COOKBOOKS GALORE

I'm sure it's everyone's 'using up leftovers' time this week, and I'd bought some cranberries and not used them. We love muffins and just to make them a bit different, I added some crumble mix on the top. I saw a chef doing this on one of the food programmes. They called it 'streusel topping' and I don't know if it's different from the run-of-the-mill crumble topping? I used my usual muffin recipe and added the cranberries and some mixed spice. This is my tried and tested muffin recipe, gathered from a friend in the US. I'm not sure why, but I seem to make a different number of muffins each time I use the recipe! Today I made 11. 225g plain flour 100g caster sugar] 2 tspns baking powder 1 heaped tspn mixed spice 1/2 tspn salt 1 egg 250ml milk 120ml sunflower oil [ I usually use rapeseed, but only had sunflower left ] Preheat oven 200C/400F/gas6 Either grease a muffin tin or put paper cases into the holes. Mix the dry ingre...

I haven't been well, so not posted on here for a while, but I have been baking. My dil is German and gave me the recipes for her Christmas biscuits and I made a selection of them. This is the recipe for the melt-in-the-mouth vanilla crescents which are on the top layer of the cake stand. Preheat oven 175C and grease 2 baking sheets. 200g flour 80g caster sugar 175g butter 2 egg yolks 100g ground almonds 1 tspn vanilla essence 6 tbspn vanilla sugar Mix the flour, sugar, butter and egg yolks together then add the ground almonds and the vanilla esence. Bring the mixture together with your hands and cut in into 4. Roll out each quarter and put in the fridge for 1/2 and hour. Cut the dough into small strips then loop each strip into a crescent. Bake for 10 mins till light brown then roll in the vanilla sugar. Cool on a wire rack. Christmas stars Preheat oven 100C then 75C. Grease a baking tray lined with parchment paper. 3 egg whites 250...

We are great mince pie fans, so I'm always on the lookout for a different version. Found this recipe in a Christmas pull-out from 'Prima' magagazine [from the 80s I think!] . It uses ground almonds in the pastry and it's made in a similar way to one of my favourite small cakes,Welsh cheese cake; by this I mean that you have the pastry shell, then a layer of mincemeat, then the lemon cake layer. In the Welsh cheese cake you'd have the pastry, then jam,  then cake. This recipe makes 36 pies, but thought this was too many for us,so I halved the recipe, taking the measures to the nearest gram. This is the full recipe. The pastry: 275g plain flour 75g icing sugar 1 tspn cinnamon 175g butter 50g ground almonds 1 egg yolk 45ml milk 450g jar mincemeat For the cake filling: 115g butter or margarine 115g caster sugar 175g sr flour 2 large eggs grated rind of a lemon Icing: 115g icing sugar 15ml lemon juice Preheat oven 190C/375F/gas 5 M...

I have a friend coming to stay for a few days and have been baking in preparation for her visit. I've made a spice cake, some muffins and wanted something else a bit different to have with a cup of tea. I decided that a savoury teabread would be unusual, and found this recipe in an old cookery book called 'Cakes, breads and gateaux'. 350g sr flour 1/2tspn salt pinch cayenne pepper 1 level tspn dry mustard 75g butter or margarine 90g mature Cheddar, grated finely [keep 15g for the topping] 75g raisins 65g chopped walnuts [keep 15g for the topping] 1 beaten egg 250ml milk Preheat oven 180C/350F.gas4 Grease and line a large loaf tin - 200g. Sieve the flour, salt, cayenne and mustard together into a bowl, then add the fat and rub it in. Stir in 75g of the grated cheese, raisins and 50g of the walnuts. Mix the egg into the milk then add it to the mixture and beat well. Put into the tin and level the top. Mix the rest of the walnuts and cheese together and spr...

