Do I Bake Both Strips Of Banket Bars At the Same Time?

Our answer

Nigella's Banket Bars have flaky puff pastry encasing a home-made almond paste. Although traditionally the pastries would be shaped into letters, long logs or wreaths, Nigella's smaller bite-sized versions are like sweet sausage rolls.

In the recipe, Nigella bakes the first batch of 8 bars on a parchment-lined baking sheet and assembles the second batch after the first batch has baked. You should leave a bit of space between each bar on the baking sheet as the pastry will puff up and expand a little as it bakes. If you want to assemble all of the bars and then bake them, put the bars on the prepared baking sheets, cover them with clingfilm and leave in the fridge. However we would not leave them there for longer than an hour or so as the puff pastry will tend to dry out. Brush the bars with the egg wash just before baking.