COOKBOOKS GALORE

  One of my favourite French desserts is a Charlotte, and I had a tin of pears which needed using and a recipe from a French neighbour for making a chocolate and pear one. It doesn't need cooking, just chilling. I bought a Charlotte mould when living there, but you can use any deep cake tin. It's simple to make and delicious. Charlottes can also be made with bread. You need: a large packet of boudoir biscuits [sponge fingers] or make your own  200ml whipping cream a sachet of vanilla sugar [about 1 tbspn] large tin of pears in syrup 150g dark chocolate 4 egg yolks Open can of pears and pour syrup into a small bowl and slice the pears. Dip the boudoir biscuits into the syrup and line a Charlotte mould with them, keeping some back for the top. Using an electric hand beater, beat the cream and vanilla sugar together till it's thick. Melt the chocolate over a low heat. Turn the heat off and add the egg yolks, beating together till the mixture cools. Add the cream and mix togeth...

After watching GBBO last week, I thought I'd try my hand at making caramel. My first few attempts burnt or just didn't work, but finally I got the result I wanted. I didn't want a very dark caramel, just a sort of blonde colour. This is my friend's recipe, and it's not one that would win prizes for looks, but it tastes delicious.  So you need: 150g caster sugar and 3 tbspn water for the caramel, 75 g caster sugar, 100g flour, 2 tspn baking powder, 1kg pears, 3 eggs, 125g soft butter, 3 tbspn milk and 1 tspn vanilla extract Preheat oven 180C/gas 4                           grease and flour a 23cm cake tin For the caramel: put the 150g sugar in a pan and add the water. Leave till it's become a light blonde colour,* then pour into the cake tin and leave to cool. Beat the eggs with the 75g caster sugar till white and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder, butter and beat together, then add the milk and vanilla and sti...

 Feeling a bit down lately, with the freezing weather and not getting out, I thought I'd make one of my favourite cakes as a treat. I bought a bag of Conference pears on offer at the supermarket, and this is a great way to use them. The most famous fondant cake is the chocolate fondant, a cake with a lovely oozy chocolate centre. In this cake, the lovely centre is made of pears. For the cake you need:  100g caster sugar, 100 ml milk, pinch salt, 2 tspn baking powder, 150g plain flour, 2 eggs and 3 tbspn sunflower or vegetable oil, 4 medium pears, peeled, cored and thinly sliced For the topping you need: 80g butter, 3 tbspn caster sugar and 1 egg Preheat oven 180C/gas4                     grease a flour a 24cm tart tin Put the sugar, 2 eggs and salt in a bowl and whisk till light and fluffy. Gently fold in the flour and baking powder, then the milk and oil. Pour half of the mixture into the tart tin and then layer on the pe...

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...

My family love Brownies and I usually make this recipe  from Suelle's great blog 'Mainly Baking', but have a look there and you'll be spoilt for choice for Brownie recipes. I wanted to try something different and, as often happens, I had a couple of pieces of fruit in the bowl that needed using - this time pears. So I decided to make a brownie base, then a layer of chopped pears and finally a crumble topping. I didn't use Suelle's basic recipe this time, but one a friend gave me. For the brownie part  you need - 200g dark chocolate, 50g flour plus 1 tspn baking powder, 150g butter [melted], 3 eggs and 125g caster sugar  For the crumble - 75g flour, 80g caster sugar and 120g soft butter You also need 2 pears, peeled, cored and cut into cubes. Preheat oven 180C/gas4                 Grease a brownie tin - mine is about 25 x 20 cm [ or 10" x 8"] Brownies - melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave or over simmering wa...

Wanted a quick and easy dessert, so used 3 ripe pears from the fruit bowl and made an easy tart. Chocolate and pears are a marriage made in heaven for me, but if you haven't got a bar of chocolate, you could use Nutella spread over the pastry. You don't have to make the pastry - use a ready made butter puff. Preheat oven 220C/gas7                23cm tart tin In a bowl, mix together 100g soft butter, 100g ground almonds and 125g caster sugar. Mix together then add 2 beaten eggs and beat together. Roll out the puff pastry and line the tart tin. Prick with a fork. Peel, de-pip [is there such a word?] and cut 3 ripe Conference pears each into 4 pieces. Melt 100g chocolate [you can use cooking chocolate if you want] in the microwave or over simmering water, then pour over the pastry in the tin. Spoon in the batter then spread the pears on top. Bake for about 30 mins - keep an eye on the tart at the end so it doesn't burn! Nic...