I've been tagged by Suelle of Mainly Baking  to join in 'Food Bloggers Unplugged'. This was the idea of Susan at A little bit of heaven on a plate  to get to know something about other food bloggers. Here goes: 1. What, or who inspired you to start a blog ? I was living in France, a bit homesick, and started my blog for my family and friends to read about some of the things I was cooking and baking. It made me feel closer to them. 2. Who is your foodie inspiration? My inspiration was my mother; she was a superb cook and her speciality was baking. I helped her from a small child, filling tarts, rolling pastry, weighing ingredients. I especially remember my birthday parties, as my friends always talked about the great bakes Mum made - chocolate eclairs, iced slices, fondant cakes etc. 3. Your greasiest batter-splattered food/drink book is? It's Marguerite Patten's 'Every Day Cookbook'. I was given this as a present [together with her 'Book ...

One of out favourite desserts is a crumble, so thought I'd try out this recipe as it's a crumble pie. 175g oats 150g plain flour 125g brown sugar 1/2tspn bicarbonate of soda 175g butter or margarine, melted 2 large cooking apples, peeles, cored and sliced 75g dried cranberries 1 tspn cinnamon 1 tbspn lemon juice Preheat oven 190C/375F/gas5 Grease a 20cm springform cake tin or metal pie dish. Mix together the oats, flour, sugar and bicarb. in a bowl then stir in the melted fat. Mix together well. Press 2/3 of this mix into the bottom and sides of the tin or dish. Mix the rest of the ingredients together - the apples, cranberries lemon juice and cinnamon. Spoon this into the crumble base keeping away from the sides of the tin or dish. Starting at the edge and working into the middle, cover with the rest of the crumble. Then firm around the edges to seal the top to the sides. Bake for 30 mins till golden. What a great idea this is! I love a crumble topp...

My favourite spice is cinnamon, so when I found this recipe I had to try it. It comes from a very old copy of 'Home and Freezer Digest' magazine, which is sadly no more. 250g caster sugar + 2 tbspns 1tbspn + 21/2 tspns cinnamon 11/2 tspns instant coffee 175g plain flour 2 tspns baking powder 175ml milk 2 large eggs 1/2 tspn vanilla extract 140g butter, melted Bag chocolate chips Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas4 Grease and line a 20cm square tin. Put the 2 tbspns of sugar, the 21/2 tspns cinnamon  and the coffee in a bowl and mix together. In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, caster sugar and the cinnamon. In a third bowl beat together the milk, eggs and vanilla. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and beat them together.Fold in the cooled, melted butter. Put half of the batter into the tin, smooth then sprinkle over the chocolate chips and the cinnamon sugar. Put the rest of the batter on top. Bake for about 35 mins...

100g soft margarine or softened butter 50g caster sugar 2 tbspns thick honey 225g sr flour 1 tspn baking powder 100g sultanas [or currants or raisins] 1 tspn cinnamon 150ml milk Preheat oven 160C/325F/gas3 Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin. Beat all the ingredients together in a bowl then put the mixture into the cake tin. Bake for 50 mins to an hour. Leave in the tin for about 20 mins then turn onto a wire rack. A nice simple cake which has a good flavour. You can really taste the honey. It's quite a moist cake, but as it's not rich, it needs to be eaten in a couple of days. That's not a problem in this house! I'd use more cinnamon next time and try a flavoured honey.

I haven't made a teabread for a while, so as I had a butternut squash to use up, I hunted for a recipe in my folders and found this one from 'Good Food' magazine; it's also online and the recipe is here  . The recipe is for pumpkin or butternut squash. I liked the moist texture of the teabread and the flavour of the squash. It's delicious buttered - the slice in the corner of the photo is for my husband who loves butter!

