COOKBOOKS GALORE

Christmas Baking 5 I didn't get time before Christmas to post this biscuit recipe. It's yet another variation on the basic cookie recipe I posted a while ago. I made up a hamper for my aunt and wanted to make her some special biscuits. There was a box of Matchmaker chocolates and a bar of white chocolate hanging round, good Christmas flavours, so how could I use these? I came up with the idea of a double cookie - 2 cookies with the Matchmakers chopped up in them, sandwiched together with a white chocolate ganache. A real Christmas treat for my aunt. I thought they'd be fiddly to make, but they weren't. I made 15 double cookies from this recipe - 30 cookies Basic recipe: 225g butter [soft] 240g caster sugar 1 egg yolk [beaten] 2 tspn vanilla essence280g plain flour pinch salt Extras: 100g Matchmakers [or any mint chocolate sticks] chopped up finely icing sugar Filling: 2 tbspn double cream 100g white chocolate, broken up Preheat oven 190C/gas5 Line...

                                   Merry Christmas and a very Happy and Healthy New Year.

This is a cake I was asked to make by a friend . I'm not a coconut lover, nor do I like pineapple, so not really my kind of cake. Anyway, I learned something by making it - how not to burn deccicated coconut when toasting it! Pineapple jam was new to me, but my OH loved it. This is the recipe I was given, tweaked a little bit, as I didn't add any coconut flavouring as suggested. Enough is enough! 225g butter, softened 225g vanilla/caster sugar 4 medium eggs 225g self raising flour splash of milk 50g desiccated coconut, toasted * 5 tbsp pineapple jam - or more if you're feeling generous *Sprinkle the coconut on a baking tray, pop in the preheated oven for 4-6 mins until toasted to a nice brown colour, and the smell is wonderful [of coconut!]. Keep and eye on it as it burns easily - as I found out! Malibu Buttercream 400g icing sugar 250g unsalted butter 4 tbsp Malibu, simmered in a small pan until reduced to 2 tbsp Preheat the oven to 180C/gas4....

Most of the supermarkets seem to have nuts on offer at the moment, so I've stocked up and now need to use some of them. I love pecan pie, but it can be very sweet and rich. These tarts are little versions, but still give you that lovely pecan fix. The recipe comes from a magazine supplement on 'Nuts', from Woman's Weekly, I think. As it's Thanksgiving Day today, pecans seem appropriate. Recipe makes 18 tartlets, so you need 2 x 12 bun tins. I love this pastry as it uses ground almonds as well as flour, which gives it a soft texture. You need: Pastry: 150g plain flour 25g caster sugar [golden's best] 50g ground almonds 85g butter, cubed 1 medium beaten egg 2 tspns lemon juice Filling: 70g melted butter 50g light muscovado sugar 2 medium beaten eggs 2 tbspns golden syrup juice of 1/2 lemon 100g pecan nuts, chopped but not finely The pastry is easy to make as you put the flour, sugar, almonds and butter into a food processor and whizz it ...

I love apple cakes and am always very happy to find a new recipe. It's a very country looking cake with little chunks of apple and dried fruit. Nothing refined about it, but the taste is good. I love spices and this one has cinnamon and mixed spice. It's made using the rubbing in method, and I found it difficult to get all the ingredients together. I didn't think I'd mixed it properly, but it came out fine. There's a lot of mixture for 1 egg! 400g apple chopped into dice 125g mixed fruit 125g brown sugar 125g butter 1 large egg 1 tspn cinnamon and 1 tspn mixed spice Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease and line a 20cm springform tin. Rub together the butter and flour till it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the egg, sugar and spices and mix together. Then add the apple and mixed fruit. Bake for about 35 mins till the middle feels firm when you touch it. I didn't have any mixed fruit so used raisins. You can see that the apple stayed in little ch...

