The revival of Queens of Tarts...

So ladies, it’s been a little quiet on the baking front of late hasn't it? We’ve all been busy over the summer, but with the Great British Bake Off finished for another year, it’s time for the Queens of Tarts revival!

And so I put to you our latest baking challenge... CHOUX PASTRY

Choux pastry is a very light pastry dough, which apparently was first invented in 1540. Over the years that followed, the recipe of became known as pâte à popelin and was used to make popelins – which are small cakes in the shape of a woman’s breasts. Later on in the eighteenth century, a patissier called Avice, used the light pastry dough to create sweet filled buns, which (inadvertently) resembled cabbages. And so, thanks to Avice and his sweet cabbage buns, we now enjoy all sorts of choux pastry treats.*

Crisp, puffed up choux pastry is light and airy due to the high water content in the mixture. The water, which creates steam during the baking process, forces the pastry outwards, giving the pastry shell a crispy cavity which can be filled with sweet or savoury fillings to make scrumptious snacks and puddings.

From éclairs and profiteroles to fancy swans and croque-en-bouche show-stoppers, choux pastry is often filled with a soft cream filling, and topped with chocolate or a fruit glaze.

So without further ado.. dust down your aprons, pre-heat your ovens, BAKE!

*Extra points for those who remembered their high-school French, choux = cabbage!