I have some apples to use up, so decided to hunt through my collection of apple recipes to find something different. This recipe is from a booklet I had many years ago in a magazine called 'Home and freezer Digest' which sadly no longer exists. I thought I'd also use this as my offering to Ruth's [of 'Pink Whisk'] October challenge -  to use apples in a recipe - which you'll find here Pastry: 75g butter 175g plain flour 25g ground almonds 1 egg yolk 15ml cold water 1/4 tspn almond essence Topping: 115g plain flour 1/2 tspn mixed spice 50g butter in cubes 50g light demerara sugar 50g flaked almonds Filling: 675g cooking apples 25g sultanas Preheat oven 190C/375F/gas5 I used a food processor to blend the flour and butter for the pastry, then stirred in the sugar and ground almonds. Whisk the egg yolk, water and almond essence together, then add them to the mixture and make into a nice soft dough. Put into the...

An easy, quick recipe to take over to my grandsons. It makes 16 fingers. Grease and line an 18cm square tin Melt 60g butter, 1 tspn cinnamon, 3 tbspn golden syrup and 200g dark chocolate in a large saucepan.  Then add 250g crushed biscuits - Nice, malted milk, digestive etc. I used just Nice biscuits and crushed them so some were left in pieces.  Mix it all together and spread into the tin.  Leave to cool then put into fridge to chill. Cut into fingers. The boys loved them, but we found them too sweet even tho' I'd used dark chocolate.

We had some of the family yesterday, and as my dil is a chocoholic, I thought I'd make these. The recipe has been adapted from a French cookery book that my penfriend gave me years ago, but which has languished at the back of the shelf ! The book has some other great tarts to try, so will be posting more recipes. It's called simply 'Les tartes' but I can't find an author. The recipe makes 8 tartlets. 250g  shortcrust pastry [your own or bought] 175g dark chocolate, broken into pieces 2-3 tbspn water 1 tbspn butter - softened 1 tbspn cognac or cointreau [opt!] 3 eggs, separated chocolate shavings or grated chocolate to decorate Preheat oven 200C/gas6 Roll out the pastry and line eight 10cm tartlet moulds. Then put them in the fridge for about 15 mins.  Line them with parchment and fill with beans and bake them 15mins; take out the beans and paper and cook them for another 5 mins; leave to cool. Melt the chocolate over a bowl of hot water or in ...

As I mentioned is a previous post, my grandson has decided he'd like to bake, so I was looking through some old chiIdren's cookery books and found this recipe . I think it's a strange way to make a cake, but decided to try it anyway. It make 12 squares. For the bottom of the squares: 175g butter 75g icing sugar 225g plain flour Topping: 75g butter 2 tbspns golden syrup [or maple syrup] 2 tbspns milk 1 tspn vanilla essence 50g soft brown sugar 2 eggs 100g pecan nuts Grease and line a tin 18x27 cm. Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas4 To make the base : Put the butter into a bowl, add the sugar and beat till fluffy. Fold in the flour. Bring the mixture into a ball. Flour the worktop and knead the ball a few times to make it smooth. Then press the dough into the tin - using the back of a spoon helps. Bake this for about 15 mins till it's golden. Let the base cool. Put the butter in a pan and melt over a low heat, then stir in the sugar, syrup and vanilla e...

I'm a great fan of apple cakes and have posted several recipes on here. This one sounded good, especially as I had some raisins to use up, and a few apples getting soft in the fruit bowl. It comes from my collection of magazine recipes, which one day I WILL organise! The recipe added peel [which I dislike] and the grated rind of an orange, but I didn't add these as I wanted the spices to come through. I used more spice than the recipe stated as I love them! A nice, easy cake which we ate warm, as a pudding, last night, with some creme fraiche. The cooking smell was MMMMMMMM! 75g butter or margarine 175g soft brown sugar 110g plain flour 110g wholemeal flour 2 tspns baking powder 1 tspn mixed spice 1 tspn cinnamon 2 eggs 3 or 4 apples - cooking or eating - about 550g 120g raisins milk Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas4 In a bowl, mix together the flours, spices and baking powder. Peel, core and chop the apples into little cu...