As I said in a recent post, plums are one of my favourite fruit. I love making crumbles and tarts with them, but wanted to find something different to try. This recipe is from a Woman's Weekly magazine; it's one of the hundreds of recipes I have to sort out in my cuttings folder! I bought a punnet of plums from the supermarket which were marked as seconds, and they were really hard. Anyway I thought I'd use them in my new recipe, and they turned out soft and juicy. 250g plain flour 170g chopped up butter 1 egg yolk I used my processor to make the pastry, putting in the flour, butter and egg yolk and adding a tbspn of water and blitzing till the pastry started to come together. Roll out and line the flan tin and chill for 30 mins. it's a very short pastry and breaks easily, but is easily patched up. Filling: 1 tspn cinnamon 2 tbspns soft brown sugar 750g plums, stoned and quartered Topping: 1 egg + a yolk 125g creme fraiche 45g soft brown sugar ...

These were mentioned recently on the GBBO, so I thought I'd find out more about them. They're made on the Isle of Anglesey and are a traditional biscuit really, not a cake. They're served sprinkled with sugar and even with cream and jam, like a scone. The bit I liked was that a scallop shell is pressed into the top to give it a shell-like pattern. Nowadays, a lot of the Aberffraw cakes have the pattern put on with a knife. I have a bag of scallop shells, brought back from France so I used a genuine one to make my pattern. The recipe is a 3.2.1  - quite common for biscuits. This means 3 parts flour to 2 parts fat to 1 part sugar. 175g flour 110g butter 55g caster sugar a little milk more caster sugar for sprinkling over Preheat oven 190C/gas5. Grease a baking sheet. I used a processor to make my dough. Put flour and sugar in a bowl and rub in the butter. Bind together with a litle milk to make a soft dough. Roll out and cut out circles. I used a 7cm cutter an...

I love citrus cakes so had to try this one; the recipe was given to me by a church friend whose son is married to a Swedish girl. This is Anneke's family recipe, and she calls it a teabread and serves it as a dessert with some fruit salad. It's lovely as a cake with your afternoon cuppa.  Another easy cake for my repertoire. 150g butter 120g caster sugar 3 eggs greated zest of a lemon 60ml fresh orange juice orange essence [opt] 250g plain flour with 2 tspn baking powder added breadcrumbs to coat the tin topping: 80g icing sugar orange juice - 1-2 tbspn Preheat oven 175C/gas4 Grease a 900g loaf tin and sprinkle with breadcrumbs Beat butter and sugar together till fluffy. Whisk the eggs in one at a time then mix in the rind, juice and flour. Blend together. Pour into the tin and bake for about an hour. Remove from the tin and leave to cool under the upturned tin! Mix the icing sugar with enough juice to make it the consistency you want; make su...

This addition to my teabread recipe collection comes from a book I bought in a charity shop called 'The complete book of baking'. It really is a very quick bread to make, and is very moist. Another recipe with oil instead of butter must be good! 175g plain flour 11/2 tspn baking powder 1/2tspn grated nutmeg 6-g rolled oats 250g light brown sugar 60g dried cranberries 60g dried apricots 2 eggs 120ml sunflower oil 1 tspn vanilla essence 2 ripe bananas, mashed Preheat oven 180C/gas 4 Grease a 900g loaf tin Put flour, baking powder and nutmeg in a bowl and add the oats, sugar and dried fruit. Mix together till blended. make a well in the middle. In another bowl beat the bananas, eggs, oil and vanilla essence together with an electric mixer. Add this to the flour mixture and combine together. Pour into the tin and bake for 45mins- an hour till well risen and golden. Cool on a wire rack. Dust the top with icing sugar if you want. I served this to friends w...

I love apple cakes, and this is a recipe from my lovely German dil. It's an unusual apple cake as it has 3 layers. It's not the prettiest of cakes, but the flavour's really good. It's not a huge cake, but it's nice eaten warm as a pudd., or you could eat it cold as a cake with your afternoon cuppa. 100g butter 100g caster sugar 200g sr flour 1 large egg pinch salt 500g cooking apples 55g sultanas 1 tspn cinnamon 55g demerara sugar Preheat oven 190C/gas 5. Grease and line a 20cm springform tin. Melt butter in microwave or pan. Remove and add the sugar, flour, egg and salt. Mix to a stiff dough. Put 2/3 of the dough in the bootom of the cake tin, pressing it to cover the base. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and then put on top of the dough. Put the 1/3 of the dough on top in pieces, tearing it and gently pressing it down. It won't cover the apple mixture. Bake for about 50 mins till golden, but cover with some foil for about the last...

