So many of us have fond memories of standing in our grandmother’s kitchen, as she made apple pie. As we all know, there is absolutely nothing that comes close to grandma’s apple pie! When we talk about her making apple pie, she did absolutely everything from scratch, she combined the ingredients to make pastry, rolled it out, cut it, peeled the fruit, sealed it and the smell was sensational. The only shortcut she took was asking someone to peel the apples for her!

When was the last time you made apple pie? The skills of working with pastry are being lost, and it is a real shame but the reality of life is that we don’t have the time or patience that our grandmother had so we need to find shortcuts! Using pre-made pastry has become acceptable and if you don’t tell anyone, they probably won’t guess that you did not spend all morning slaving over it!

Often we find ourselves in a conundrum, we want good food but with a busy work and social life we just don’t have time to slave in the kitchen. We could just eat out but that is expensive and not always convenient. We could take-out from a restaurant or bakery but again it is expensive and the food does not always arrive home in the best shape, it may be a bit battered and it may be cold. 

There is also something satisfying about making your own food. Whilst some things may be quick and easy to make, others such as pastry based dishes are not. We need to find shortcuts that allow us to save time but we still feel like we contributed to their creation. In essence, we need to learn how to cheat!

Oven ready pizza is extremely popular. In 2020 the global frozen pizza market was worth $17.3 billion. Its success is because it is easy to store, easy to make and will come out of the oven hot.  However, most adults are looking for something a little better than frozen pizza, especially if they have guests!

One of the current food trends is bourekas. Whilst in Israel they are considered street food and can be bought in every bakery, more and more people have the urge to make them at home. They want the delicious baking smell to fill their kitchen and they want them to come out of their ovens warm and perfectly done, they don’t want to reheat them in a microwave and end up with a soggy mess. Companies such as Ariel Bakery in Haifa, Israel produce frozen, ready to bake bourekas. They come in a variety of flavors including traditional potato, cheese and mushroom. They are non-GMO and most are also vegan. All you need to do is take them out of the packet, brush with egg, add on optional sesame seeds and pop in the oven till brown. The perfect starter or accompaniment to any meal. Easy!

Whilst we would all like to have all the time in the world to slave in the kitchen and we would all like to be blessed with the ability to produce perfect pastry, it is just not a reality. Instead we can enjoy the smell and the fresh taste of pastry goods by buying them frozen and sticking them in our own oven. It can be our secret; if you don’t tell, I won’t!