I am a big fan of The Great British Baking Show (aka Great British Bake-Off). I’ve watched all of the available seasons on Netflix many times over. Over the holiday season I recently re-watched all said available content and the special Holiday content. My husband loves that I watch and re-watch this show because I am always inspired to get into the kitchen and bake. I don’t make some of the technically complicated things I see on the show (ie you’re not gonna catch me in the kitchen attempting lion bread sculptures anytime soon) but I do so love to watch it happen and then I go bake something…simpler (for the most part).
For Christmas 2020 my sister-in-law gave me a gift subscription to The British Bash. It’s kind of like SnackCrate if you’re familiar; difference being that you have to make the snacks before you can eat them. Every month for the next 6 months I will receive a box containing a recipe and the non-perishable ingredients needed to make the featured classic British bake contained in the box. How surprised was I?! I didn’t know such a box-subscription existed. With all of the delays these past months with the USPS I had to wait until fairly late into January to learn that this was in fact my Christmas present and receive the first box. The first box was mince pies! A perfect holiday traditional treat to start with, even if the holidays are over. The box smelled amazing. The box included a cute recipe card that includes some history about this classic bake, most of the ingredients needed, and even little disposable tins to make 12 mini mince pies.
The pies were a hit in our house. I was going to take some to share with my in-laws since my sister-in-law is the one who gifted me the subscription, and I know she is also a fan of Great British Bake-Off. However, it was not meant to be. The kit makes 12 pies. My husband decided that he didn’t want to share, lol. So I guess they were good. Not only did he have a couple the night I made them, but he got up and had one for breakfast with his cup of coffee first thing before I got up the next day. Most likely to ensure that I didn’t tell him that pie is not a breakfast food.
This was the first time I made shortcrust from scratch and everything turned out really well. Not all of the pies were the prettiest, but powdered sugar can cover a multitude of sins. I will definitely be baking mince pies again. I am excited to see what the next several months of boxes hold, and continuing on this adventure of classic British bakes. So at least once a month I will be checking in to share my British baking journey with you here, depending on the efficiency of the USPS, and my own motivation which seems to vary drastically from day to day. Maybe we’ll even do some preview un-boxing videos? Drop a comment if that is something you would like to see us add — unboxing videos, baking videos, or even us going live while baking for Flour Fridays.
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