SPILL THE BEANS

As Seen on TV! For fans of blind baking, ceramic baking beans have almost magical properties. OK, they might not sprout in to a never-ending beanstalk that leads to a land in the clouds, but they will do an excellent job of making sure that your pie crusts behave themselves, creating perfectly formed pastry every time. When you’re blind baking, the empty pastry can easily bubble on the bottom or shrink away from the sides when there’s no delicious filling to keep it in line. But these brilliant baking beans will put an end to your pastry-based woes. All you need to do is pour them in to your pie casing, on top of a layer of baking paper, and let them do their thing. As they’re ceramic, they’re completely heat resistant, and they’re able to conduct heat from the oven, encouraging a more evenly cooked crust. It means that they’re reusable too, so you can bring them out bake after bake instead of using dried beans that don’t last as long.