COOKBOOKS GALORE

Had some friends coming to stay over the weekend, so decided to make some small cakes to have with tea. I bought a book in a charity shop a while ago, called 'The Encylopedia of Baking'; it has no author and I think it was originally published in Germany. It has some unusual cake and biscuit recipes, so I thought I'd make these almond praline creams, as I had half a bag of flaked almonds left over from the almond and honey cake. The creams look a bit like whoopie pies, and  I think they're really more like a cross between a cake and a biscuit. It's a basic sponge cake recipe, and whatever they are, cake or biscuit, they taste good, and the ingredient list is short and you've probably got everything in your store cupboard. The recipe makes about 30 biscuits. 4 egg yolks 20g caster sugar pinch salt 200g plain flour 75g flaked almonds 200g Nutella or any hazelnut chocolate spread 40g dark chocolate Preheat oven 200C/gas 6 Grease a baking sheet and...

We're going to have a quiet Easter this year, just the 2 of us on Easter Sunday, but we had friends coming on Good Friday. I'd made  Hot Cross Buns, but wanted to make a nice dessert to have after the fish pie. I fancied a cheesecake, but a baked one, and looked in my books and online for inspiration. I found this recipe, and as we love honey and I adore cinnamon, it was just the thing. It was on an Australian blog, in cups, so I've changed the measures and adapted the recipe to suit our tastes. It uses cottage cheese and cream cheese and I wasn't sure about this, but it tasted delicious. It's an unusual cheesecake in that it has a pastry base - so is it a cheesecake? Well, seeing how much cheese is in it, I think so! pastry: 225g plain flour 125g cold butter, chopped up 55g caster sugar 1 egg yolk 2 tbspn finely grated lemon rind about 3 tspns cold water Filling: 250g cottage cheese 250g cream cheese 265g honey 110g caster sugar ...