A tin of Carnation caramel was lurking in the back of the cupboard, and carrying on with my biscuit theme, thought I could use it as a filling in a double biscuit. I have an easy shortbread recipe given to me many years ago when I was a student, by my Scottish landlady, and this would go really well with the caramel. You must use butter for these to get the lovely flavour. Shortbread: 350g plain flour 110g cornflour 110g caster sugar 225g butter Filling: tin caramel 100g dessicated coconut -optional Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Cream the butter and sugar either by hand or with electric mixer on a low speed till nice and smooth. Sift the flours together and add to the mixture. Work the flours in by hand. Knead the dough till it's smooth then wrap in clingfilm and chill for about 30 mins. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 5mm and cut out rounds with a cutter, the size depending on how big you want your biscuits! Put the biscuits on baking sheets a...

This is another variation of my basic cookie recipe.  We love pears and finding some dried ones, I had to make some cookies. You could use other nuts if you prefer, other dried fruit too - I've used dried cranberries and cherries and these are good. Here's the basic recipe again: :Oven 190C/375F/gas5. Grease a baking sheet or line with parchent paper or a silicone sheet. Basic recipe: 225g soft butter 140g caster sugar 1 beaten egg yolk 2 tspn vanilla extract 280g plain flour pinch salt Beat butter and sugar together in a bowl with a wooden spoon, then beat in egg yolk and vanilla essence. Stir in the flour and salt. Mix together to make a ball of dough. Additional ingredients: 55g ready to eat dried pears, chopped finely 55g pistachio nuts, chopped some whole pistachio nuts to decorate This time, add the nuts and pears after the flour and mix it all together into a ball of dough. Take spoonfuls and roll into balls, put on baking sheets and spac...

The other day I found a Scandinavian cookery book in a local charity shop, and this recipe was in it. We have one lone rhubarb plant in the garden, and there was just enough ready to pick to use in this cake. I've adapted the recipe to the kind of cake I wanted, so I'm claiming it as mine now! It makes a small amount of rhubarb into a delicious dessert, tho' it's not a big cake if you have a family to feed. 2eggs 150g caster sugar 90g plain flour 1/2 tspn baking powder about 250g rhubarb 50g cold butter 1 tspn cinnamon 2 tbspn pearl sugar Preheat oven 175C/gas 3/4 Grease and line a 20cm springform tin [make sure you grease the tin well or the cake will stick like glue!] Cut the rhubarb into about 1cm pieces. Beat the eggs and sugar with a mixer till it's pale and nice and fluffy. Then fold in the flour and baking powder. Pour this batter into the tin and put the rhubarb on top, pushing it into the batter. Then cut the butter into thin slices - it ...

My friend and her family went to Norway on holiday recently, and she sent me a postcard, in English, with the recipe for cinnamon buns [kannelbullar]. Presume kannel means cinnamon like cannelle in French. I just had to try some. I decided to use my bread maker to make the dough, and then just had to roll it out, fill, roll it up, cut and give it a second rise. It worked out really well, and I'm very happy with the result. You can, of course, make the dough by hand. The recipe said it made 12, but I made one too big so only got 11! Dough: 2 tspns instant yeast [I used 1 sachet and it worked fine] 60g butter 50g sugar 150ml milk which has been scalded and cooled 1 egg 1/2 tspn salt 1 heaped tspn freshly ground cardamom 325g strong white flour Filling: 60g soft butter 60g caster sugar 3 tspns ground cinnamon pearl sugar Beat the egg and divide in half - half for dough and half to glaze buns. Bread machine - put all the ingredients into the bucket and run on ...

