COOKBOOKS GALORE

I love traybakes, so I've treated myself to a new tin - the Wilton 'Biscuit/Brownie' pan [28x18cm]. Now I'm fired up to try it out! I bought some hazelnuts in Waitrose recently, so thought I'd make something using them. This recipe is adapted from one that was in a magazine some time ago. I like the idea of a crumble base and then the cake mixture on top of it. 300g plain flour 175g butter cut into pieces 350g demerara sugar 200ml creme fraiche 2 eggs 3 tspns baking powder [level] 150g hazelnuts chopped in half preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease and line the tin with baking parchment. Sift flour into a bowl and rub in the butter. Stir in the sugar. Sprinkle 350g of this mixture into the tin and press it down. Beat the eggs and creme fraiche together and stir in the rest of the crumble mixture and baking powder. Pour this over the crumble mixture. Arrange the hazelnuts on top, pressing gently. Bake in middle of the oven for about 45 mins. I found that the n...

When I was in town yesterday, I found a Bank Holiday bric a brac market. I love browsing in case I find old cookery books. To my delight, there was a stall selling nothing but cookery books. Heaven! I bought 'The National Trust Book of tea-time recipes' [1991], an old red 'Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book', 'Good Housekeeping's Picture Recipe Book [1954] and 'The Baking Book' [1996] by Linda Collister and Anthony Blake. I like Linda Collister's recipes - she wrote the book that went with last year's 'Great British Bake Off'. I decided today that I want to make some more British cakes, so decided on a 'Kentish Hop Pickers' Cake' from the National Trust book. I lived in Kent for many years and visited hop farms. This is a lovely photo from an old calendar I had many years ago. I've adapted the recipe to suit our likes in spices and dried fruit. 275g sr flour 1 tspn ginger 1 tspn cinnamon 175g soft margarine or butter...