: The teams were asked to make lemon meringue pie and tiramisu (but reimagined). There were some struggles - one involved a freezer not being set right so it was too warm. This kicked off a discussion on who's responsibility it is to make sure it's set right... we just aren't sure if there is a standard or if the chef needs to set it. This same team also didn't use real coffee for the tiramisu... soooo. domino and Nessie shined in this event with a beautiful spread and great flavors. A few combos we thought would be interesting fell flat though. What surprised us the most was how so many just could NOT get meringue right! In the show piece, the theme was fruit crumble on an edible stand 70 cm+ in height. A lot of interesting takes on this. It could have been very boring entremets again, but the bakers delivered some very unique designs, many in the shapes of fruits. One team used sugar work and it really paid off for them, their design stood out and it pulled them out of the danger zone. Some controversy - one team built something really great.... but it collapsed before judging. It seems thought that they got what was tantamount to full credit for it. we all felt that this was unfair. Not that they necessarily should have went home, but technically they did't deliver. It really didn't matter too much though because Sarah and Cristina had a terrible go of it... their custard oozed out and was a mess. Sarah was kind of mean when it happened basically chastising Cristina for not using enough gelatine. Not cool. As a first that we've seen there was a tie for 1st. Next week - Heat B takes on Illusions!

No Meredith this week so Alison and Sheldon hold down the fort! We get the full update on Alison's baking marathon last week and …wow… just wow. SIX delicious cookies and wait till you hear where they went … so proud of our friend. Sheldon had no chance to bake but we talk about the intricacies of Naan and how a great one is such a feat! We also get an update on the type of chocolate he used for his ganache… spoiler alert… the ladies were correct in their assessment. Spoilers for E3 below. Right out of the gate, we were both a little surprised to learn that this GBBO The Professionals is in fact a “two group” show, much like the Juniors were. So after this week we will be seeing a whole new group of pastry chefs in the mix… which means we need to learn new names and Sheldon will need to write small to get his notes grouped on one page (it's a thing with him…). The team was really happy about this episode as it was the first to them that felt like an actual “Bakeoff” episode. The first challenge was a surprise and combines a couple of … interesting flavors of chocolate and grapefruit. Alison made a good comment that one thing we don't love about these bakers is that everything seems to be a “layered dessert” and we'd like to see more creativity. Jamie and Andrea delivered on that where they did cream puffs! (Yes… it activated some trauma in Sheldon - see last episode). Some interesting flavor combos, and to us it was really hard to understand what the judges really wanted… we'd expect grapefruit to be present… not “exploding” but folks got dinged for not enough grapefruit. Hard to gauge their expectations. We liked the idea of Kevin and Mari Victoria had of candying the grapefruit, and it paid off. Andrew and Michael had a rough go of it thought and their stuff just looked awful. The showpiece was a great one - first one we've loved. Robots and chocolate. We both agreed on our favorite right away and it's execution absolutely elevated the team that created it. It was fun and they delivered the goods. Again we didn't understand some of the criticism when one team was dinged for not having a more exciting movement… they met the brief… As far as the chocolates themselves, this was where we got to see some fun skills. The flavors were mixed for us - We both like different things, but it was nice to see some good execution for the most part. Some of the flavors didn't for for the judges though - Jamie and Andreas olive oil, pate de fruit and Rosemary missed the mark. It is definitely safe to say that the Showpiece flipped the story and the team that got sent home would not have been after the first round. Our assessment of the episode. Best we've seen of the series.

We kick off the episode with baking adventures. Sheldon's… were not great. Choux buns, pastry cream, and chocolate ganache. The pastry cream - ok. Tasted great, but not as silky as he wanted. The choux pastry, the batter was a bit thicker than he wanted so it was a bit difficult to pipe, but he was able to form buns and out of the gate they seemed to rise nicely. Recipe called for 425F at 20 minutes, and he went to pull them at about 17-18… they were badly overdone. Sigh. Had enough for a second batch and they came out ok (but not as hollow as they should have been). The ganache was a disaster… should have been simple… and he dipped all of his chop buns in it… but it was like syrup. Essentially ruins them all. It was a “lesson” week for Sheldon. Alison also baked and took on ALL kinds of stuff including true French macarons in a churro flavor (they looked amazing). She filled them with true made dulce de leche!!! She also had one scrapped bake with her attempt at millionaire shortbread, first time using molds led to a white chocolate situation that messed up the batch despite having great shortbread and a chewy delicious caramel. She also made her always popular Neapolitan cookies and a coconut lime cookie that also looked delish. Spoilers for E2 below. With the professionals this week the first challenge involved making a “perfect cube” dessert and a mushroom illusion. The team thought the concept of the cube was… well.. boring. Especially when several of them choose the exact flavor profile! All but one team used molds and that one team paid the price when Cherish brought out the ruler…this seemed a little silly. Andrea's cubes didn't fare that well and she was pretty upset. We also felt that the criticism of some of the “neatness” was a bit off. The mushrooms… fairly boring. Julien and Elise were the only ones that really brought the house down in this challenge. Merryn and Sher had a tough go of it. The Showpiece challenge was macarons. - Heroes and Villains style. Most of the teams were realllllly loose with that theme and didn't do a great job capturing the spirit. Some interesting mixes of flavors though including dark chocolate and Whiskey, and salted chocolate. A lot of pieces seemed to be falling off of the designs… Julien and Elise recovered from a near disaster when 2 tiers of sugar work were broken. Kevin and Maria Vittoria's as a bit… odd and honestly, not very attractive. Unfortunately, Merryn and Sherr's troubles did not end in round 1. Their cookies were falling apart just sitting there and then just as they were to be judged… their whole nougatine structure collapsed. No surprise… this didn't end well for them. One observation - Sheldon has a lot of power tools that are being underutilized… Our assessment of the episode. Not great. Overall: about 3.5… Not quite “The Flavor is There” more “The flavor is there …but a little stodgy”