Now that my son is living at home, we seem to get through an awful lot of biscuits and cakes. I thought I'd start to make my own biscuits/cookies to fill the biscuit tin, so at least I know what's in them. I love most  American cookies as well as lots of great British favourites like digestives, shortbread, bourbon etc. so thought that in the next few weeks I'd bake a mixture. With cookies, once you've found a good basic recipe, you can adapt it in many ways. When we lived in the US, my lovely neighbour gave me lots of her family recipes, including a basic one for cookies. This is it, adapted to UK measures and ingredients. Oven 190C/375F/gas5. Grease a baking sheet or line with parchent paper or a silicone sheet. Basic recipe 225g soft butter 140g caster sugar 1 beaten egg yolk 2 tspn vanilla extract 280g plain flour pinch salt Beat butter and sugar together in a bowl with a wooden spoon, then beat in egg yolk and vanilla essence. Stir in the flour...

If you like Hershey's peanut butter cups, then these are for you. They aren't the healthiest of options, but as a treat they're very moreish. Great as a packed lunch surprise for no1 son, who's working long hours during the Olympics. - hope it will give him extra energy! . 120g unsalted butter 175g icing sugar 260g smooth peanut butter 12 digestive biscuits made into crumbs 60g unsalted butter 90g chocolate chips or chopped chocolate You don't need an oven to make these. Line a 20cm square cake tin with foil, leaving some hanging over the sides and butter the foil. Melt the 120g butter in a saucepan over a low heat. When melted, take off the heat and add the icing sugar. Stir till smooth. Add the peanut butter and the crumbs and again stir till smooth. Spread this mixture into the cake tin and smooth the top. Melt the 60g of butter in the same saucepan and add the chocolate.Stir till it's nearly melted, then take off the heat and stir till it...

Thought I'd post my newest acquisitions from charity shops and a school fete. Have run out of shelf space, but am sure I'll find room for them somewhere. I've wanted this book for ages as it's a classic of its time.  I know it's not the first edition, but it's a fair-sized tome and cost me £2 in a local charity shop, a bargain. Can't wait to try out some of the cakes! It's a good read for wet weather!  This is my second find. I've been rewatching the series after SK, so to find the book for 75p in my local school fete was great. I've already marked several recipes to try. Watch this space! My last find, again in a local charity shop [we have a lot of them in town] and it cost me £1. I recorded the series a while ago, when it was yet again repeated, on the Food Channel, I think. I love their style, especially Clarissa. They both are larger than life, as is some of their food!

Chocolate cake 'fashions' have come and gone over the last 30 odd years. There was the Black Forest gateau, the Sachertorte, truffle torte, lots of poor imitations of the River Cafe's gorgeous Nemesis cake to name but a few. I've tried most of these, but the recipe I come back to when the family want a chocolate cake is this one. I've been making it for a long time, but think it was originally a Delia recipe. I like using oil in cakes, and this one is really moist and keeps well - a joke in this house! It's a good sized cake too, and it can be dressed up for an occasion with ganache or whatever you fancy. Today's version is unadorned except for a filling of Nutella and a smattering of icing sugar on the top. 275g plain flour 3 tbspn cocoa powder 11/2 tspn baking powder 11/2 tspn bicarb. of soda 215g caster sugar 3 tbspn golden syrup 3 eggs [large] 225ml sunflower oil [I use rapeseed] 225ml milk 2x 20cm sandwich tins [about 4cm deep], greased and...

I love the French macarons, buut I also like English macaroons. Think they both come from the same root - A macaroon  is a type of light, baked confection, described as either small cakes or meringue-like cookies depending on their consistency. The original macaroon was a "small sweet cake consisting largely of ground almonds"similar to Italian amaretti. [Wikipedia] Had some almonds lurking at the back of the cupboard so this is a great recipe to use them. Haven't bothered with the rice paper you usually find on them. Makes about 28 200g ground almonds 200g caster sugar 1/4 tsp finely ground cardamom 2 egg whites (from large eggs) approx. 25g blanched almonds for the top of the macaroons. Preheat the oven to 200ºC//gas 6 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment or preferably a silicone sheet. Mix together the ground almonds, sugar, ground cardamom and egg whites, and knead with your hands or use the flat beater in a freestanding mixer until you ha...

