Hi bold Bakers!
We just finished recording all of our videos for 2018 and the team behind the scenes at
Bigger Bolder Baking and I wanted to share with you some of our favorite videos of the
year.
I'm gonna go first, mine was the 10 minute berry tiramisu.
One of the things I loved about this video is that number the dessert tasted amazing,
but the footage just looks beautiful, it was the summertime, we had loads of lovely light
coming in the windows, because we have windows here in my kitchen where we film and we rely
on that light coming in to light our set, so I just really loved the look of this video.
So the inspiration behind this recipe actually came a long time ago, way before Bigger Bolder
Baking, I actually made it when I worked as a cook in a priest priory in Dublin, which
you probably don't know about, and I'll tell that story another day, but I used to cook
for priests and I made this dessert for them, and they freaked out and they absolutely loved
it, and it always stuck with me so then with I started the channel I thought I have to
make this.
You can tell that I really, really did like this dessert because look at this, that's
my happy dance.
I got a happy dance in there, a really good one and you can tell afterwards, that I was
actually really impressed by how it tasted, so that's all on camera, all for the first
time.
I can safely say that's my favorite video.
So a lot of you know Olivia, she's my culinary assistant and has been working with me for
2 years, she also creates her own recipes for Bigger Bolder Baking, we're gonna find
out what her favorite recipe was.
I was thinking about it, it's really hard because I'm a chocolate person, but I think,
I think my favorite video of 2018 is the lemon bars.
Okay I love the way these looked, they're super bright yellow, you got that really nice
layer of shortbread, and then there's this custard-y lemon in the middle, and then it's
topped off with a dusty snowing of powdered sugar, oh!
And Gem is wearing her tropical top probably to match the lemon.
I love when Gem wears yellow, it makes her look super tan, the first step to making the
lemon bars is to make the shortbread, the shortbread is super easy to make, I remember
it's like lots of butter, flour, lots of powdered sugar so it has that really nice crumbly texture,
which everybody loves in shortbread crust.
So that's how it starts, and then you're like oh, is she making millionaire shortbread,
what's this gonna be?
What's gonna happen?
And then she fills it with a lemony custard mixture.
Let's talk about that.
I remember when we made this thinking is it gonna come out brown, is it gonna be risen
up, and really crisp on top, it actually just stays super, super fudgy, it's odd for something
that's lemony but the texture is really I don't know how to describe it.
Gem?
How would you describe the texture?
[Gemma:] It's like a lemon custard.
[Olivia:] It's like a lemon custard!
It's like a lemon custard.
Yes!
Okay so up next is Ira, Ira is our super talented cameraman and editor, and I'm really excited
to see what he has to say as his favorite because he's always the one behind the scenes
and I'm excited for him to get in front of the camera.
[Ira:] My favorite was definitely the best-ever Blondie recipe.
Oh yeah, here's the melted butter, that's the real key, is to get the butter melted
and to use really good butter.
I probably made this 4-5 times at least, and I think Gemma even got to try it.
Yeah, we're perfectionists, that's what I mean, we're perfectionists and I think it
really shows and we don't really let any mistakes through, everything is just to the highest
quality.
It really shows and I think the fans can see it too.
I really love brownies, I just love brownies.
I love chewy brownies, and so I think the blondies are a great twist on that, they have
the same texture as the brownies, they have that different flavor that you can't really
put your finger on but I guess it's the brown sugar and the white chocolate.
So good.
The way that we stacked them and put the ice cream on top, and the caramel dripping on
the side of it, it was beautiful and delicious.
To shoot the show we use a mixture of Canon DSLR cameras, some lights and some lenses.
Our favorite lens is probably the 100mm macro, because it lets us get really up with food
and just get right in there.
These blondies were definitely my favorite recipe this year, next u we have Brian who
is our content and community manager.
[Brian:] Hi, so my favorite recipe of 2018 was 3-ingredient flatbread.
For me, there were a lot of different reasons why this was my favorite.
One, I've made it multiple times, and it's very, very simple.
Two, as content and community manager, this was actually one of our most popular videos,
so it was very nice to see the community's reaction, the fan reaction, all of that.
All of our bold bakers out there were really excited about this one, and really eager to
tell us about what kind of history and connection they had to different types of flatbread growing
up.
To me, that's super important, because baking is connected to history, and memories.
It is for me and I think it is for a lot of people around the world.
All three of these ingredients are things that I happen to have on hand at all times,
I have two kids, my kids love eating yogurt.
They do like eating flavored yogurt which we don't put into this, but we do have plain
yogurt on hand most of the time.
The first time I made these actually, my wife was shooting a wedding, so I was at home with
the kids, they helped me make it, and then after cooking them off on the stove, we turned
them into pizzas.
We put some pizza sauce on it, some mozzarella, kids like plain pizzas, and then we melted
it all in the oven and then just made our own personal pizzas with these.
Luckily we didn't use all of them so my wife did get to try them the next day, we ate them
with hummus, and everything was great.
[Kevin:] Oh!
I didn't see you there.
I'm Kevin Kurtz.
You may know me from such videos as Bigger Bolder Bacon and Gemma's best-ever oatmeal
cookies.
I'm the producer of Bigger Bolder Baking, Gemma's husband, and I'm gonna share with
you my favorite today which is Gemma's best-ever chocolate chip cookies recipe.
So once of my favorite things from any of our videos is the opening.
When I used to shoot and edit the episodes, I used to spend hours getting footage for
every opening, making every single one unique, really trying to pull you fans, you bold bakers,
into the recipe, get you excited about what you're ultimately going to see, so Ira did
such a great job with this one, really romancing the chocolate chips, and all those beautiful
cookies that you're gonna see in this episode.
So once of the things that I love about this is that it was one of Gemma's first best-ever
recipes, and the reason why the chocolate chip cookies are really special is because
she talks about working as a pastry chef at Spruce.
Spruce is a Michelin star restaurant in San Francisco, that is actually where I met Gemma.
Well, in San Francisco, not the restaurant.
But Gemma took me to the restaurant one time, and we had an amazing dinner there, and I
also got to try the best-ever chocolate chip cookies there, that was a little bit of a
sneak preview.
So all of these tips that Gemma shares like chilling your dough and the difference it
makes in aging your dough, these are the things that I really love that Gemma shares because
she gives those insider tips that a lot of bakers know, that a lot of pastry chefs know,
and that not every baker knows, they're simple things that you can do to make awesome results.
That's one of my most favorite things, is actually all the comments from you bold bakers,
all of the photos that you all submit, and just seeing you take Gemma's recipe and go
and actually make them, that's really important to us.
That shot, of Gemma cracking open those cookies, that is the real deal, that is the stuff,
gooey in the middle, crispy on the outside.
So I also want to give a shout-out to a few out other members of the Bigger Bolder Baking
team who work with us around the world, Gemma's mom Patricia in Ireland, and Didi, who both
work with us on our social media team.
[Gemma:] A big thank you for all of your support.
2018 was a great year, but do you know what?
2019 is gonna be even better.
Happy holidays, and have a wonderful new year.
Thanks everybody!
LET'S GET BAKING!
Nailed it!
Great job guys!