Category Archives: Pastries

Fresh Fruit Tart with Vanilla Mascarpone Cream – Sally

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The June 2025 Sally’s Baking Challenge was the above mentioned tart and it was fantastic. The look and taste were perfect. I am harvesting the blackberries in my garden so added a few, because I could.

Removing the pith from the mandarin oranges was challenging. I ended up dipping them for a few seconds in near boiling water then gently rubbing with a soft brush. Not perfect, but not bad either.

Frozen tart shell
Filling ingredients
Folded filling ingredients
Baked tart shell
Filled tart shell with toppings in the background
Finished Fresh Fruit Tart

Fresh Fruit Tart with Vanilla Mascarpone Cream – Sally

INGREDIENTS
Crust
• 188g (1 ½ c) all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
• 45g (6 Tbl) confectioners’ sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 113g ( ½ c (8 Tbl) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 8 pieces
• 1 large egg, cold
Vanilla Mascarpone Cream
• 120g ( ½ c) heavy cream, cold
• 60g ( ½ c) confectioners’ sugar, divided, 45g:15g
• ½ tsp fresh lemon zest
• 1½ tsp vanilla bean paste
• 8 ounces (226g) mascarpone, cold
Fruit Topping
• assorted fresh sliced fruit
• 2 Tablespoons orange, peach, or apricot preserves
• 1 Tablespoon water

METHOD

  1. Lightly grease a 9-inch tart pan with a removable base with nonstick spray.
  2. Make the crust: In a food processor, combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar, and salt and pulse or process on low speed to combine. Add the butter, 1 Tablespoon at a time, pulsing a few times after each addition. Add the egg and pulse only until the dough comes together in a clump. The dough should be soft. Transfer it to a lightly floured surface and press it into a 1-inch-thick disc.
  3. Place the soft dough in the prepared pan and use your hands to press it evenly into the pan and up the sides. It may seem like you don’t have enough dough at first, but keep pressing. Use the bottom of a metal measuring cup to press the edges firmly against the rim of the pan. (Refrigerate for 10 minutes to make the dough firmer and easier to press into the sides of the pan.) Flatten the top edge so it’s even with the rim of the pan, or use a paring knife to trim. Save the scraps to patch up any thin-looking areas. Prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork. Cover and freeze for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.
  4. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Remove the crust from the freezer and place the tart pan on a large baking sheet for easy handling.
  5. Bake for 25 minutes (rotation half way through) or until the crust appears set. Place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
  6. Make the cream filling: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream, 6 Tbsp (45g) confectioners’ sugar, the lemon zest, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean seeds until stiff peaks form, about 3–4 minutes. In a small bowl using a fork, gently mix the mascarpone with the remaining confectioners’ sugar. Don’t over-mix; you only want to smooth out the mascarpone here. Over-mixing will result in a separated mixture.
  7. Transfer the mascarpone mixture to the whipped cream mixture. Fold together with a silicone spatula or beat on low speed until combined. Use right away (next step), or cover and refrigerate the filling for up to 3 days before using.
  8. Spread the filling into the cooled crust. I usually use a small offset spatula for this. Refrigerate until ready to garnish with fruit, or garnish right away.
  9. Top the tart: Garnish the tart with fresh fruit. Use a fork to whisk together the jam and water in a small microwave-safe bowl. Warm for about 15 seconds in the microwave, then brush the glaze on top of the fruit.
  10. Slice and enjoy! Store leftover fruit tart, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Maggies Biscuits

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I needed a quick snack this morning and had insufficient heavy cream to make drop berry scone, and remembered Maggies Biscuits. These are delicious, short biscuits that are ready in less than an hour. Paired with jam or butter and they are perfect.

Maggie’s Six Biscuits

(Reproduced here in almost the original vernacular)

INGREDIENTS
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar
• ½ tsp Baking Powder
• 1 ½ c AP Flour
• 1 stick Cold Butter
• 3/4 Sour Milk or Buttermilk (I soured whole milk with a bit o’lemon juice)

METHOD

  1. Mix the dry ingredients.
  2. Cut in the butter (fingers or pastry thingie, your choice) til it’s a shaggy mess … remembering that the less it’s messed with the flakier it’ll (like, I have to tell YOU that, 🤣).
  3. Once it’s at the shaggy mess stage begin adding the liquid a bit at a time until it’s a soft dough … keeping in mind then”remembering” bit notes above.
  4. Knead it a tiny bit.
  5. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, pat it into a rectangle about 1/2” high, spread some melted butter on it,
  6. Fold in half, pat it into a rectangle about 1” high
  7. Cut into 1½ “ circles, spread some melted butter on it, place on parchment papered baking sheet, and chill in the freezer as oven pre-heats, ~15 min
  8. Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes.