Honey and almonds are 2 of my favourite flavours, so both in the same recipe makes it a 'must bake'. The 2 flavours make me think of a trip we had to Morocco and Moorish baking, which I love. The base is shortcrust pastry and I use double Delia's recipe from her 'Complete Cookery Course' so I use  220g plain flour, 50g each of soft butter and lard, a pinch of salt and enough water to bind together. This makes 250g pastry. You also need: 150g apricot puree [I used apricot preserve] 125g butter 50g caster sugar 75g honey 3 eggs + little beaten egg 50g ground almonds 100g sr flour Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease a 35x12cm loose base tart tin [I bought one from Lakeland]. Roll pastry out on floured surface and line the tart tin. Spread a layer of apricot puree/preserve over the pastry - it's easier if you use the back of a spoon. Cream the butter, sugar, honey and eggs together, then add the ground almonds and flour and mix gently. Spoon into t...

My lovely dil bought me a silicone kugelhopf mould and I've been looking for a good recipe to use it. This is the Hairy Biker's chocolate cake recipe from their 'Bakeation' programmes. I presume 'gugelhupf'' [Austrian] uses the same mould as a 'kugelhopf' [German]! Here's their recipe from the Beeb - it's also in their 'HB big book of Baking'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolate_cake_20610 I didn't put any ground almonds in the mould before putting the mixture in, and I didn't decorate the cake with almonds or sugar, but otherwise I followed their recipe. The cake has a lovely firm but moist texture, and a good chocolate flavour, slightly nutty. The icing holds its shape well as you spoon it over the cake.

There are several very similar recipes for this cake - Nigella has one, Claudia Roden has one and I'm sure there are many more. This one comes from Diana Henry in her lovely book 'Crazy Water Pickled Lemons.' I love Moroccan food and there are some great recipes in this book. A good tip I've learnt from a cyber friend is that instead of boiling the orange for an hour as stipulated in the recipe, you can cook it in the microwave and speed up the whole process. You prick the skin of the orange and microwave it on high for about 8 minutes, turning the orange around after a few minutes, just as you would a potato. Saves a lot of time and energy. cake: 1 orange 3 eggs 250g caster sugar 55g plain flour 1tsp baking powder 200g ground almonds icing sugar for dusting for the cream: 55g fine-shred orange marmalade 125g  mascarpone cheese 30ml (2 tbsp) Greek yoghurt icing sugar to taste 5ml (1 tsp) orange flower water Preheat oven to 180˚C (350˚F) Gas Mark 4...

 Yet another loaf cake to add to my collection! This is basically a pound cake or Sandkuchen with the addition of ground hazelnuts. 250g unsalted butter at room temperature 250g caster sugar 4 large eggs 250g plain flour 2 tspns baking powder 100g ground hazelnuts Preheat oven to 180°C/ gas 4 Grease a 900g loaf tin. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer or 5 with a hand-held. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Gradually add the sieved flour and baking powder, a third at a time, until each third is well incorporated. Finally add the ground hazelnuts and mix them in well.  Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for about 60 minutes until it is well risen and firm to the touch. If it starts to brown too much cover the top with foil. When it's cooked, cool on a wire rack. You can ring the changes by adding two chopped apples instead for an apple cake, 150g chopped...

I love to drink cappuccino, and these little cakes are my cake version. They're a Victoria sponge mixture really, so are very easy to make using the all-in-one method. 3 tspn instant coffee 2 tspn boiling water 175g soft butter or margarine 175g muscovado sugar 175g sr flour 1/2 tspn baking powder 3 eggs To decorate 300ml thick creme fraiche [or double cream if you want to be more decadent] 75g pieces of dark chocolate Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease a 12-hole muffin tin. Dissolve the coffee in the water. Beat the rest of the ingredients together in a mixer till it's smooth and add the coffee. Put the mixture into the muffin tin and smooth the tops. Bake for about 12-14 mins till well risen. Cool on a wire rack. Whip the creme fraiche till it has little peaks. Cut the cakes in half and fill with some of the creme. Decorate the top with a little more creme and add some chocolate pieces to decorate. I like these cakes because they're not too swee...

