COOKBOOKS GALORE

A belated Happy New Year.  I’ve had great problems posting on here for a while. Hopefully this has now been solved., I love Scandinavian baking and have several Scandi baking books, but to honest, I've never baked from them. Reading an article recently on this type of baking, I thought I must use my books, so decided to make a caramel almond cake. I've adapted it from 'Scandilicious Baking'. For the cake  you need; 20ml milk, 1 tspn lemon juice [or 75ml buttermilk] 75g butter, 3 eggs, 150g caster sugar, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 150g plain flour, 1 tspn baking powder and a pinch of salt. For the topping:  150g flaked almonds, 125g butter, 125g light brown sugar, 50ml milk and 1/2 tspn sea salt Preheat oven 160C/gas3                     Grease and base line a 23cm springform cake tin Stir the lemon juice into the milk to sour it, or use 75ml buttermilk instead. Toast the almonds till they're a light golden colour [takes ...

 I love apricots, but you don't see them often, and sadly, our town market is no more. so saw some on offer in the supermarket and bought them to make this tart, another French recipe from my friend. I used ready made shortcrust pastry, as it's too hot to make my own. You need: a block of shortcrust pastry, 75g caster sugar, 75g ground almonds, 600g apricots, 75g soft butter, 1 egg, and a handful of flaked almonds to sprinkle on top. Preheat oven 200C/gas6                   Tart tin 24 - 26 cms Roll pastry out and fit into tin. Put in fridge while you make the filling. Wash and stone the apricots. Mix together the sugar, butter, ground almonds and the beaten egg - make sure it's well mixed. Spread over the pastry and top with the apricots.  Bake for about 35mins then sprinkle the almonds over the top.  You can add the flaked almonds partway through cooking, but I prefer them like this. I like the crunchy pastry, the soft f...

 I got this recipe from a friend recently, and have been waiting for an opportunity to try it out. Yesterday was my friend's birthday, so a good enough reason to bake! It's a caramel Genoese sponge which has an almond topping. I wondered if the name was linked to the opera, but my friend said it was a Scandinavian recipe. Who knows? So you need: 75ml buttermilk, 75g butter, 3 eggs, 150g cazster sugar, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 150g plain flour, 1 tspn baking powder and a pich of salt For the topping you need: 150g flaked almonds, 125g butter, 125g soft brown sugar and 50ml milk Preheat oven 180/gas4                       Grease and line a 23cm springform tin Beat eggs, vanilla extract and caster sugar together till pale and thick,  Add baking powder and salt to flour and stir together. Fold 1/3 of flour into batter with third of the buttermilk, then repeat with other 2/3. Mix together gently and spoon into tin. Bake 40 ...

Having a sort out of my herbs and spices jars, I came across a jar of dried lemon balm that is almost past its sell by date. Not sure why I bought it, but it needed using up. I hunted through my recipe folders, and found one that a school friend gave me ages ago. It used lemon balm with pink grapefruit! I'd give it a try. You need:  200g ground almonds, 2 tbspn dried lemon balm, 1 pink grapefruit, 150g caster sugar, 2 large eggs and 22ml of olive oil [or 20g!], flaked almonds and icing sugar to decorate top Preheat oven 160C/gas3                               Grease a 20cm springform cake tin and sprinkle inside with sugar Wash and dry the grapefruit, then zest about 1/4 of it and put this aside. Peel the grapefruit, cut in half and scoop out the pulp. Put sugar and lemon balm in a bowl, add the eggs and beat with an electric beater till mixture is white. Add the pulp and zest of the grapefruit and mix ...

A quick and easy recipe to use up a large tin of apricots I found in the back of my store cupboard. In season you could use fresh apricots. You need: a pack of shortcrust pastry [or of course, make your own] a large tin of apricots [or 500g of fresh] 75g soft butter 75g caster sugar 75g ground almonds 1 egg flaked almonds to decorate Preheat oven 200C/gas6                      A 24cm tart tin Roll the pastry out to fit the tin then put into the fridge. Take apricots out of tin and pour off the liquid. If using fresh, wash them, remove the stones and cut in half. Mix the butter, sugar, ground almonds and egg together to make a batter. Pour this into the tart tin. Arrange the apricots on top and bake for 30 mins. Take out of the oven and sprinkle flaked almonds on top then put back in oven for 5 mins. The tart can be eaten warm or cold. It was good eaten with some vanilla ice cream. You could use other fruits in...