The full band is back together! Alison is on the mend, Mere is rockin and rolling, and yup... you still have Sheldon around. And we have started with the "new" series on Netflix in the US - Bake Off - The Professionals. This is actually season 6 of the series, and this was filmed in 2021... but it's new for us. We kick off with some catching up with the team. Sheldon took on a classic feared dessert - the Souffle! He made a chocolate variety and it came out prettttty good! We start with our assessments overall on the show as this is a whole new situation with new judges for us altogether and hosts we've only see in other contexts. Sheldon has a little different first assessment that is largely focused on familiarity and the "learning" aspect of the show. Cherish and Benoit are the hosts... and they are definitely a different flavor than Paul and Prue. Alison and Mere surmise it may be that the different "level" of judging is driving some of this? We had six pars of contestants. Each with their own interesting pedigrees. Jamie and Andrea - The "young guns"; Andrew and Michael - Michael is a returning baker; Julien and Elise - they like to go a bit "extra"; Sherrezade and Merryn - unique flavors; Kevin and Maria Vittoria - England meets Italy; and Stacy and Alex - The culinary instructors. Each one brought an interesting take. Some were great... some were not. The first challenge combines a "sugnature and technical like dish: "Make a unique take on a Jaffa Cake", and "make a traditional classic Italian le tarte pietmontaise (hazelnut tart). Two teams nailed the Jaffa Cake but only did "ok" with the tarte... one went "off brief" sand it cost them. A couple of teams just struggled overall, but two had a REAL rough go of it... just making some rookie mistakes. Going into the Showpiece they were asked to take something "simple" - strawberries and cream - but make it "wow". A number of them did some really amazing elements... some had disasters. It almost felt like nobody truly "nailed it" though. It was almost the instructions were TOO simple...like a bit more direction would have delivered a better result.

Well we are missing one of our faithful hosts this week as Alison is down with a bug. We missed her, but Meredith stepped up as the undersecretary of baking excellence and kept Sheldon straight on all things baking this week. Sheldon actually did bake some bread for the first time this week, but made a rookie mistake... proofed it in a room that was a bit too cold. Crust was great, crumb was dense though, but it was tasty. Meredith tries Tropical Smoothie Cafe on Alison and Sheldon's recommendation and she gives her assessment. A very classic British dessert week as they are the master of the pudds. We learn a lot about the history of the pudding from savory meat puddings in the 1400's to a "haggis" type meal a few centuries later... to finally introducing the sweet versions of puddings and introducing more ones that we may recognize such as fig, plum, spotted dick, and more. A number of lessons in baking as well, from the importance of how ingredients are mixed to the timing of a souffle they covered a lot of techniques. The signature was pretty simple... "make a pudding" but make it unique. We saw a mix of things like sticky toffee pudding ... but mixed with tropical fruit, apple plum pudding, and a unique peach and blueberry "boy bait". Edd had a rough go as did Jas, Ruth and Miranda shined. Technical pulled out a lemon souffle! The bakers were staggered as you basically had 2 minutes to serve it to get it "fresh". The bakers really struggled some... Miranda shined the most, and Jas pulled out a 2nd... ruth faltered and David... missed a major ingredient and totally blew it. In the showstopper - 3 puddings were on the table: a crumble, a bread pudding, and a suet pudding. There were a lot of good attempts... but nobody crushed it. Edd's was a mess, Ruth overdid the ginger, Jas had some issues, as did David. In the end, we did not agree with the judges. We felt that they put too much weight on the technical and maybe prior weeks. Assessment: Challenges: 4-5 Bakers 2-3 Judges: 3 Learn 4-5 Hosts: 4 Overall: 3 - slightly stodgy

This week on Scrummy Handshakes we visit the breadbasket of the UK - Kent county. Excited to see what's in store. Out of the Gate our friend Mere is missing… we trudge on… and then she shows up… eventually… it's funny, trust me. Alison and Sheldon talk about all of the Scones we made. Me - just getting the basics down and trying a half batch with some bacon and cheese. Not bad! Meredith nailed some traditional scones, complete with clotted cream and fruit compote, and Alison pitched a fast ball right in Sheldon's lane with some amazing looking chocolate chip and espresso glaze ones. The very first Bread week - Paul's wheelhouse. We got to see the master at work a bit too (though he was kiiiiinda helping someone so that would never happen again hahaha). His skills are amazing. The challenges…eh… they were fine. Keeping in mind that this is the FIRST ever Bread Week, we have to expect that they are drawing from the basics… but honestly, these were really basic. Signature - make some bread… basically any bread. There was a lot of fruit and nuts happening which Sheldon and Alison weren't crazy about.This round was a rough go for Jonathan and Jas… his was stodgy hers was a focaccia that was more like a pizza crust and had an awful lot going on top of it.Edd's bread was the clear winner of the bunch and Paul called it Technically Excellent. Learnings galore - some new to us some not. Origins of “daily grind”, Sue makes rustic ground by hand bread on a hot rock, we learn more about the origins of sandwiches and the UK's “national loaf”, and how the agricultural and industrial revolutions brought the rise of bread in our lives and the advent of the baker. Tons of technical lessons from Paul on this one too - the purpose of “knocking back” the dough, why you score a loaf, the impact of moisture and salt and proofing, and a lot more. The technical - make a Cobb loaf. A very traditional simple (ish) loaf. Most had little trouble, with Edd once again shining, and Jonathan struggling. Edd gets a great compliment from Paul that he could work for him any time. David basically fried his oven for a bit and ruth showed true GBBO kindness and was going to interrupt her bake to help him, but it kicked back on. The showstopper a little confusing. Make 2 sets of 12 rolls, 12 sweet, 12 savory. Up to 3 flavors (each? Unsure) It felt like that was Ignored a bit. Some folks went a bit nuts - David made 6 different doughs all together, Jonathan made 5. Jas put some weird stuff in her sweet breads. Ruth made some very nice pannetone. In the end… Jonathan burned his Chelsea buns and he was just too far back to recover. Jas was lucky… she likely would have been up. If there was a Star Baker, it was Edd. Our assessment of the episode: Challenges: 3 Bakers Deliver: 3 Judges get it right: 5 Learn: 3-5 Hosts: 4 Overall: about 3.5… Not quite “The Flavor is There” more “The flavor is there …but a little stodgy”