  I still had a couple of pears left in the fruit bowl after making the pear cake, so decided to make some muffins. I played around with my basic muffins recipe and came up with this one - pears and walnuts are 2 of my favourite things. I usually make muffins in paper cases, but I've noticed that a lot of crumb gets stuck to these, so this time I decided to make them directly in the muffin tin. Although the tin is non-stick, I greased the holes and dredged over a little flour just to make doubly sure the muffins would pop out easily, which they did. 180ml milk 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1 large egg 225g wholewheat flour or white plain flour if you prefer 2 tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt ½ tsp ground cinnamon 150g demerara sugar 1 large firm but ripe pear 50g coarsely chopped walnuts 1-2 tbsp demerara sugar for sprinkling Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas mark 6, and lightly grease and flour a 12 hole muffin tin. Put the milk, oil and egg in a small mixin...

We love apple cakes, and as there were a few wrinkly apples to use up, I found this recipe in my binder; it's one I've not tried before. Anything with cinnamon is a winner with me, and if it's easy to make, it's a double winner! The other good thing about this cake is that it freezes well [or so the recipe says]. 2 large apples, peeled and cored [ I used 3 Royal Gala] 125g butter or margarine, softened 125g caster sugar 2 eggs 1 tspn vanilla extract 200g plain flour 11/2 tspn baking powder 1 tspn cinnamon 100g sour cream or creme fraiche - I used creme fraiche 1 tbspn apricot jam Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease and line a 23cm tin. Beat the butter and sugar together till white and fluffy, then beat in the eggs. Add the baking powder and cinnamon to the flour and fold into the mixture, then add the vanilla and sour cream or creme fraiche. Mix together gently till smooth. Chop 1 of the apples into chunks and add to the mixture. Slice the other one. Spoon...

The Welsh name means speckled or mottled bread.  My Gran used to used make it regularly, and we loved it spread with butter. There are many versions of this recipe, some use yeast and others use baking powder. This is my Gran's recipe which I've tweaked a bit, and it's very easy to make. 450g/1lb dried mixed fruit 250g/9oz brown sugar 300ml/½ pint warm black tea [I used a Breakfast tea] 2 tsp mixed spice 450g/1lb self-raising flour 1 egg beaten.  In a large bowl soak the fruit and sugar in strained tea and leave overnight. Next day preheat the oven to 170C/Gas 3. Line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment. Mix the remaining ingredients into the fruit mixture and beat well. The mixture will be soft and runny. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for 1½ hours or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Serve sliced and buttered.

I've been doing some Easter baking with my grandson and thought I'd post the things we've made. First were some chocolate nest cakes, you know the ones - cornflakes in melted chocolate. Quick, easy and fun. I'd made some chocolate butter icing for another cake, so I piped a bit under the eggs so they wouldn't fall off! We also made some rabbit biscuits.  Tom's favourite is the 3rd one from the left in the top row - he pulled the ear straight before we baked them! We used some silver balls for their eyes and some bits of glace cherries for their noses and mouths. We made 12 biscuits, and after Grandad and I had eaten one each, the rest went home for his brothers and parents. They were greatly appreciated, as were the chocolate nest cakes. Here's the recipe, which is from an Easter magazine supplement in 1985! 225g plain flour 175g butter or margarine 115g caster sugar 55g currants 1 medium egg yolk Preheat oven 180C/gas 4 Grease a bak...

I've been watching the Hairy Bikers "Bakeation' and have enjoyed seeing the interesting breads and pastries which are made in Europe. I decided that I wanted to try one out, and found this recipe for 'Kolaches' in a cookery book about world cooking. They're Czech pastries and are often eaten at festivals such as Easter, so it's an appropriate time to make them. In the book there's a choice of 2 fillings for the buns - apricot or cheese. I decided on apricot, as I'd just bought some last weekend. The recipe uses a breadmaker, but they could, of course, be made by hand. I used my breadmaker the other day to make the dough for Hot Cross Buns, and this recipe has some of the same ingredients. It makes 16 pastries. 1 egg 120ml milk 60g butter 60g sugar 1/2 tspn salt 250g strong white flour packet quick yeast icing sugar to dust Beat the egg and milk together and pour into the breadmaker pan. Add the sugar, butter and salt and then the flou...

