COOKBOOKS GALORE

We don't like Christmas pudding, so I try a new Christmas dessert recipe every year. Last year it was sticky toffee pudd. and this year I wanted to do something lighter. The recipe said that this amount would serve 8, but it served 3 people who had seconds! I made it in advance and froze it. The recipe comes from this year's 'Woman's Weekly Christmas special'. 100g white chocolate broken up into pieces 250ml ready made vanilla custard 3 tbspns Baileys liqueur 142ml pot double cream 2 tbspns grated dark chocolate a few raspberries small loaf tin lined with cling film Melt the chocolate and stir in the custard. Leave to cool then stir in the Baileys. Whip the cream then add it to the mixture. Spoon it into the lined loaf tin and feeze overnight. When it's solid, cover and wrap and label it. Take it out and put it in the fridge 20 mins before you want to use it. Put onto a plate, sprinkle the top with grated dark chocolate and decorate with a few...

Hope you had a great Christmas. I shan't forget ours in a hurry, as I nearly burnt the house down! I put some part-baked rolls in the oven to bake, ready to eat with our starter in the evening. Then we went out Christmas morning to visit our son and family and I forgot they were still in the oven! Luckily we came back earlier than we'd intended, as I wanted to make sure that the duck would be cooked  ready for our early evening meal. When we opened the lounge door, smoke was seeping under the door from the kitchen, and the kitchen was full of smoke! I quickly turned off the oven, and we had to open doors and windows to get rid of the smoke! My nicely-heated house turned into an ice block! But it could have been an inferno! Here are the rolls - blocks of solid charcoal! Since then, I make sure everything is off before we go out!

                                          Wishing you a very Happy Christmas. Decided to start a new tradition and have muffins for breakfast on Christmas day. The idea is Nigella's, as is the recipe for Christmas morning muffins. You'll find the recipe on Nigella's site here  .

I made an apple pie yesterday and had some pastry left over. What should I do with it? Then I remembered a childhood favourite - Welsh cheese cakes. There's no cheese in them nowadays, but they're tasty and quick and easy to make. you need: a bun tin leftover shortcrust pastry 1 egg and it's weight in sugar, butter and flour 1/2tspn baking powder jam of choice - I used Mirabelle plum [home made] So, roll out the pastry and then cut out to fill the holes in a bun tin. Beat the butter and sugar together and then add the egg and fold in the flour and baking powder. Put a tspn of jam on the bottom of the pastry shell and then a heaped tspn of the cake mixture on top. I cooked them at gas6/200C for 15 mins, when they were golden.