The team is back and the feelings are mixed on this episode! We start off with Alison giving us a rundown of her vegan red velvet cake - and reports are it was better than a normal one!! She tells us why and what helped. Mere and She had no bakes this week, but Mere talks about the scrummy chocolate bundt cake with cherries her mom made. We also learn here mom has no idea that we do a podcast called Scrummy Handshakes hahahaha! Ok - it was biscuit week in Scotland. Biscuit with an asterisk because it appeared that anything that even resembled a biscuit, cookie, macaron, scone, etc was fair game... this is weird for us as we are used to hearing the judges be VERY specific in what they want and mean by a biscuit and this is NOT what they allow typically. What we did love about this episode - at least Sheldon did especially - was ALL the learning. The history of a biscuit, why is it called "short bread" how did the faithful "digestive" get its name? Mel and Sue travel the countryside and give us the answers. What is the world's most expensive biscuit.... spoiler... you wouldn't want to eat it. Lots of lessons on methods as well including: - the impact us using more sugar - golden honey and the texture it creates - under vs over mixing a batter - a meringue - how to get choux right - and more!!! The signature was "a biscuit that has your personality". The team decided that if these are their personalities... they must be kinda boring. A souped up oatmeal raisin, a failed "glass window shortbread", some nice FRESH vanilla biscuits with royal icing (Mary loved these), millionaire shortbread that was worth more like a dollar, a salted caramel and peanut cookie that the judges felt was too salty... but we wondered if we would like... The bakers seemed to do OK here, but nothing mind blowing. The technical was Paul Hollywood's Scone recipe. There looked more what us Americans would call biscuits... and are they even a British biscuit? We would expect it in bread or maybe pasty week? Ingredients given but no instructions. Keys would be to not overwork the product or it would be like rubber, don't use too much flour, and egg wash ONLY on the top. Results were ...ok... David, Edd, and Annetha had real issues. Jonathan shined. The team decided that for next week we would all try to make the scones ourselves... maybe with some twists? Showstopper felt...odd... petit fours. That's normally patisserie week these days, and what they had to make... meringues, choux buns, and macarons. First thing - they kept calling them macaroons... maybe it's a British thing? They don't seem to do that these days, but perhaps that was before they became "popular". Anyways... the bakers were a bit meh this time it seemed. Jonathan had a whiskey cream for his meringues that was too boozy (where is Prue when you need her), David was rushed (again), Edd's were appealing, Louis unfortunately was "squidgy" (never want to heat that), Annetha was mixed but weak, and Miranda did some nice macarons using pistacio instead of almond - they got high praise. In the end, it was Louise and Annetha catching the axe, we kinda thought David deserved it more though so we felt the judges got it wrong. Overall the challenges were not really worthy, the bakers were mediocre, the judges didn't get it right, the hosts were decent, but we learned a TON. Overall score: 3 - slightly stodgy

This week on Scrummy Handshakes we kick of our trip in the wayback machine where we start at the very beginning - Season 1, Episode - Cakes. But before that we catch up with Meredith as she is back from an epic Caribbean journey! She brings us a little history and culture lesson as well as reports back on some of the Scrummy delights she had on the trip. Alison and I just hug out in Dullsville - population 2 - for the break. Not much for baking happened these last couple weeks as times were busy for the team, but Alison has a fun vegan bake planned so more to come! So. O.G. Bake Off. Wow - what a difference. If this first episode is any indication, we are in for some great new experiences. The role of the hosts, Mel and Sue, is much deeper and honestly a lot more “serious”. A lot of the show time is spent learning about history of the week's subject (cake, this week) and the time spent covering the baking and judging is much more rough and ready. We get introduced to the bakers, but there isn't deep dives on most as of yet, and for some we didn't even see what they baked! Paul and Mary Berry are the judges and it's interesting in seeing how they did it in the beginning. The technical is essentially “top 3 and bottom 3” and you don't know the order except for the top 3. The bakers themselves - also a little rough and tumble. We discuss this a bit especially once we start getting into how we score the episode. We give some initial assessment on the “characters” themselves, but didn't get enough exposure to make a full analysis yet. Aretha, Edd, Louise, Jonathan, Jas, Mark, Ruth, Miranda, Lea, and David are our first contestants and while it does not appear that the “mix” formula is the same as it is these days, they do a good job bringing some variety to the show. Bakes were straight forward: a “cake”, Victoria sponge, and a chocolate celebration cake. Results were mixed, but some definitely shined. At the end we three give our assessments based on the criteria of: Were the Challenges Worthy Do the Bakers Deliver Did the Judges Get it Right Did we Learn How were the hosts (bonus criteria) In the end we give our overall assessment of this episode!