I've been doing some more baking with my grandson, and we made these treats. He loves fudge! They looked so moreish we had to try them. I know they're calorific, but as a treat...! The recipe comes from a magazine supplement on biscuits. 50g flaked almonds and a few for the top 75g fudge, chopped 200g plain flour 1/2 tspn bicarb. of soda 125g butter 125g light muscovado sugar 1 egg 1 tspn vanilla essence Preheat oven 180c/gas 4 Line a baking sheet with parchment. Pur flour and bicarb. in a bowl and rub in butter till breadcrumbs. Stir in the almonds, fudge and sugar and mix together. Whisk egg and vanilla and add to the fudge mixture and mix till blended. Put large tbspns of mixture on sheet, leaving spaces between them. Put a flaked almond on top. Bake for 12-15 mins. Leave on tray for 10 mins then put onto a wire rack. They really are moreish, but very sweet. You could taste the fudge, but I thought it would have some texture - maybe I chopped it too sma...

I've started making bread again and trying different flours. I bought some spelt last week and made a lovely loaf with it. I had some left, so made some of these little cakes for my friend, who came to have a cuppa with me yesterday. The recipe was on my bag of flour. 175g butter, softened 175g caster sugar 3 eggs 150g spelt flour pinch of salt 1 tspn baking powder 25g cornflour 3 tbspn milk 10tbspn honey, warmed 25g hazelnuts or pistachios, chopped Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease 10 - 12 small rectangular tins, a 12 hole 'financier' tin [I bought mine in France] or a 12 hole muffin tin. Beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly, beating between each addition. Fold in the spelt flour, the salt and the cornflour. Add the milk and mix till smooth. Divide into the tins and bake for 20 mins, till golden and firm. When cool, drizzle each cake with a tbspn of warm honey and sprinkle with the nuts. You can make a loaf cake in a 900g ...

I couldn't let St David's Day pass without making some of my Granny's welshcakes. I have her bakestone too [or llechfaen as she called it], rather black but still usable. Her recipe was in ozs and lbs so I've changed it to metric. 450g flour 1 tspn baking powder 110g margarine 110g lard 175g currants 1 tspn mixed spice 1 egg 2 tbspn milk Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl then rub in the fat. Add the fruit and spice and mix in. Beat the egg and add to mixture to make a firm dough. if needed add siome of the milk. Don't make the dough wet! Roll onto a floured board to about 1/4 " and cut into rounds. Cook on a greased bakestone or heavy bottomed frying pan for about 3 mins each side till golden. Cool and sprinkle with sugar. I don't use lard or margarine, I use butter. Granny used to make about 30 Welsh cakes out of this amount; I seem to make much less - about 16! They're best eaten warm on the day they're made, as th...

Honey cakes are supposed to be some of the oldest cakes in history. It's not something I've ever made, so wanted to try this recipe, from an old cookery book called 'The complete book of baking' inherited from Mum. The recipe says that it's best made a week before you need it! It also uses rye flour, which I couldn't find in my local supermarket, but did find in Waitrose. No fat or sugar in the cake so it must be good for you!! 175ml honey - acacia if possible 3 eggs, beaten 300g rye flour 1 tspn cinnamon 120g ground almonds or hazelnuts 2 tbspn dark run [opt] 1/2 tspn bicarb. of soda 1 tbspn milk almond halves to decorate Preheat oven 175C/gas 4 Grease a deep 30x20 tin [12x8"] Warm the honey in the jar in a pan of hot water then pour into a bowl and whisk till frothy and thick. Beat in the eggs and gradually add the flour. Mix the spices and nuts together and stir in the rum [if using] and add to the honey and egg mixture. Dissolve the bi...