We had a glorious cycle into School today; the fields were covered in mist & the sun was just starting to shine =)  It was a little wet in places though; it rained heavily last night & one part of the path was flooded, so it was an interesting ride at times!

When we got to School, we were greeted with the leftover freestyle loaves we baked yesterday!

 

Considering that tray was full to overflowing, I'd say there were some very well fed staff last night! 

Today though, we had our second Patisserie lesson & set out to tackle puff pastry & sweet crust pastry =)

We worked in pairs to create our batch of puff pastry, which was actually easier than you'd imagine; it's just a case of lots of folding & keeping the pastry cold.

The first things we made were Eccles Cakes!  I LOVE Eccles Cakes, they're so moreish & tasty, so it was really fun to actually get to make them =)  The filling is really simple; it's just currants, golden syrup & lemon juice =)

Next up were Apple Turnovers!  These were a little more tricky, trying to get the edges of the pastry to stick whilst containing all the apple filling was quite frustrating at times! 

We used the leftover trimmings to make layers for Vanilla Slices & combined a small portion with some Stitchelton cheese to make some epic Cheese Twists =D

With the sweet crust pastry we made bases for Egg Custards & Jam Tarts.

We used the above machine to stamp out the pastry into the moulds Clive had bought along.  I had ago, but it's a lot trickier than it looks!  My pastry case came out okay, but I think I'll need some more practise!

This was our display tray!  I was really pleased with how the Apple Turnovers & Eccles Cakes came out, & the Stitchelton Cheese Twists were so moreish it was impossible to eat just one! (Seriously, Sara & I devoured almost a whole tray between us!)  I haven't tried the Jam Tarts or Egg Custards yet, but they looked great too =D

The Vanilla Slices were gorgeous as well, & of course we had to eat those before we left; they'd never have survived the bike ride home!

There were a few loaves left to be baked from yesterdays freestyle; Tory's epic Marmite & Cheese Loaves, & Steph's Pear, Walnut & Ginger Loaves, & Date, Yoghurt & Honey Loaves.

They were all gorgeous!  Even the Marmite & Cheese Loaves were tasty (I'm not a massive marmite fan..) but the crust was lovely, & the taste was amazing.  All in all a very successful day!