Great British Bake Off 2020 week 2

Bake Off week two and it’s biscuits..or is it.

For the second year running this round had bakers taking to social media and questioning whether  the bake picked as the technical challenge actually qualified as a biscuit. Last year it was fig rolls lighting up Twitter, this year it was macaroons. My take is that both bakes probably sit in a halfway house between biscuit or cake and could probably fall under either category.

An additional confusion for me is I’ve always struggled to tell my macaroons from my macarons. I really thought I’d cracked it this time and was settling down to watch the bakers make small meringue type treats, only to realise they are the one with the single o and it’s the delicacies made with coconut that have the double o.

The signature challenges the bakers faced this week were to produce a batch of Florentine biscuits to their own recipe. The showstopper challenge was every bit as bonkers as last week’s cake busts, this time it was to create a 3D table setting out of different types of biscuits. That’s cutlery, crockery and food to serve with it. These showstoppers may make for good television but it does feel as if it’s baking where the look of what’s being produced is inevitably going to take precedent of flavour.

Having finally sorted out my macaroon confusion, I decided to make a batch, particularly as it’s not a bake I’ve done before. My initial thoughts were to use the recipe from the show but I quickly ruled it out because what was already going to be a very sweet treat hardly needed condensed milk as well. There was also an issue around where was I going to get mango puree from.

The recipe I used is for coconut macaroon kisses. Small one bite, two if you’re delicate, coconut treats which have been dipped in chocolate. Even without the condensed milk, these are quite sweet, so my advice if you make them is to use a strong chocolate. Go for a dark one with a high cocoa content, the bitter edge will work well with the sweet coconut.

Don’t be put off by the mention of making a creme patisserie. It’s very straight forward and is integral to the flavour of the finished bake.

The recipe makes 20 and although it may sound like a lot I assure they’re gorgeous and won’t last very long. I’ve just checked the batch I made yesterday and it’s already half gone.

Ingredients

For the patisserie

• 5 tbsp milk (ideally this should be full fat and creamy)
• 3tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 egg yolk

For the coconut mixture

• 3 egg whites
• 0.5tsp vanilla extract
• 100g caster sugar
• 200g desiccated coconut

For the chocolate glaze

• 100g dark chocolate
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil

Method

• For the patisserie heat the milk in a saucepan until steaming, then remove from the heat. Put the sugar, cornflour and egg yolk in a bowl and beat until pale and smooth. Gradually stir in the hot milk and then pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Over a low to medium heat whisk the mixture until it thickens.
• Heat the oven to gas mark 3
• For the coconut mixture put the egg whites and vanilla in a bowl and mix together. Add the sugar and beat the mixture until the sugar has melted. Stir in the coconut and then add the patisserie mixture. Stir everything together until smooth.
• Line a baking sheet and put scoops of the mixture onto it. I used a tablespoon measure and that gave me 20 smooth mounds.
• Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. When you take them out they should be slightly golden and darker around the edges. Leave on the tray to cool completely.
• Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Once melted stir the oil into the chocolate. The addition of the oil helps to give a glossy finish.
• Carefully pick up the macaroons and dip them into the chocolate. You’re looking to just cover the bottom of them.
• Place the macaroons, chocolate side down, on a clean piece of baking paper and leave them to set. When they’re ready they should just peel off and not leave any chocolate behind. If you’re getting desperate for a taste by this point you can always put them in the fridge to speed up the process.