One of my favourite fruits is a pear, and I love anything with almonds, so decided to put the two together and make a tart. The filling for the tart is an almond cream, a frangipane. I used a 23cm loose-bottomed tart tin and made a sweet shortcrust pastry case using 200g plain flour, 150g butter, 2 tbspn icing sugar and 2 - 21/2 tbspn water. Baked it blind at 200C for 5 mins then turned oven down to 170C and baked for further 10 mins. For the filling  85g butter at room temperature, 140 g caster sugar, 90g ground almonds, 2 tspns plain flour, 1 tspn cornflour, 1 large egg, 1 tspn vanilla extract. You also need 6 tinned pear halves or you could use fresh ones. If you do, you'd need to poach them first. Preheat oven 180C. To make the filling - put the butter and sugar in a bowl or a mixer [with whisk attachment] and cream till white. Add the ground almonds and mix togther. Add in the flours then the egg and gently mix together. Finally add in the vanilla extract and mix ...

I love baking with Autumn fruits, and I bought some pears before we went on holiday to try out this recipe, another one from my friend's American mil. I think the US has a much better range of ideas for baking with fruit than we do in the UK.   I love tea breads of any kind, so one with pears, especially salted caramel pears, was a 'must bake'.  It's a typical teabread mixture with added pears, and then a streusel topping. For the pears: In a large saucepan melt 30g butter and add 450g diced pears and mix together. Add 2 tbspn muscovado sugar, 1/2 tspn salt and 2 tbspn double cream. Stir together gently, then cook on a low heat till lightly golden. Watch the pan as the pears will be bitter if they burn. Take off the heat and cool. For the cake: Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease a 900g loaf tin well. In a bowl put 200g plain flour, 1 tspn bicarbonate of soda, 1 tspn baking powder, pinch salt, 1/2 tspn cinnamon, 1/4 tspn allspice, 1/4 tspn ground ginger...

My turn to host Book Group, so thought I'd make tartlets rather than a cake. Found a small tin of pears in the cupboard that needed using, hence the idea for these tartlets. I love any chocolate and pear combo, so this would be the base. So, a pastry shell filled with an almond cream, slices of pear, then a creamy chocolate topping. I used 2 pears from a tin of pears in juice, but you could use fresh pears which have been poached in a sugar syrup. I made a sweet sc pastry with 150g flour, 50g caster sugar, 75g butter, 1 egg yolk and 1-2tbsp water, but you could make the pastry without the sugar if you prefer. You don't need to be told how to make this pastry, but put it in the fridge for about an hour before you use it. Roll this out to about 2mm thick then cut out circles with a cutter to fit your tart tin. It makes 12; prick bases with a fork then put in the fridge. For the almond cream , in a bowl mix  together 50g ground almonds with 50g icing sugar, 40g soft butt...

This is my offering to the GBBO, as it's more complicated than I usually make! I'd offered to make a cake for a birthday we'd been invited to, and as my daughter was here to help me, decided to try something a bit more ambitious. It's not the official birthday cake, but just another contribution to the tea. The recipe comes from a leaflet I picked up many years ago in a supermarket, but it doesn't say much about the origins of the cake, just that it's from Denmark. It's unusual in that it has chopped pears in it, and uses gelatine to stiffen the cream mixture for the filling. It's a 'bit of an effort' cake to make too, so one for an occasion. Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease and line a 20cm springform tin. Whisk 4 egg yolks with the grated zest and juice of 1 lemon and 125g of icing sugar till pale and creamy. Whisk the 4 egg whites till stiff peaks.  Sieve 75g plain flour, 25g cornflour and 1/2 tspn baking powder together then fold i...