This was going to be my offering to the 1st birthday challenge, but in my hurry to bake something, I left out the chocolate! Having arrived back from our French holiday last night, I went over to see my grandsons this morning. Tom, who's 10, and I have started baking together, and I'd promised we could make something. We hunted through his children's baking book and found these. He loves ginger and bananas so they seemed perfect. Here's the recipe. 125g butter 150g golden syrup 100g light muscovado sugar 2 bananas 2 eggs 2 tbspns milk 250g sr flour 2 tspns ground ginger 1/2 tspn bicarb. of soda Topping 200g icing sugar 5-6 tspns water hundreds and thousands/sugar strands [or anything else you fancy] to sprinkle on top Grease and line a 18x28cm roasting tin. Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas4 Put the butter, syrup and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently till melted. Take off the heat. Peel and mash the bananas with a fork. Beat the eggs and mi...

We're off to France for 3 weeks, so no posts for a while. After crossing via the Tunnel, we're heading down to near Tours, where we've booked a lovely chambre d'hote for the night. http://www.closdessources.com/Welcome.html                                      Then we're off down to the Pyrenees, to stay with friends in their pretty village. We're going  into Spain for a few days with them. Then we head back up north west to where we used to live. Again we'll stay with friends, and also visit our former neighbours and more friends. This is the river at the bottom of our friends' garden, and they're in their punt, the local 'barque'. Then we head back up to the Tunnel, staying in another chambre d'hote en route http://www.normandie-chambres.co.uk/ then home!

Is it just me, or do bananas ripen more quickly nowadays? I always seen to have a few overripe ones in the fruit bowl. Then, what do do with them? Have made banana muffins before, but not with oats and walnuts. They're not as 'cakey' tasting as my normal muffin recipe,but are substantial and great with a cuppa! They'd be good for breakfast too. The recipes makes 12 muffins . 100g oats 200g plain flour 11/2 tspn baking powder cinnamon to taste [opt] 1 tson bicarb. of soda little salt 100g light brown sugar 4 ripe bananas 1 large beaten egg 60g melted butter or oil [I used rapeseed] 75g chopped walnuts Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease a 12 hole muffin tin, or line with paper cases. Put the flour, oats, baking powder, bicarb., salt and sugar in a bowl and mix together. I then mixed in a tbspn of cinnamon as I love it! Mash up the bananas in another bowl and add the egg, butter or oil and the walnuts. Mix this together and add to the dry ingredients. Mix together gently - do...

These biscuits are a French recipe given to me by my neighbour when we lived there. Not sure why they're called 'English' biscuits! My grandsons are coming today and they love these. My neighbour always uses half plain flour and half potato flour, but as I couldn't find any potato flour, I used all plain flour. Also the recipe uses some cooking chocolate as well as some with praline in it. I used good milk chocolate instead of the cooking chocolate. They seem to have a better selection of good cooking chocolate in France.  The recipe makes about 30 biscuits 4 eggs, separated pinch of salt 100g caster sugar 1 lemon 75g potato flour 75g plain flour 100g cooking chocolate 100g chocolate with praline  Preheat oven 200C/gas 6/400F Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl with the salt and sugar till they whiten. Wash the lemon, grate its zest, then juice it. Add the juice and zest to the egg yolks. Beat the egg whites till firm and ...

I've been reading a book about Eastern Europe and have become interested in itscooking, especially cakes. This cake is made without flour, and the only hard work is whizzing the poppyseeds in a food processor or grinder, or even grinding them in a pestle and mortar. 4 eggs separated 125g butter, softened grated rind of a lemon 100g icing sugar 2 tbspns cocoa powder 50g caster sugar 160g ground poppy seeds  icing sugar for the top of the cake Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease a 24cm round cake tin. Beat the butter, egg yolks, lemon rind and icing sugar with an electric beater or stand mixer till thick and smooth. Fold in the cocoa and mix together. Beat the egg whites till frothy, then sprinkle in the caster sugar and carry on beating till the whites are thick and shiny. Mix the ground poppyseeds into the eggyolk mixture, then add the egg whites mixture and mix together very gently. Spoon mixture into the tin. Bake for about 55 mins. Let the cake cool in t...