Sally’s Baking Addiction – May 2025 Challenge

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This month’s challenge was to make a Cinnamon Swirl Cheesecake or alternatively an Orange Sweet Roll (which was my entry choice.) While cheesecake is fine, no one bakes one better than my son Dan who makes two for every New Years.

My only comment on Sally’s method is I think chilling the rolled dough for an hour before slicing would make the cutting easier and would not deform the shape.

The taste and texture were outstanding (a word I use too frequently, but is typically appropriate.)

Look Ma! (I wish) I Did It Myself!

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QC and I rarely have desserts out, but last week it was included in our meal, so what’s a person to do? We had “pizookies” at BJ’s and I instantly thought: “You know, this could be even better if….”

I made my chocolate and raspberry brownie tart free standing, not in a tin. I also add raspberry Jammie bits to the batter, raspberry coulis and whole raspberries because, as you might guess, I like raspberries.

The amount of raspberry stood up to the otherwise overwhelming dominant chocolate. I also made the hot fudge, caramel sauce and coulis.

Tart Ring and Foil
Foil Wrapped Ring
Baked Brownie Base
Ganache Covered Brownie
Raspberry Coulis on Ganache Coated Brownie
Chocolate and Raspberry Brownie Tart with Raspberry Coulis, Hot Fudge and Caramel Sauce Drizzles.

Chocolate And Raspberry Brownie Tart

INGREDIENTS
BROWNIES
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup + 2 Tbl dark cocoa
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup + 2 Tbl sugar
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
• ½ cup + 2 Tbl AP flour
• ½ cup chocolate chips
• ½ cup jammy bits
• 1 ½ Tbl honey or seedless raspberry jam
• ½ Tbl water
CHOCOLATE GANACHE GLAZE
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 20 g (½ Tbl) light corn syrup
• 200 g (1⅓ c) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract

METHOD

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease eight 4” tart rings and cover the bottom and outside with aluminum foil. (Spray the sides of the tart ring and foil on the bottom cooking spray.)
  2. Crack the 2 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla until smooth.
  3. Add the sugar and melted butter, stirring until smooth.
  4. Add the flour, chips, and Jammy Bits, again stirring well. The batter will be very thick.
  5. Spoon 90 g of batter to half fill each tart ring and smooth with a small offset spatula
  6. Bake the brownies for 12-16 minutes, checking the temperature after 8 minutes. The brownies are done when a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean (200 degrees,) or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look moist, but not uncooked. Do not over bake! Remove them from the oven.
  7. Heat the honey or seedless raspberry jam with 1 Tbl of water and stir until smooth. Brush over the warm brownies. Set aside to cool for an hour or longer before topping with the ganache.
  8. Loosen the brownies from the rings by running a knife around the brownie. Carefully peel the aluminum foil from the brownie and release the brownie from the ring.
  9. To make the ganache, heat the cream and corn syrup until they begin to steam (60 sec in 1000W microwave.) Pour over the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes, add any flavorings, and whisk until smooth. Let cool for 15 minutes or so.
  10. Spread ganache over the brownies while it’s still warm but has begun to thicken — reheat if it thickens too much as you work. Allow several hours for the ganache to set up fully. You may refrigerate the brownies to hasten the setting of the ganache.
  11. Spread a tablespoon of raspberry sauce on the ganache, top with a scoop of ice cream and drizzle sauce(s) of your choice, i.e. hot fudge, raspberry, caramel or marshmallow. Garnish with fresh raspberries.