We kick things off talking about the holiday aftermath! Meredith is on vacation and she is sending all kinds of fun pics of the scrummy delights. Alison and Sheldon talk about the many bakes they undertook from pop tarts to pies, fudge to frostings. We also talk about the fun stuff we got as holiday gifts with Alison capitalizing with her gift card to acquire some yummy concoctions like Ugandan Vanilla! Sheldon gets some really great kitchen additions including a fantastic pan from Alison and a new ceramic bowl for the Kitchenaid. Then we talk about the 2023 plan! We won't have "new" episodes for a while but luckily was have a LOT of great content available from Roku. SO we will be starting with Season 1 episode 1 of the Original seasons. VERY excited as these are new to us (mostly). We will also be tackling some of the Masterclass episodes ourselves to see how we are at executing with Mary and Paul's instruction. We will alternate seasons of GBBO with the Celebrity seasons which are also available on Roku. The Roku channel is FREE to watch as well - available in an app or as a download on many smart TVs. Since these aren't "new" episodes we won't be able to do the Fantasy aspect like we did with the new GBBO season, so we are going to do an individual rating system for each episode and then come to a consensus for the episode as a Scrummy Handshake official score. Here's our rating methodology: Before we record each episode we rate the show on: * were the challenges worthy * were the bakers “delivering the goods” * did the judges get it right * did we LEARN anything * bonus - were the hosts on point We each give the score based on 1-5 “handshakes” and come to a consensus on the overall episode as a final assessment of: 1 - soggy bottom 2 - claggy 3 - slightly stodgy 4 - the flavor was there 5 - worth the calories. Can't wait to have you all join us for the journey!

Kicking things off with our baking plans! Mincemeat tartlets, pop tarts, Christmas cookies, fudge, and blueberry muffins... need we say more? Well, we will. Little article on Matt leaving... some are happy, we are not. Then we get into a brand new era of Bake Off - the AMERICAN Bake Off! Paul and Prue are the constants here, two NEW American hosts. Actress Ellie Kemper (The Office, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) and Zach Cherry (of Apple TV's Severance) are your new hosts for this show that will be launching its first full season next year on the ROKU channel (which is free by the way!). We give our thoughts on the show overall. Does it hold up to traditional Bake Off? We also give our assessment of the hosts in general - we've seen a lot of hosts in our time so we have thoughts! Then we look at our slate of American celebrity guests: Chloe Fineman (SNL), D'Arcy Carden (The Good Place), Liza Koshy (YouTube), Joel Kim Booster (Fire Island), Nat Faxon (writer / comedy actor), and the one that was a surprise favorite of us all... NFL Star (and Actor) Marshawn Lynch. We just have to say upfront - Marshawn Lynch stole the show. Charming, funny, and not a terrible baker. Every one of us found ourselves pulling for him and loving the interactions he was having with the others guests, hosts, and judges. He was a delight. Having 6 bakers was unusual for a holiday episode... we could not determine why they went with the number they did. Spoliers below so stop now if you haven't see the episode! For a Signature, the guests were asked to make cream puffs. This was a bit surprising that celebrity (non-baker) judges were asked to make a choux pastry as it's not a baking standard for most, but they all kinda did alright. Each had a theme and the judges were impressed... Paul handed out THREE handshakes... but we are saying one of them was almost coerced from him... so more like two and a half. In the Technical, another not so easy feat. Meringue baskets formed into a wreath with sugared berries, mascarpone cream, and blueberry coolie.... needless to say, many had never heard of these things yet alone made them before. Highlight of the segment - Marshawn asking "is this 'whisking'?" Most of the bakers did a decent job though. Meringues looked decent, though many underbaked not knowing how long it actually takes to make right, and there was a good job done using the fruits. People who performed well in the first round also did well here. One baker split their pants ... sos there's that. In the Showstopper, the bakers were asked to make a cake that had a 3D element and told their favorite Holiday story. The stories were heartwarming and the cakes that they made were also incredibly well done. Paul had D'arcy's and said "the is the best cake I've had in a long time". Lots of great flavors and for the most part, solid work. A couple underbaked, but the decorations were good. again, surprising the group was Marshawn and his PawPaw (his grandfather) cake. Fantastic story and while it wasn't the prettiest ... a delicious cake!! Marshawn rattling off a dozen ways to say "money" to Prue was what this was all about. Paul even says at the end as far as celebrity bakers go, the American's may be better. All three of us agreed that this was one of the best (if not THE best) episode of Bake Off we have seen (UK or US).

It's that time of year where we all frantically try to figure out what to get for friends and family as gifts during the holidays. If they are a baker (or want to be) then this episode is for you! We start off by talking about our baking plans for the season and toss in some ideas for what we might want to bake if we have time as well. Have you ever heard of a Needham? It's a Maine thing... We also realize we all had a similar holiday candy growing up that we all called by a different name. The holiday gifts we recommend range greatly, from the basics for a starting baker, to a couple of simple-but-not-always-thought-of low cost stocking stuffers, right to the "bougie" baking pans that Alison has collected in her 15 years of baking practice that are TOTALLY worth it! Lots of ideas to think about and make that baker in your life smile!