I haven't made flapjacks for ages. Each time, I change my original recipe and add new things; today it's cranberries and sunflower seeds. 125 gr butter 75g caster sugar 1 tbspn golden syrup 300g rolled oats 50g sunflower seeds 75g chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate 50g dried cranberries Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas4 Grease a 20cm square cake tin. Put the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan and melt over a low heat. Mix well. Take off the heat and add the oats and sunflower seeds. Stir until well mixed, then add the chocolate chips and cranberries. Spoon into the cake tin and press it down well with the back of a spoon. Bake for 25 mins. Let it cool in the tin for a bit, then mark into 12 squares.

Need to finish up the bag of pecans I bought from Julian Graves, so found this recipe on an Aussie blog. I've changed it a bit. It's supposed to originate in Israel. 2 eggs 180ml honey + 2 tbspns for brushing the cake 150ml buttermilk 1 tspn vanilla essence 3 bananas - mashed 300g sr flour 1 tspn baking powder 100g light brown sugar 2 tbspns cocoa 1 tspn cinnamon 1 tspn allspice 125g butter - softened 150g dates - stoned and chopped 125g pecans - chopped Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas 4 Grease and base line a 22cm springform cake tin. Mix the eggs, the 180ml honey, buttermilk and vanilla essence together till smooth, then add the bananas. Keep back 2 tbspns flour, then put the rest in a bowl with the baking powder, sugar and spices and mix well. Add the egg mixture to the flour, and using a hand beater, mix gently, then add the butter and beat till smooth. Mix the other 2 tbspns of flour with the dates and pecans and fold these into the mixture. Spoon i...

As part of our 'trying to lose weight', I thought I'd make a healthier cake! Sounds logical to me! At the end, I decided to ice it with orange flavoured glace icing - not so healthy! The original recipe is from an old copy of 'Woman's Weekly' magazine, but I've adapted it several times, so I think of it as my recipe now! 3 medium carrots 85g raisins 85g honey 1 tspn vanilla essence 3 eggs 125ml rapeseed oil [or any vegetable oil] 125g sr flour 125g wholemeal sr flour 1 tspn baking powder 1 heaped tspn cinnamon - if you like it, as I do! 25g soft brown sugar 2-3 tbspn milk heat oven to 170C/325F/gas4 Grease and base line a 20cm springform cake tin. Grate the carrots - not too finely. Put the eggs, honey, vanilla and oil in a bowl and beat together. Then put the flours, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar in another bowl and mix them together. Add the flour mixture to the egg one and mix it all together well. Stir in the carrots and raisin...

This cake is a family favourite which I rarely bake these days. Younger daughter is coming for the w/e, so thought I'd make it 55g ground almonds 170g natural yoghurt 200g caster sugar 125g melted butter 1 tspn vanilla extract 2 eggs 185g semolina 1 tspn baking powder 2 tbspn pistachios, roughly chopped lemon syrup : 170g caster sugar 1 tspn lemon zest 1 tbspn lemon juice Preheat oven 180C/360F/gas 4 Grease a 23cm square cake tin. Line the bottom with parchment paper. In a bowl, beat the yoghurt, sugar, vanilla extract and eggs together. Mix the baking powder and semolina together, then add to the yoghurt . Spread the ground almonds out in a little frying pan and stir them around for about 3 mins or so on a medium heat till they've become lightly browned. Add the almonds and pistachios to the cake mixture and mix well. Spread it in the tin and bake for 35 mins. Test to see that the cake is cooked. While it's baking, make the syrup by putting the ...

