Double wow, that you made a second one with strawberries.

Pass me a plateful.

I didn’t take any pictures of the pistachio braid because I thought it looked quite dreadful.

I’m keen to try the pistachio/apricot braid again, this time without it leaking everywhere. I’m tempted to make a pistachio marzipan instead of the pastry cream.

Dolores–My pistachio pastry cream recipe isn’t much of a recipe, I’m afraid. I used Heidi Swanson’s recipe for pistachio butter to make my own pistachio paste (use as little water as possible) and then stirred that into pastry cream to taste. Make sure that the pastry cream stays as stiff as possible if you’re using it in a braid. You can also lighten the pastry cream with some whipped cream if you’re using it for other purposes.

Rigby–I used fresh yeast bought from the bakery counter in my local supermarket.

Your braid looks wonderful – perfect plating!!

Your braid looks so professional – are you sure you’ve never done this before? I’m glad it also tasted as nice as it looked. Well done.

Pearl sugar was a major problem for me too, but I got a couple of packets last time I went to Sweden, they sell them in the supermarkets there. But I did some internet searches a few months ago and found these two web sites that may be able to help.
http://www.danisco.com/ where it’s called nib sugar and
http://www.britishsugar.co.uk/ where it’s called sugar pearls.

Caramella