In my opinion, the most important element of a pie is not its filling, but its crust. A good baked crust should be flaky on the outside and relatively dry on the inside. A good pastry dough should be easy to roll out and lift into the pie pan as opposed to stubbornly sticking to the counter and making the transfer from counter to bake form a nightmare.

Which is why I opted to use Sherry Yard’s master flaky pie dough (from her book Secrets of Baking) for this particular savoury pie. The resulting dough was a breeze to handle, allowing me to form a pretty seal around the edge.

The inspiration for the delicious spinach & minced pork filling came from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess, but I was glad that I passed on her suggested pastry recipe. I’d used it previously and found it to be really difficult to roll out.

The result was a truly scrumptious pie that was a little time consuming to make, but definitely worth the effort!

The only chocolate chip cookie recipe I use results in these crisp-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside cookies. I’ve never actually tried any other recipe.

I’m still searching for a recipe for crunchy chocolate chip cookies like those they sell at Famous Amos. Let me know if you have one and we can trade recipes!

Harald’s grandmother used to make these sweet yeast buns when he was a kid. I came across a recipe for them on Delicious Days and decided to try it out.

They are extremely fluffy and soft fresh out of the oven, but start to dry out after a day or so - a problem that’s easily solved by zapping the bun in a microwave for 20 seconds.

The buns taste great on their own, but are even better with vanilla sauce.

I’d never made brioche before and thought it a good idea to try the recipe from Delicious Days. The only problem was that I didn’t have fresh yeast and had no idea how to shape bread rolls without all the folds and creases.

The results were a little disappointing. The brioche rose so much that they had caps (kind of like the way scones split in the middle). The texture was also on the tough side.

I have no idea if this was because of the dry yeast, my poor bread shaping skills, my having overworked the dough or a combination of everything. I’d like to try this recipe again, but perhaps after I get more practice in bread making.

I was intrigued by this apple pie when I came across it in Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess. It is completely encrusted (lame pun intended) in pastry dough - definitely not your usual apple crumble pie or lattice apple pie.

Having had one bad experience with the same pastry crust, I went against my better judgement and gave the recipe a second go.

The pastry turned out better than my first attempt, but I won’t be using this apple pie filling again. Although the finished pie looks rather impressive with very promising ingredients in the filling - pureed apples & apple chunks pan fried in butter, I found the apples a tad chunky. The texture was not at all what I’d expected it to be.

For my sister’s 25th birthday …

Two-layers of cake sandwiched with lusciously smooth cream cheese frosting …

Loaded with shredded carrots, walnuts and raisins, smeared with cream cheese frosting. It was truly yummy!

Available for Purchase: 9-inch Carrot Cake @ a Price of S$50.00