Thumbs down on Jamie's desserts

Let me say, right off the bat that I love Jamie. Have loved him for years. Cute, perennially boyish, funny, sweet, sexy and engaging. SO sad the man cannot write a dessert recipe. Our mandate here at Four Cooks is to test a minimum of 5 recipes for each course--full disclosure here--after 3 total duds (and I mean DUDS--even my 11 year old who would normally eat a bag of garbage if covered in sugar wouldn't go near a 2nd bite), and one passable dessert, I just couldn't bring myself to spend the money and time testing a 5th.

So, here goes:

1) Bakewell Tart (pg 302)
The Shortcrust Pastry-Issues:
-the recipe called for 2 scant cups of flour. ??? Don't do that Jamie--not for pastry. Please. Way too much margin for error...ergo...here's a shot of my pastry. Yep. Doesn't look like any pastry I've ever made before.

Despite this, I managed to get it into the tart form. But as you can see-many repairs were needed. It wasn't pretty.

 The Filling:  The rest of the recipe went well-no major problems. However the results were less than desirable...tough pastry and the filling--Strawberry Jam and Almond paste...meh. Just meh.

2) Maple Syrup and Pecan Tart (pg 300)
What was I thinking??? Why I picked another recipe that uses the same Shortcrust pastry is anyone's guess. Sigh. I guess I got sucked into the allure of maple and pecan. However, I should have been warned when I read 3 CUPS of breadcrumbs? Huh? How do you imagine a pie filling made of 3 Cups of breadcrumbs would taste? Exactly. All of the maple syrup in the world ain't gonna make that right.
Dry, crumbly, tasteless...Hellooooo-Flavour?

3) Baked Pears with wine and a Scrumptious (his word NOT mine) Walnut Cream (pg 286)
Pretty, but each of my peeps took one bite and composted the rest. 'Nuff said.

4) Sticky Toffee Pudding (pg 305)
100% delish. I loved it, my family loved, and the rest of the Cooks loved it too. Simple to make, hugely satisfying to eat and OMG that Toffee Sauce...take a bath in it it's so good.