On this episode we cover the “GBBO Festive Episode” that first aired at the very beginning of 2022 (we get them later here in the U.S.) where they bring back contestants from other seasons. First though, we talked about our scrummy baking! Alison spent most of the day making cookies and she discusses how she tackled Neapolitan sugar cookies. This takes three flavors and brings them all together (but separate looking). She then used a technique that made them looked like “scooped ice cream”! They look amazing. Meredith dove into the world gf gingerbread making some both soft and a little more crisp and using her Harry Potter and Frenchie cutters. Delish! Sheldon took on the world of cookies as well, finding a recipe for ginger molasses cookies that were a big hit. He rolled them in special sugar that he bought when Alison came to visit. In the episode, we had some exciting bakers! Some were powerhouse favorites - Kim Joy and Hermine who were always super strong and creative. And then we had a … couple of likable blokes - John and Rowan. Both were really nice and kind in their prior seasons, but neither really dominated. John was good with flavor but sloppy, and Rowan really overstretched every bake and rarely finished per plan. In the signature, they took on buns! Could be sweet or savory, and ironically they all went sweet… but 3 of them made their dishes look like “fried eggs”. It was a little odd. Two were clear leaders in this round, with one receiving a handshake! All bakers delivered well on flavor though. In the technical the task was a Greek New Year's cake - vasilopita. It was a relatively simple design with golden cake, decorated with icing and lemon curd on just the rims of the edges of this “bundt” like cake. The big challenge in this was time. The cake needed to bake about 50 minutes, and this created a cooling challenge… it impacted most of them. Lots of messy icing situations. The strong baker from the signature that did NOT get the handshake took the title here while the other… fell to third. The Showstopper was a fun one - Biscuit Shadow boxes. The biggest challenge to these was making sure the biscuits held their integrity and allowed for a good box to be made. Despite some comments from the judges… they all achieved a decent result appearance wise, though with Rowan's Mere and Alison felt had a very amateur look to it… but at least he finished! The final result was a nail biter with the technical actually playing a role in breaking the close match. No spoiler… but we were all pretty excited with the show! Over the holidays, we will be taking one week away from the microphone, but we will have a “Scrummy Handshakes Shopping Guide” for Christmas and then we will cover the Great AMERICAN Bake Off Holiday event at the New Year!

The team is SO excited that the holiday episodes are here! First we kick off talking about the scrummy adventures of the week. Meredith was under the weather so most of her week was "soup based" but she had some delicious ones. Alison has a "sus" encounter with a bake sale purchase. Sheldon and Alison are also obsessed with a national chain's Gingerbread smoothie. We discussed a couple of articles that were interesting. Sabirya discusses how proud it made her to showcase the flavors of her heritage. Another article asks Prue why she feels there will NOT be a "tournament of champions" style bakeoff season. Her reason made for some good conversation! On the episode this week, it's the cast of the BBC hit "It's a Sin". Meredith has seen this show and she absolutely loves it. The four people that joined - Olly, Nathaniel, Lydia, and Shaun. We were not sure what to expect, but we all agreed by the end that this episode reenergized GBBO for us. They were fantastic and all of the bakes were super! Plus - what fun. The Signature - Leftover Pie. Some similar ingredients were used for a few, but Olly delivered on a vegetarian delight. Different approaches on the crust as well between short and flaky varieties. All of the flavors ended up being very good, but an old nemesis showed up for one and a surprise in the accolades department! The technical brought the yule log home. Again, amazing performances with the bakers making what would often end up with some disasters on a regular bakeoff episode almost look easy for these contestants! we do feel some assistance may have been given as they only had a short time to create the goods, but man they were good! Finally in the showstopper - creating a Christmas tree from either meringue or biscuit. Different approaches here from each, but what we saw delivered were some great bakes. Just a few elements separated the field and Paul stated that he would eat every single one of the bakes again. Now THAT is a compliment. What a FANTASTIC episode! Next episode we take on the "Festive" episode with some of the bakers from other seasons returning. Then in the coming weeks, we dive into the AMERICAN bake off seasonal episodes that are airing now on the Roku channel (which is totally FREE to watch!)

The full squad is back and we are talking finals. But first - Meredith gives us a full rundown on her scrummy cruise! A couple of articles to discuss - one highlights how the GBBO judges make their decisions (article from yahoo.com) and there were a couple of surprises in this .... one of which may have come into play in the final, perhaps? The second article from People lets us know about something Janusz did that was heartwarming for all of us. Warning: potential spoilers below Then we get into the show. First comment... neither Sheldon nor Alison found much of anything appetizing this week, which isn't crazy considering their tastes, but a couple of things were realllllly off the menu. The Signature bake was (per Paul) the toughest one ever... SO many elements and 3 hours long! This episode the theme, if there was one, was sustainability and the planet and the first challenge was "summer picnic". Nobody really wowed in this one it seems, but one baker took on too much (which is common for them) and this may have hurt them. It at the very least hurt their confidence. The Technical, was something called a "summer pudding bomb". To Alison and Sheldon it felt more like wet bread mess. One critical mistake as inexperience with "vegan gelatine" left them with a sloppy mess. That said, nobody did particularly well in this one. Every one of them looked sloppy. The Showstopper had the theme of "our Planet" and was to be a large edible sculpture. This result is where some of us had a disagreement. One baker did what we thought was a very cool theme and we felt it looked great... but they were dinged by the judges for looks. We just didn't get it. The player that had lost their confidence, never got it back and didn't do well. The eventual winner... well theirs didn't look so hot either. we feel this may have been one of those instances where the judges looked back in time to finalize their decision. Now that the season is over, we know you all want to know - what is happening with Scrummy Handshakes?! Well - we are going to keep this party rolling. Starting with the holiday episodes. Then, we discovered the Roku channels is carrying some of the original seasons of GBBO! We will be diving in from the beginning and taking on these episodes. We hope you'll join us and give us your thoughts as well. Once we see new content such as The Great American Bake Off, we will pick those us and watch real time like this season! We hope to see you in the Tent!

