Still traveling a lot so baking limited - but did make some brown butter CC cookies! And then had some my employee made - hers were better so I got her recipe :-)

Ellie Jean Taylor is having a baby! Bake off starts in UK on Tuesday sept 26... still no confirmation from Netflix on their having episodes 3 days later.

Last round for Heat B before recombining the groups. Pastry - the differentiator in my book. A lot can go wrong and the options are wide.

In the technical they ere asked to make pop ta.... (i mean) STARS. They had to make their own peanut butter to go with jelly inside the pastry. Keys to this were get the thickness right, make the peanut butter smooth, and crimp to hold it all in. Aisya and Fraser did this pretty well. Frasers got a bit overbakes=d though and it pushed him to 2nd in the technical. Salma did a decent job. Both Tomas and Gabriel struggled. Tomos with uneven rolling of his pastry and gabriel with over saltiness and not blending his peanut butter smooth... and not crimping, earning him last.

In the showstopper they had to make a family crest using pastry. some went sweet (Gabriel and Tomos) while the other went savory. Salma went with what was more of a dough than a pastry crust. It was yeasted and had no butter. Hers was "good" but Liam was wanting for short crust so it cost her I believe. Aisya went with a spicy chicken pastry and traditional short crust. Colorful... but a little messy. Tasty though. Fraser - delicious and used star anise brilliantly, but very simple in its design. The two sweet pies both used fruit - a risk for sure because of moisture. Gabriel added a creme patissiere ... which looked very lumpy... but apparently tasted good. He blind baked his crust which was smart. Tomos... did not blind bake and this was a mistake. Soggy bottom. Kiss of death and he was sent home.

Star baker went to Fraser who is a brilliant baker. I was pulling for Aisya, but at least they both head to finals.

So we combine both groups next episode:

Heat A: Lola, Quique, Macy, Kezia

Heat B: Fraser, Aisya, Gabriel, Salma

My bets are on Fraser or Aisya. I'm excited to see them all again though - hope its a good contest.