This recipe is supposed to have Romanian origins. I've tweaked it a bit, substituting hazelnuts for the original walnuts, and making it a coffee cake, as I love the combination of hazelnuts and coffee. It's the filling that makes this different from the usual Victoria sandwich. 175g butter 175g caster sugar 175g sr flour 1 tspn vanilla essence 3 eggs 2 tbspns coffee essence [I used Camp] or you could use instant coffee dissolved in hot water Filling : 100g ground hazelnuts 1 tbspn milk 1 tbspn rum 25g sugar icing sugar for the top Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas 4 Grease and line 2 x 20cm sandwich tins Cream together the butter and sugar, add the eggs and vanilla essence and fold in the flour. Divide the mixture between the 2 tins. Bake for 20-25 mins till golden. Leave to cool in the tins for about 5 mins then put the cakes onto a wire rack. Filling - you can grind whole hazelnuts finely in a coffee grinder or, as I did, buy them ready ground...

Another chance to use my Wilton traybake tin! My dil asked me to make something for her friends to have with a cuppa. I fancied making something decadent, ok then, calorific, and adapted this recipe from an Aussie woman's magazine. Had also bought a jar of local honey from a lovely local garden centre, which has a shop selling all kinds of goodies.  Makes about 20 slices, depending on how big you cut them! Base : 200g butter, diced 310g plain flour 115g caster sugar 2 egg yolks Topping: 2 x 400g tins condensed milk 100g butter, diced 115g honey preheat oven 180C/350F/gas4 Lightly grease a baking tin 28x18 cm and line with baking parchment. For the base : Put everything into a food processor except for the egg yolks and blitz till like breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks and about 2 tbspns cold water and blitz again to make a pastry ball. Cut the pastry in half and roll out one half to fit in the base of the tin. Bake it for 12-15 mins till golden and ...

My Mum used to make these for my children when they were little. Found the recipe the other day, so thought I'd make some for the biscuit tin. She used to make 15 biscuits out of the mixture, I only made 12! 125g sr flour 125g butter [softened] 125g caster sugar 1 tbspn cocoa 90g oats 2 tbspns coffee essence [like Camp] Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas 4 Put the flour, cocoa and sugar in a bowl, then rub in the butter. Add the oats and the coffee essence and mix it all together into a ball. Make small balls of the dough and put them on a greased baking tray. I use a silicone sheet. Flatten the balls a bit then bake them for 15 mins. Sometimes Mum used to roll them in extra oats, but I prefer them like this.

I first made this when we lived in France. It's a meringue mixture with an unusual combination of ingredients. 8 egg whites 200g caster sugar 250g white chocolate, chopped up 190g chopped almonds [skinned] 200g dried cranberries 40g sr flour a little flour and fat for the cake tin Preheat the oven 180C/350F/gas4 Lightly grease a 24cm cake tin and line the bottom with baking parchment. Flour this and shake out excess. Beat the egg whites into stiff peaks and gradually add the sugar. Keep beating till it's firm and shiny. Put the chocolate, almonds and cranberries in a bowl and mix in the flour. Add the egg whites to the chocolate mixture in two lots. Spoon into the tin and bake in the oven for an hour. Half way through, if the top is getting too brown, cover it with some foil. Turn the oven off, but leave the torte inside until it's completely cold.

Baking blogs should come with a health warning  - 'Blogging is bad for your weight'!! To use up 3 bananas that were over-ripe [they seem to ripen so quickly nowadays] I thought I'd make a cake, not a loaf this time. Then I fancied a crunchy top, so I adapted several recipes into this one. 3 ripe bananas, mashed 2 eggs 175g light brown sugar [the original recipe I used as a base had 350g sugar, which I thought was far too much] 120ml oil [I used rapeseed] 1 tspn vanilla extract 50g chopped nuts - whatever you have; I used walnuts 225g plain flour 2 tspn bicarbonate of soda 1 tspn salt Topping: 2 tbspns of sugar, flour and nuts, then rub in 1 tbspn butter. Don't rub into fine crumbs, leave chunky. This doesn't make a lot of topping, so next time I'll make double this amount. Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas4 Grease a 23 cm springform tin, and line the bottom with baking paper. Beat together the bananas, eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla. Then add the ...