As we mentioned last week - we are going to be discussing the final NEXT week so today we have a special episode where Alison and Sheldon talk about what they would have done for the Signature Challenges for each episode (Meredith is enjoying a much deserved vacation this week!) We kick things off recapping Alison's trip where she visited Sheldon and participated in the Richmond Half-Marathon... on the hottest day on record for the event. Then, lots of scrummy delights were enjoyed including a magnificent meal at one of Richmond's best restaurants - Stella's - tacos galore, and a cider journey that comes with a funny story. We also had some absolutely delightful pastries and discovered some packaged shortbread that is absolutely mind-blowing. Then we discuss each signature challenge one by one. Each giving our own take on how we would have approached it, including the styles, flavors, and presentation we were thinking about. It was a bit tricky for us as we both have a "smaller than normal" range of flavors and textures we personally love, so it required stretching outside of our personal favorites to create a range of flavors to build out the portfolio. We'd LOVE to hear your ideas too! Send them our way either via the website or scrummyhandshakes@gmail.com We hope you love it and will continue to follow and participate with the show. Our plan is to keep the party rolling with the special episodes, Great American Bakeoff, Jr, AND on the (free) Roku channel we can now watch some of the ORIGINAL seasons and ALL of the Celebrity bakeoff seasons! It will be great to go back and see how they hold up to today. We have a LOT to talk about until GBBO is back next year :-)

Alison visiting Sheldon. meredith gearing up for a trip. Sheldon accidentally uses the wrong mic... sigh. It's ok - we salvaged it but Sheldon may sound a little different this week hahaha. For scrummy delights, well, Mere battled a little stomach bug so laid it low, but Sheldon took Alison on a Pizza tour of Richmond and it didn't disappoint. It was the much feared patisserie week! Fancy desserts designed to be pretty and Paul and Prue expected excellence. First though - first week that Sheldon thought Matt's shirt outshone Noel's! Meredith disagrees. We all wonder how much that necklace of Prue's weighed. Note: Spoiler alerts for all below here! Kicking off the challenges with "mini" Charlottes. The name presumes that there is a normal sized one? Pretty much "cake wall with trifle-like layers". It was a mixed bag all around for this. Some getting points for looks (which matter the most this week), some for flavor. Sandro for the first time felt like he wasn't "cooking for the judges". His were good, but again, overly complex. We were all a bit confused by the judges' comments - it was hard to tell what was important. All in all - we felt dead heat. Technical was set by "Prue-dini" and was a "vertical tart". Ring of pastry, half disc of mousse, line of tart jelly, some whip, and ... Sandro's favorite... gold leaf touch. He struggled though... the big thing was he misinterpreted the vertical... set him way back and he had to rush. Was a mess. Others struggles with mousse texture, pastry bake, or construction. The winner pulled it out only because they were "least worst". Finals was "krokan" - had to be 60 cm or more tall... yikes. We saw a mixed bag here too. One had good intentions, but just didn't' execute on the top half... felt like they relied too much on the same old same old. Another baker went with a very difficult and risky structure based on their career. They pulled of a very difficult bake... but the decoration looked like a grade schooler did it. The judges loved it though from a looks perspective, but not so much from a bake perspective. Then ...a baker once again went very complicated and was trying to do a lot. It did look ok... but lacked a finished look... just icing to cover up burned caramel. But was enough to keep them alive. The winner though - a nice surprise for all of us. steady work, built a great design that showed off skills in the pastry piping itself. Well deserved. We forgot to talk scores but as it now stands: Alison: 25 Mere: 42 Sheldon: 13

Scrummy delights this week include Meredith's delightful cauliflower soup and an almost forgotten oatmeal cream pie that Alison enjoyed. We rapped a while about halloween and how the world is cruel to Alison and Sheldon by stealing the few foods that they enjoy on the reg. Note: Episode spoilers below! Pastry week is something they do every year, so everyone should be well prepared. Well... so much for that idea. They kick off with Vol-au-vents. Normally a savory pie, the judges asked for something sweet. Key to the rough pastry shells is work fast and keep it cold or you lose that fluffiness. Many failed... a lot of leaking butter and flat pastry. Many mistakes among the the baking. We discuss Sandro a lot as he really is a good baker...but he continuously bakes for "validation" and loses focus on what's important. He clamors for handshakes and it's costing him. One of the bakers right of the gate was baking with no confidence. We surmise that this just isn't a week that plays for their strength and they capitulate to it. Sabirya was really the only one that delivered... and even that was "eh" We all agree we would have loved to have seen Kevin and James in this week - We think this would have played well to their strengths. Prue picked "spiring rolls" as the Technical... but they were truly more like egg rolls in the US. Spring roll wrappers aren't bubbly like they wanted. We all felt that some of the 29 ingredients were a bit weird... those mushrooms... we think "wood ear" were odd, and one baker just over did it... Another baker barely filled their spring rolls leading them to be last after an already bad signature. The showstopper was 3D Pie Stories. A couple of people took on the Very Hungry Caterpillar. One who had done very well until then, created a giant meatball like thing for the head...awful looking crust and WAY too much meat. The poor showing put them on the chopping block risk when Paul declared they "it is as tough as old boots". A Treasure Island design kept a fairway baker safe, while using traditional crust with a very nicely filled and tasty pie elevated a familiar face to Star. Too much freestyling and poor execution on a risky proposition sent a baker home. Semi-finals next week!!!! Scored: Alison: 25 Mere: 32 Sheldon: 11