Hot Fudge

INGREDIENTS

  • ⅔ c heavy cream
  • 144 g (½ c) light corn syrup
  • 70 g (⅓ c) light brown sugar – not packed
  • ¼ c unsweetened natural cocoa powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 170 g dark or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
  • 2 Tbl unsalted butter
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
    METHOD
  1. Bring cream, corn syrup, brown sugar, cocoa powder, optional salt, and half the
    chopped chocolate to a boil in a 1½-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat,
    stirring, until chocolate is melted. Reduce heat and cook at a low boil for 5 minutes,
    stirring frequently.
  2. Turn off the heat and add butter, vanilla, remaining chocolate, and stir until smooth.
  3. Cool slightly before serving.
  4. Cooled sauce can be stored in a jar with a lid or in airtight container in the
    refrigerator for many weeks. Reheat sauce before using by placing the desired
    portion in a microwave-safe bowl and heating for about 10 to 15 seconds, or reheat
    on the stovetop

Caramel Sauce
INGREDIENTS
• 112 g (½ c) RT butter
• 106 g (½ c) light brown sugar
• dash salt
• 144g (½ c) light corn syrup
• 7 oz (½ can) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
METHOD

  1. Melt the butter in 1½ quart or larger saucepan.
  2. Add the brown sugar and salt and combine. Stir in the corn syrup, mix well.
  3. Gradually add the sweetened condensed milk, stirring constantly. It can take 10-15 minutes to add the milk. Go very slowly!
  4. Cook and stir over medium heat to 220°F for sauce viscosity.
  5. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla.
  6. Store in sealable container when cool

Seedless Raspberry Coulis

INGREDIENTS
• 480 g fresh washed and dried raspberries
• 200 g (1 c) caster sugar
• 60 g (1/4 c) cold water
• 2 Tbl lemon juice

METHOD

  1. Add all ingredients to a 1 ½ quart saucepan
  2. Cook while stirring and mashing over medium heat until it thickens (~220 F)
  3. Strain the coulis through a fine mesh sieve.
  4. Pour into an airtight container and cool before sealing

Puff Pastry Berry Dessert

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Here’s another nice looking dessert. It had the advantage of using puff pastry and I wanted another excuse to make more Sally’s puff pastry. My first attempt went well so I tried it again. (It went well also.)

The dessert also uses berries, and if you know me, that is a deal maker!

The published recipe used too much jam filling for me. It made the pastry too wet which resulted in a messy final product. I cut the berry jam contents in half for future bakes, as noted below.

Wet mixture prior to first chilling
First roll after first chilling
First fold after first chilling
After 6 “roll and folds” the pastry was smooth and elastic
Using tart pan to cut 2 “circles” of pastry
Coat one circle with cream cheese
Coat the cream cheese with cinnamon
Cutting pastry into 12 sections, protecting the center
After filling and cutting, twist each section. (This is where it got messy.)
Baked Puff Pastry Berry Dessert

As I said, the final product was messy but Sally’s puff pastry is perfect. (Find her recipe in the link above.) It is light, flaky and as GBBO demands, has excellent layers.

Puff Pastry Berry Dessert

INGREDIENTS
• 800 g puff pastry ( two 400 g sheets = 2 of Sally’s recipes)
• 100 g spreadable cheese cream
• 3 g cinnamon
• 200 g berries
• 50 g water
• 25 g honey
• 20 g cornstarch
• 20 g melted butter
Note: The quantities of berry jam were halved from the published recipe

METHOD

  1. Cut 2 circles from the puff pastry as big as possible
  2. Spread cream cheese over the entire area of one piece of pastry
  3. Sprinkle with cinnamon
  4. Add berries to 100g of water and boil for 20 minutes
  5. Add honey and corn starch mix well
  6. Preheat oven to 425⁰F
  7. Cover the dough with jam then add the second layer of puff pastry
  8. Place an inverted glass at the center of the tart and cut radially into 12 strips
  9. Prick with a fork
  10. Twist each triangle
  11. Return to refrigerator for 30 minutes
  12. Brush with melted butter
  13. Bake 35 minutes at 425⁰F

Pastéis de Nata – Portuguese Custard Tarts

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Somewhere I came across Pastéis de Natas, so I researched online for a suitable recipe. I had 6 left-over egg yolks and an extra sheet of puff pastry. Doing the maths I calculated if I used two more sheets of puff pastry and made 18 tarts I should about run out of left overs.

Well, I was once semester short of graduating with a math minor, but somehow I ended up with two small bowls of custard. This isn’t a problem as it is smooth and delicious. (I have some raspberries that need to be used soon so a nice raspberry coulis could be used here.)