I love Scandinavian baking and have several Scandi baking books, but to honest, I've never baked from them. Reading an article recently on this type of baking, I thought I must use my books, so decided to make a caramel almond cake. I've adapted it from 'Scandilicious Baking'. For the cake you need; 20ml milk, 1 tspn lemon juice [or 75ml buttermilk] 75g butter, 3 eggs, 150g caster sugar, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 150g plain flour, 1 tspn baking powder and a pinch of salt. For the topping:  150g flaked almonds, 125g butter, 125g light brown sugar, 50ml milk and 1/2 tspn sea salt  Preheat oven 160C/gas3                     Grease and base line a 23cm springform cake tin Stir the lemon juice into the milk to sour it, or use 75ml buttermilk instead. Toast the almonds till they're a light golden colour [takes about 6 mins]. Melt the butter over a low heat then pour into a bowl and allow to cool. Beat the eggs, sugar an...

I love pears and I wanted to make something different with them. Happily my French friend came to my aid again and gave me this recipe. It's a dessert not a cake, but is easy to make. 4 medium pears [firmish but not too hard] 150g plain flour 100g caster sugar 2 eggs 100ml milk 3 tbspn vegetable oil 2 tspn baking powder For the topping: 80g melted butter 3tbspn caster sugar 1 egg Flaked almonds Oven 180C.                             Grease and flour  23cm cake tin Put the sugar and eggs in a bowl and beat till light and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder and oil and mix in. Pour half of this batter into the cake tin. Peel the pears and cut into strips. Put on top of the batter in the tin and spoon the rest of the batter on top. Bake for 30 mins. Topping- Beat the egg and sugar together then add the butter and mix together. After the fondant has baked for 30 mins, take out of the oven a...

I made these recently for a family tea. They're delicious and the filling is rather like a brownie. I found the recipe in my scrapbook, so not sure where it originated. I bought a pack of shortcrust pastry, but you can make your own. For the filling you need -   1 egg, 100g caster sugar, 55g melted butter, 1/2 tspn vanilla extract, 20g cocoa powder, 20g ground almonds, 1/2 tspn instant coffee and a pinch of salt raspberries, crème fraîche and flaked almonds for the top.  Preheat oven 180C/gas4           Grease a 12 hole cupcake tin [or a little tart tin] . Roll pastry out thinly and cut out 12  x 4" or 10cm circles. Press gently into the holes in the tin and put in the fridge while you make the filling. Beat the egg till thick and frothy with an electric hand beater. Add the sugar and keep on beating till light and fluffy. Pour in the melted butter and vanilla, beating all the while. Fold in the cocoa, ground al...

Lovely Autumnal look to the trees around here, so thought of making something with apples. I love apple cakes, but having just made 2 for a leaving lunch, thought I'd make a tart. Having yet another sort out in a cupboard, I found a bottle of Calvados with just enough left to put in my tart! Got to be a Normandy Tart with Calvados! This is yet another recipe I got from my lovely neighbour in France, and I've made it many times for friends and family. You need: 1 pack of butter puff pastry, 4 medium apples, 160g caster sugar, 50g butter, 1/2 tspn cinnamon, 2 eggs,100ml crème fraîche, 1 tbspn Calvados and some flaked almonds Preheat oven 210C/gas7                       Grease a tart tin lightly Peel and core the apples and cut into thick slices. Melt the butter in a pan and add the apples, 30g of the sugar and the cinnamon. Cook gently for a few minutes, but be careful they don't stick to the bottom and burn! Roll the ...

What to make for a friend coming to tea? I bought some ground and flaked almonds last week so wanted to use them. I love Bakewell tart, so searched for a recipe with similar flavours and found this one. Couldn't wait to try it as a cake. It's from the  BBC Good Food site The recipe suggests you blend it in a food processor, but as mine is broken, I used an electric hand mixer and it worked fine.  There's ground almonds in the recipe so it's quite a thick batter. You put a layer of the batter into the tin, spread the raspberries over, then spread the rest of the mixture on top. It's mentioned in the recipe that it's better to use your fingers to spread the mixture on top of the fruit, and this is good advice, as it's impossible to spread with a spoon or spatula! It has a lovely almond flavour and the fresh raspberries give another texture and aren't sweet. It does feel and taste like a Bakewell tart. My friend loved it, and took a large piece...