This week Alison joins us from on the road!she tells us about what may have been a top all time dinner for her involving an unsuspecting dipping sauce. Meredith talks apple cake and custard tarts - one fantastic, the other with a ratio that needs some work. Sheldon takes a turn at trying shortbread and delivering on a staple cookie. We also discuss the impact of butter in cookies and how maybe some more mixer time could solve an issue. Note: The below will contain details from this weeks GBBO episode. Read at your own risk of spoiler! Interesting kick off to the Bake Off this - no funny intro like we normally get. in the opening segments, Kevin seemed to have a "rain man" acuity for understanding custard types. Would this be his time? Custard has a whole new level of difficulty versus what we think about it here in the states. There appears to be a very defined window between "runny mess" and "scrambled eggs". Signature challenge iles flottante - "floating island". Alison and Sheldon are moderately grossed out by the concept of something like a poached meringue. A lot of the contestants are following their same patters. Sandro with the over boozing and Sabirya with the exotic flavor themes. Nobody really stood out except we all agreed Janusz might have been on the border of a handshake. In technical - the dreaded Ice Cream. Pistachio praline to be specific. A staggered start here so they the judges could receive fresh product that wouldn't be melted. A couple of traps here - Abdul kept burning the heck out of his cones and a couple of the bakers were falling in to the trap of cooling their creme anglaise in the freezer vs fridge. This error would strain their freezer and raise the temperature so much that cooling their ice cream enough to set right would be really hard. It bit a couple people hard. A couple of normally strong bakers - at the back going into the showstopper. Only one or two showed above the others with some smart planning and teeing the product up for success. The showstopper required delivery of Set custard Gateau - think "custard and cake". A lot of very interesting efforts here. One drawing their base pastry from Paul's own recipe, another couple pulling from heritage and culture, A few trying hard to impress with over the top bakes. The judges made it clear though, custard was to be the "hero". One baker was told that was not the case. Another baker delivered a pretty, but awful product "your custard tastes like wallpaper paste" - ouch. The one whom was sent home thought delivered great taste... but a less of a visual. Star baker was a come from behind win. This was one week where at least a couple of us thought the judges "got it wrong". We felt that they allowed past strong performance to weigh this week in itself and send someone home that had a better day, but was weaker overall. Score update: Meredith: 29 Alison: 17: Sheldon: 10

It's Halloween Week! Something they haven't done before and we were excited! We kick off the episode talking about some halloween traditions we have and we learn about Alison's "dark side" of the neighborhood. Everyone will be heading to Meredith's for full size bars!! Note: the below will contain episode spoilers. The costumes this week were stellar. Noel with his awesome shirts and jumper, Prue crushing with the Jacket, Maxy's awesome hair, and Janusz rocking the eyeliner applied by Syabira. The signature is a great fall tradition - Apple Cake. Most went for traditional flavors, with a few being a bit more dangerous. Sandro delivering the "whiskey" with Prue almost saying too much... but then replying " why change a habit of a lifetime" - fantastic line. Lots of good looking cakes - Mere really wanted to tru Abdul's, Alison would like to try Kevin's, and Sheldon was all about that Maxy cream cheese icing. The collective handshakes for this season was doubled in this round. Janusz had a great looking cake, but Alison suspected that the type of apple didn't have strong enough flavors. The technical delivered what many would consider an American Classic - S'Mores. But only kinda... Just toasting the outside of the mallow and using digestive biscuits does not really a S'More make... A couple people had a disastrous time with the gelatine involved. Several looked ok... but just didn't have it right. The person that won the technical was pretty neat in their design and had the flavor spot on. In the showstopper, we were doing hanging lantern cake / pinata smashing. A lot of cool designs. While Sandro had a great design, too much chili can kill you. Abdul got bit by an old GBBO enemy.... Rosewater. Dawn's bake just looked pretty brutal. The treats inside ranged a lot of different ways, from macarons to florentines. At the end of the say this was perhaps the first time the judges have said while deliberating that there was clearly only one Star Baker. The person that went home was not a surprise to any of us based on the day. Points: Mere: 26 Alison: 17 Sheldon: 8

Welcome to the week that confuses Sheldon every year - Dessert Week - which are puddings... which in the UK are kinda like cake.. wet cake. Started off talking about the scrummy delights our week as brought us. Sheldon hit up New Orleans for beignets and his mother in-law whipped up a special Chex Mix. Meredith tackles her grandma's carrot cake and learns what oleo is. Alison takes on a 4-proof bun challenge and the results are delicious! To make things more fun for the finale, we decided to add a bonus for the winner. Random number generator will award between 1 and 20 points for the winner. Felt it could be a great way to add some fun flare to the contest. Noel's sweater is amazing. Does he design them you think? Alison gives an update on something she learned about Pain d'raisin. Paul calls it a pastry in his own book... yet introduced it for bread week. Note: Below will contain spoilers for the episode details. read at your own risk! In the Signature - lot's of steamed puddings. Carole... burning things and making the dreadful error of not using hot enough water... the results were expected. Kevin, dude, wrong recipe for this. Sabirya...just. keep. it. simple. And as Alison says, "just say no to essence". Sandro's looked delicious. We learned Paul loves orange and apple from Dawn's recipe. Maxy's looked like a delish sticky toffee pudd. Carole and Kevin probably were at the bottom. Moving to the technical... we debate if this is even qualified for dessert/pudding week. It's a dang pie. Yet Prue calls this "her favorite pudd". The instructions were a little brief... "Make a lemon meringue pie". Sabirya had no idea how to do this so watched others and was doing fine... until she went on her own. Almost all of them cracked. Kevin's was a mess when they cut into it. Dawn... despite making in her own words "500" of them.... acted like she'd never made one. Disaster. Janusz took the technical with a pretty decent version. Showstopper was to be a "surprise" dessert. Lot's of interesting work here. Abdul had an absolutely beautiful cake. Taste, wellllllll. Lots of great efforts noting especially Sandro, Janusz, Maxy, and even Kevin with his "buried bone" cake. Gelatin seemed to be the element that tipped the scales this week. Alison does a great job of explaining the difference how it's used between US and UK. No disagreements with whom went home, but the team all kind of felt maybe Star Baker could have went another way pretty easily. Score update: Alison: 16 Mere: 20 Sheldon: 3