Yesterday I made some creme anglaise to have with our rhubarb crumble. There was a little left over, so this recipe was just perfect. It makes 12 muffins 90g melted butter 300g sr flour 150g plain flour 1 tspn cinnamon [ I love it so used 2 tspns] 165g caster sugar 1 egg, beaten 250ml milk 60ml creme anglaise 150g cooked apples [I used cox and chopped them up before cooking] 2 tbspn demerara sugar preheat oven 200C/gas 6/400F Grease a 12-holed muffin tin or use 12 muffin cases. Mix together the butter, flours, 1/2 the cinnamon, caster sugar, egg and milk till just mixed. Fill the cases or holes half full of the batter, then make a deepish dent in the middle and add 1 tspn creme anglaise and 2 tspns apple. Add more batter on top. Mix the brown sugar with the rest of the cinnamon and sprinkle on top of the muffins. Cook for about 25 mins till golden. Leave the muffins to rest in the tin, and then put onto a wire rack. I like the texture of the muffins with th...

I've invited an old school friend for tea tomorrow, so wanted to make something nice for her. Found this recipe in one of my Mum's old cookery books, and as I had my dil here this afternoon, and she's doing a cake decorating class, they seemed just the thing. I've changed the ozs into grams. and it worked fine. Makes 12 little tarts 212 g packet shortcrust pastry [I used Just Rol} 50g butter 50g caster sugar 1 large egg 59g ground almonds drop of almond essence [not the almond flavouring] 1 rounded tbspn sr flour grated rind of 1/2 lemon 1 tspn lemon juice [I put in a bit more as I wanted them to be lemony] icing: 150g icing sugar drop lemon food colouring lemon juice Preheat oven 190C/375F/gas5 Roll out the pastry on a floured surface,and then cut out 12 rounds with a cutter to fit a bun tin. Cream the butter and sugar then beat in the egg and ground almonds. Stir in the almond essence, flour, lemon rind and juice. Divide this evenly between the...

Am off today to look after one of our grandsons, so decided to leave something in the cake tin for himself. Madeleines seemed a good choice, as I brought several tins back from France, and they've remained unused. The recipe makes 20 madeleines. 150g dark chocolate 70g butter 5 eggs, yolks and whites separated 125g caster sugar 4 tbspns honey 150g plain flour Preheat oven 190C/375F/gas5 Melt the chocolate and butter and leave to cool. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar till they're pale and thick. Then add the chocolate mixture, the flour and the honey, beating quickly between each one. Beat the egg whites, but not too thickly, then add these to the mixture, folding in. Put the mixture in the fridge for at least an hour. Grease the tins well, as madeleines stick! Put a heaped teaspoon of mixture into each hole. Bake for 8-10 mins. Let them cool for a bit in the tin, before putting them on a wire rack.

Thought I'd have a change from baking and post a few photos of our new garden. It's a pocket handkerchief size, so haven't much room. The first thing we did was to buy a good aluminium lean-to greenhouse, so we could grow some veg. We're growing tomatoes and French beans in bags. The beans are doing well - have lots of flowers. We bought 4 different tomato plants, and the cherry ones seem to be ahead atm. I grew some 'Little Gem' lettuces from seed and have planted a few in between the tomatoes. We brought some of our plants in pots back from France with us. This rose is lovely - it has a strong perfume. Have lost its label so can't remember its name! It was given to us, in a large pot, by our neighbours. They all arrived smiling, with one pushing a wheel barrow containing the rose and several boxes of wine bottles! What lovely people, and we miss them. This shrub was growing in the garden and I've trying to find out what it is. Now that it...