This cake came about because I was in the right place at the right time, namely when they were reducing the fruit which was out of date that day. So I got several punnets of apricots for 50 pence each. The whole lot only came to 500 grams! I do miss being able to buy them in the market, as we did in France - the smell was so good! Anyway, you need 500g apricots, 50g flaked almonds, 3 eggs, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 180g each of plain flour, caster sugar and melted butter, pinch salt and 2 tspns baking powder, a little icing sugar for sprinkling Preheat oven 180C/gas4                 Sprinkle some icing sugar around the bottom of a tart tin. Cut the apricots in half and spread into the tin at the bottom and up the sides, cut side down. Put the almonds on top. In a bowl beat the eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla together using an electric mixer or hand beater till tripled in volume. Carefully fold in the flour with the baking powder added, th...

My daughter's favourite chocolate is white, so having recently made my son's favourite dessert, and as she was coming to stay for a week - a very rare occurrence - I decided to make her something using her favourite ingredient. I tried one of these crunchies at a coffee morning, and asked for the recipe. The only cooking involved is melting the chocolate, butter and crème fraîche. You need an 18cm square tin which you line with baking parchment. Break up 300g white chocolate and put in a bowl. Add 150g butter and 1 tbspn crème fraîche and melt together gently over a simmering pan of water. Crumble 100g Amaretti biscuits and chop up 100g candied fruit [I got mine in Waitrose]. When the mixture is melted, take the bowl and add the biscuits, fruit 25g dessicated coconut and 50g toasted flaked almonds. Mix it all together carefully. Spoon into the tin and leave to set in the fridge for 4 hours. Cut into 20 squares when set, using a knife dipped in hot water. It...

Flapjacks are one of my family's favourite things to eat and a Bakewell tart is another, so a combination of both is a marriage made in heaven! I've been having a good sort out of my baking files lately - you know the ones, with cut out bits from newspapers, magazines, recipe cards you've picked up in supermarkets, handwritten recipes on scrappy bits of paper ...... and I came across a recipe for these flapjacks. I've changed it a bit to suit our tastes. Preheat oven 180C/gas4                 Grease a medium baking tin Put 150g oats, 75g ground almonds, 45g plain flour and 45g caster sugar in a bowl and mix together. Add 150g melted butter, 3 tbspn golden syrup and 3 tbspn milk and mix well. Put half of the mixture into your tin and press it down; spoon over 2 tbspn raspberry jam and sprinkle over 15g flaked almonds. put the rest of the mixture on top and smooth over. Sprinkle a few more flaked almonds over the top. Bake for 10-15 mins ti...

I made these to take to a local coffee morning. Chocolate and spice go so well together. These freeze well, so you're never short of something sweet when the mood takes you! You need - 200g dark chocolate, 210g plain flour, 11/2 tspn ginger, 1/2 tspn mixed spice, 1 tspn cinnamon, 1 tbspn cocoa powder, 110g butter, 120g dark brown sugar, 4 tbspn golden syrup, 1 tspn bicarb, whole almonds to decorate Preheat oven 160C/gas3 Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper Chop the chocolate up, and in a bowl sift the spices and cocoa together with the flour. In another bowl beat the butter and sugar till fluffy, then add the golden syrup and beat again. Dissolve the bicarb in 11/2 tspn boiling water. Beat half o f the flour mixture into the butter one, beat in the bicarb then the rest of the flour mixture. Add the chocolate chunks and mix well. Roll into a sausage shape and cover in clingfilm. Chill for about 2 hours till firm. Cut slices off the roll and place on the ba...

  I recently picked up a book in a local charity shop about 'Food of the British Isles'.It's a compilation of recipes from restaurants and cooks. I was especially interested in the Cake Section, as I've been wanting to try some of the more unusual British cake and pudding recipes for some time. This one isn't very unusual, but thought I'd try it as it's called a Bakewell Pudding and not a Tart. In the book, the writer says says that a Pudding is made with puff pastry and the Tart with shortcrust. Is it that simple? I bet a lot of local people would disagree with this definition! The writer made her puff pastry from scratch, but I bought mine, butter of course! For the Pudding you need : 500g butter puff pastry, 3 tbspn raspberry jam, 150g butter, 150g caster sugar, 3 eggs plus a yolk, beaten, 150g ground almonds, zest of a lemon,2 tspn almond extract, 1 tbspn flaked almonds and some icing sugar to dust the top. Preheat oven 190C/gas5        ...