We open with our scrummy delights - Mexican wedding cookies, (American biscuits), and caramelitas were all attempted by the crew with ... some mixed results (spoiler... Sheldon's were the mixed results). We have a little chat about the articles and "controversy" of Mexican week and the use of cultural symbolism, clothing, recipes et al. Always open to thoughts and opinions on this subject - we recognize our position is one of "outside" looking in so take our thoughts with that being acknowledged by all. Note: Spoilers below! While we don't give away WHO won Star Baker or went out - we talk about other details on the show! The bakers this week took on a number of Mexican challenges. Was a weird week where a lot of the bakers were out of their element it felt… maybe the case that Mexican cuisine isn't at all popular in the UK? Nobody really displayed strong confidence in their abilities this week it felt. Signature bake of pan dulce - "little buns". Lots of different things were tried some better than others. Paul complained a lot about "under proofing" and Alison calls out that this should be an obvious outcome considering the time given for an enriched dough. A sweet moment occurred when Noel asks Maxy if she is ready to take down Janusz to which she replies "he's my best mate". ok... where are my tissues. The handshakes are stingy... but Sandro probably should have gotten one. Tacos. Oh dear. Is this even a bake??? No oven. Not even a proof needed. Tortillas is the only thing close to qualifying. Not a one had a clue on how to make things... not even grilling the steak for them. Kind of a terrible result overall. Carole probably hurting herself the worst. And does Rebs burn EVERYTHING?? Don't even get us started on the travesty of the refried beans.... Tres leches cake was the showstopper - Alison called it last week. Some questionable direction given on this... the traditional version requires a long almost absurd amount of liquid soak. This was not that. We felt that not too much creativity is being displayed as people are not putting "spins" on things like we would expect.... except Syabira... who maybe goes a little TOO far outside of the lanes. In the end - two left the tent (not a surprise considering nobody left last week) and we felt it was probably justified. We see a couple more on borrowed time. Star baker was well deserved... but one of our crew is a little put off by the star's overuse of piped decorations. Overall score: Alison 11, Meredith 18, Sheldon holding at 0... but he has what looks like could be a very strong team to last a while.

Scrummy delights the squad discuss include croissant pretzel hybrids, cherry glazed cake donuts, and homemade focaccia! Warning: below contains spoilers from Bread Week! Overall, the team felt like this was a pretty weak episode in terms of bakes go. The choices of what each challenge consisted of ranged from odd to downright a bit gross (at least from our American palettes point of view) Right out of the gate - two bakers were ill so not participating, so that made it pretty likely that there would be no elimination. Some folks seemed shocked at that, but Alison points out that this has happened a few times and this was the norm. We started things off with pizzas... and we get it... people are trying to be "original" but for us, most of us aren't going to like those combinations. Why not show you can make great pizza true to style and let the bread shine through? I mean... beans on a pizza? C'mon man... For Sheldon and Alison the combos were almost exclusively "no thanks"... but Sandro's was maybe doable for Sheldon. Technical... was that really bread? Quite a bit of discussion on this with the team. Alison has a purist POV, where maybe some flex from the others.... No absolute disasters, but some leaky butter and rookie baking errors made for some obvious "losers". The showstopper... ok not going to lie... we were all a little grossed out by most of the creations. It most likely smelled like a bait shed in that tent... a few things we discussed: Janusz was obviously appealing to the local flavor (would have thought he would have put more Polish into it) but we felt his decoration was weaker; Dawn - you need to bake for the judges... not your personal tastes!; Kevin... a cucumber man won't save you, bake with confidence. We also wonder how the two missing bakers would have done? We don't think so great at lease for one of them. All the points went to Mere this week... and 2 points deducted for cuts among the gang. Mere holds a strong lead currently but theres a lot of game left to play! Two things leave us guessing - will Dave Crust return or was he a bread week one and done? and What will next week bring us? Sheldon saw something online, so let's see if it holds true. Find us on IG: @scrummyhandshakes www.scrummyhandshakes.com FB: Scrummy Handshakes email: scrummyhandshakes@gmail.com

Right out of the gate we were feeling like the bakers were going to be underdelivering as there was a lot of "I don't make biscuits, they are in the store" attitude. we speak about this a bit but also ask ourselves if maybe... just maybe.... this troop isn't particularly strong overall. We get into maybe some reasons why. Or is it that the bake difficulty has been amped up or "unnecessary twists" added because they are low on ideas? We discuss. Warning: below here we discuss specific bakes so if that is a spoiler for you stop reading! we don't announce Star Baker or who's out below - but we do in the episode! First challenge "illusion macarons". But were they? It was more like "shaped" ones. Does nobody know to tap them? We only saw one do it.... sooooo. Meredith describes a lot of the designs as "anemic" as they lack the pop and color to make them stand out. Nice looking designs from Dawn (who we am pretty sure was the one that thought to tap them) and Maxy. Janusz made some really fun looking ones... but what he used for color???! No, sir. No. Sheldon thought the take on "raccarons" was clever. And then... some controversy... is getting "help" cheating? What kind of help and when is acceptable? The technical didn't seem all that difficult - and Meredith was grossed out by the nickname of the biscuit. Another controversy - is not knowing what a certain word means so not creating it correctly "fair" especially if you aren't a native English speaker? We all felt like the outcome was a bit odd considering the original comments...but guess that they were all equally "ok"... Showstopper "masks" was a story of redemption for a couple of folks that did poorly in the technical. Abdul and Maxy did a beautiful bakes that looked very complicated as did Syabira, Janusz showed a lot of creativity but was it too simple. Maisam also had a simple design... and a lot of time left over....could she have used that time better? And poor Carole...lard... it ain't strong. In the points Mere and Alison are tied and Sheldon has negated his negative point status. Listen to hear more! We wrap up and anticipate what "should" be bread week coming up. Paul Hollywood will be in his glory and we pull the cover off who's got the goods!