Pastéis de Nata

INGREDIENTS

• 296 g (1⅓ c) granulated sugar
• 115 g (½ c) water
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 225 g (1 c) whole milk
• ½ cup (115ml) double cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 28 g (¼ c) cornstarch/cornflour
• 1 pack frozen puff pastry

METHOD

  1. Preheat oven to 500°F.
    Making the Custard:
  2. In a small pan, add the sugar, water, and cinnamon stick. Bring to a simmer and allow to simmer for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and set it aside to infuse.
  3. In a separate saucepan, combine milk and cream and place over medium heat. Allow the mixture to come to a simmer, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool down.
  4. To a large bowl, add the egg yolks, whole egg, vanilla extract, and cornflour. Whisk until fully combined and no lumps remain.
  5. Temper the egg mixture by slowly pouring the hot milk to it briskly whisking as you go.
  6. Return this egg mixture to the saucepan and place over low-medium heat. Whisk continually until mixture thickens, around 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat.
  7. Whisk in the cooled cinnamon sugar syrup. Set the custard aside.
    Assembling the Tarts:
  8. Lightly flour a work surface and cut puff pastry into roughly 14 equal rounds using a 3 ½ inch cookie cutter.
  9. To a lightly greased muffin tin, push each piece of puff pastry down and up into the sides of the muffin holes until evenly distributed.
  10. Pour custard into each muffin tin so each one is three-quarters full. Bake for roughly 15 minutes or until golden brown on top.
  11. Serve warm as is or with a dollop of cream on top, or dusted with confectioners sugar.

They are Berry, Berry Good

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I make these drop scones with whatever berries I have on hand. I would rather spend a half hour making scones, than throwing slightly old berries away.

I made some Caramel Coconut Macaroon Thumbprints for Sally’s Baking Addiction April Challenge and had some strawberries left over. (They were BOGO.) Waste not, want more.

Berry Drop Scones

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 ½ cups (312g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/3 cup (67g) sugar
  • Zest of 1 small lemon (or orange or lime)
  • ½ cup (115g) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
  • 150-175g berries. Use any berries that you like.
  • 1 cup heavy cream + extra if required
  • Coarse or turbinado sugar for topping

METHOD

  1. Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and zest. Pulse a few times to incorporate.
  3. Add the cubed butter and pulse to incorporate. The mixture should resemble very coarse sand.
  4. Empty the flour mixture into a mixing bowl. Add the cream and stir until just barely incorporated. Add additional cream by the tablespoon to help the dough come together
  5. Gently fold in the berries. (It’s fine if the raspberries or blackberries break up a little – it adds a nice pink stain to the dough.) The dough should just be moist, not wet, but also not crumbly or powdery looking. If it looks too dry, add a tablespoon of cold water.
  6. Spoon the dough into 12 equally sized pieces on the parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle some coarse or turbinado sugar over the top, if desired.
  7. Bake for 16-19 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. The scones should be lightly golden and cooked through. I rotate the pan after 10 minutes
  8. Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes then carefully remove to a cooling rack.

Gateau St. Honoré

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St. Honoré cake is a pastry dessert named for the French patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs and when created correctly is amazing.

The various components of my cake were delicious. The size of the patisserie cream filled profiteroles were slightly large. I will know better next time. Bake and learn,

The cake is basically a circular (7” diameter) base of puff pastry with a ring of choux pastry about 1/2” thick piped around the perimeter. With the excess choux pastry a dozen or so profiteroles (about 1” to 1.5” diameter. are piped on the same baking sheet. This is baked, then cooled.

While the base is cooling make the cream patisserie and chantilly cream. Fill the profiteroles with cream patisserie and set aside. Using a St Honoré piping tip fill the base with a nice pattern of the traditional piping style.

Make the caramel and use it to stick the profiteroles to the edges of the round base. Add another filled profiterole to the center then drizzle caramel over all the profiteroles.

Gateau St. Honoré With Salted Caramel

Based on: https://www.monpetitfour.com/gateau-st-honore/

INGREDIENTS
Puff Pastry
• 1 sheet of puff pastry
• Or home made rough puff pastry
Pate a Choux
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
Creme patisserie
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste, or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
Chantilly cream
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Salted Caramel
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ c water
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp salt, or more to taste