I thought I'd used up all my bits and pieces form the baking cupboard when I found a jar of Morella cherry jam lurking in the corner; it was a present from France from a friend. I wanted something simple so decided to make one of my favourite cakes - Mum's Bakewell Cake - it has the ingredients of a Bakewell tart, but no pastry and is a 2 layer cake. It's the all in one method, so quick and easy to make. Preheat oven 190C/gas5.             Grease and line the bases of 2 x 20cm sandwich tins. In a large bowl beat together 200g soft butter or margarine, 200g caster sugar, 100g ground almonds, 100g sr flour, 1 tspn baking powder, 1/2 tspn almond extract and 4 eggs. Divide the mixture between the 2 sandwich tins and bake for about 30 mins till golden. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 mins then turn out onto a wire rack till cold. Put one of the cakes onto a serving plate and spread with 340g Morello cherry jam. Put the second cake upside down on top, ...

You can never have too many apple cake recipes, and I needed to make something for friends coming for a cuppa and chat. My lovely German dil, whom I've mentioned several times on here, gave me this recipe. It's easy to make, but is an unusual cake. Preheat oven to 220C/gas8 .  Line the base of a 20cm springform tin and grease the sides. Cream 125g butter with 75g caster sugar and 1/2 tspn vanilla extract, then fold in 150g plain flour. It will be a bit of a crumbly mixture. Press this into the base of the tin and spread with3 tbspn of seedless raspberry or apricot jam. In another bowl beat together 225g cream cheese, 45g caster sugar, 1 egg and 1/2 tspn vanilla extract and pour this over the jam. Peel and slice 4 medium apples; I used Coxes, then toss the slices in 75g of caster sugar and 1 tspn of cinnamon till they're well coated and spread these evenly over the cheese mixture. Sprinkle with flaked almonds. Put the cake tin on a baking sheet in case a...

There are a lot of fresh figs around in the shops, so I decided to make a tart. Recently I bought a large bag of grounds almonds from a cash and carry, so decided to use them with the figs -  another gluten free recipe. I love fresh figs; they're so versatile. You can use them with savoury things like ham as a starter, or just sprinkle them with brown sugar and bake for a tasty dessert. My friend adds them to salads. The tart uses shortcrust pastry, baked blind. You can use your favourite recipe or buy it ready made. You need enough for a rectangular tart tin [with a loose base if possible] - 250g flour and 125g fat. Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease the tart tin and line it with the shortcrust pastry. Either prick the pastry or use baking beans, and bake blind for about 15 mins.  For the almond cream  - beat 60g soft butter with 60g caster sugar and 60g ground almonds; add 1 egg and beat into the mixture. Add 10cl of whipping cream and mix together well. if you want...

A Reine de Saba [or Queen of Sheba] cake was one of Julia Child's favourites. There are lots of recipes of her version on blogs and websites, but this version is my French neighbour's family recipe. It always appears for birthdays and special occasions, which is how I got to try it. Persuading them to give me their recipe involved some making of English cakes on my part! I don't know why it's named after the Queen of Sheba; one suggestion I found online said  ' it shares many of the Bible Queen's qualities - exotic, rich, irresistible and the stuff legends are made of'. Hmmm! If you want to try JC's version here's a link to her  Reine de Saba Cake . There's also a clip on You Tube of JC making this cake on her French Chef programme - here's the  You Tube Clip . What an annoying voice she has! It's a chocolate and almond cake, but a lot of the recipes online don't have any almonds! Preheat oven 180C/gas4                Grease...

There's a good crop of blackberries around this year, so I've managed to pick a few kilos. This is a bit of a red herring as I didn't actually use any of them in my cake!  I wanted to make a cake using some kind of blackberries, and found this one ages ago on an American baking blog which seems to have disappeared. Luckily I'd printed off the recipe - so thank you anyway to 'CakeyJo'. You don't use the blackberries whole, you make them into jam. In the original recipe you had to make this first, but I had a couple of jars of homemade blackberry jam I bought in a local fete, so I used those . I t's a cake with a difference in that it has a cakey -pastry base, a layer of jam, and finally another cakey-pastry layer. You need a 23cm springform cake tin lined with baking parchment Preheat oven 180C/gas4 In the bowl of a stand mixer beat together 180g butter and 225g caster sugar till white and fluffy. Using 2 large eggs, keep one white to egg wash at ...