METHOD
Pate a Choux

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm the water, unsalted butter, sugar and salt together. Once the butter has melted, remove the saucepan from the heat.
  2. Pour in the all-purpose flour and stir together to combine. Move the saucepan over to low heat, and stir the now-formed dough/paste until it no longer sticks to the bottom of the pan (about 30 seconds to 1 minute).
  3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the eggs, one at a time. It will be slightly difficult to mix the egg into the dough, but just keep vigorously stirring and eventually they’ll become incorporated. Temporarily set this aside.
    Puff Pastry Base and Pastry Puffs
  4. Cut out a 7″ round from the puff pastry. You can use a bowl, pan, pot lid – whatever you have that will help you cut out a nice 7″ circle (or simply trace it after measuring with a ruler – perfection isn’t necessary!). Place this puff pastry circle on one side of a baking sheet fitted with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
  5. Fill a pastry bag (with no tip) with the pate a choux dough that you created in your saucepan. In one continuous motion, pipe the dough out along the edge of the puff pastry circle (creating a sort of wall for the puff pastry). Now, pipe out approximately 16 small mounds on the open side of the baking sheet, spacing the mounds slightly apart. Smooth out any ridges or pointed tips using your fingers.
  6. Bake the pastry for 10 minutes at 425°F, then WITHOUT opening the oven door, bake the pastry for another 12-16 minutes at 375°F, until they’re a deep golden color. Place the pastry ring and pastry puffs on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

    Creme Patisserie
  7. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch, flour, egg, and egg yolk together.
  8. Once the milk is hot and steam is beginning to rise from it, stir in the vanilla bean paste (if using extract, hold off for now). Then, pour half of the milk into the egg mixture, whisking the egg mixture vigorously as you do. Pour the rest of the milk in, and continue to whisk vigorously.
  9. Transfer the entire batter back into the saucepan and whisk over medium heat. It will take about 5 minutes for the cream to thicken up into a pudding-like consistency. Just keep whisking the whole time.
  10. Once the cream is starting to look like pudding, quickly remove the cream from the heat. If you’re using vanilla extract, stir the extract in now. If there are any lumps in your cream, just whisk the cream really vigorously to smooth them out.
  11. Transfer the cream to a clean bowl and cover the cream with a sheet of plastic wrap placed directly onto the cream (this will prevent a filmy layer from forming). Chill the pastry cream in the refrigerator.

    Chantilly Creme
  12. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the heavy cream on high speed until indentations begin to appear. Pour in the vanilla extract and powdered sugar, then whisk on high speed until a frosting-like consistency is formed.

    Caramel
  13. In a medium saucepan, add the sugar and 1/4 cup of water. Do NOT stir the two together. Simply place the saucepan over medium-high heat, and allow the mixture to come to a simmer. Watch the sugar-water bubble for approximately 7 to 8 minutes, watching it go from white-ish/clear to a medium amber color. Do NOT step away from the caramel as it can burn in a matter of seconds.
  14. Once the caramel has reached a medium amber color and is JUST beginning to smoke, quickly remove the caramel from the heat. Carefully pour the heavy cream into the caramel (it will bubble), then stir to combine. Add the salt, and again stir to combine.
    Assembly
  15. Fit a pastry bag with a long, narrow filling tip. Fill the pastry bag with the creme patisserie and then pipe this into the pastry puffs. Flip the pastry puff upside down so that the flat side is facing you, then dip the top in the salted caramel. Gently give it a shake to pour off excess caramel, then carefully dip the bottom of the pastry puff in caramel too.
  16. Place the pastry puff onto the pate a choux wall that you created on top of the puff pastry circle. The caramel will act like a glue. Continue until you’ve got a ring of pastry puffs.
  17. Scoop the remaining creme patisserie onto the center of the puff pastry. Fill a new pastry bag fitted with whatever tip you like (plain, star, st. honore) with the creme Chantilly, and pipe the creme on top of the pastry cream.
  18. Stick one final pastry puff in the center of the dessert, then drizzle caramel all over. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

3.141592654…

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Traditionally we have pizza on Pi Day, but other, more important obligations interfered with tradition. Instead, I made Berry Hand Pies (Blueberry and Raspberry) and while not pizza, they didn’t disappoint.

Berry hand pies are a piece of cake. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

Recovering From a Disaster

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Not often, but on rare occasion I have a baking disaster. Yesterday I wanted blueberry muffins and unfortunately used an old recipe. Apparently, there was a major error in the recipe as after two attempts I binned the results (along with the recipe) and headed to my go-to baker, Sally McKenny. (“Binned” is a term from GBBO where whatever didn’t work is tossed in the trash.)

I wisely turned to Sally’s blueberry muffin recipe and they were overwhelmingly endorsed by the QC Cadre. (For any who do not know, the QC Cadre is composed of a number of my neighbors who volunteered to sample and review my bakes.)

If you can ignore the dropped berry scones and artisan no-knead rolls in the background, here are the blueberry muffins. I cannot recommend them strongly enough.