COOKBOOKS GALORE

I'm on a quest to find the perfect scone. I've tried recipes from various people - Delia, Mary Berry, Nigella etc but still haven't found one that really makes me feel - yes, that's it! Trying out yet another recipe today, one I've made before, I decided to try using some mascarpone as well as milk to make it more moist. I also used soft light brown sugar instead of my usual caster sugar. Would this be my perfect scone? Here's my adapted recipe: 340g sr flour 1 tspn baking powder 80g butter in pieces 2 tbpsn soft light brown sugar 80g mascarpone 90ml milk 1 beaten egg to glaze the tops Preheat oven 190C/gas 6-7 I used a silicone mat on my baking sheet, but a dusting of flour on a sheet would be fine. Put the flour, baking powder, butter and sugar in a food processor and blitz till breadcrumbs. Add the mascarpone and blitz for a couple of seconds. If you don't want to use a processor just rub the fat into the flour and sugar then rub in the mas...

At long last our rhubarb plants in the garden have got their act together and produced a decent amount of fruit. I made a crumble and a cake, both of which I put in the freezer, and wanted to use up the last pieces. This is my dil's favourite muffin recipe - not with rhubarb and chocolate, but she loves blueberries and raspberries. I found the addition of Greek yoghurt rather unusual, as I usually use milk. I was going to just make rhubarb muffins, then found I had some white chocolate to use up; it's a good combination. 80g butter 150g sugar 1 tspn vanilla extract 2 large eggs, beaten 100ml Greek yoghurt 225g flour + 1 tspn baking powder 400g rhubarb chopped into small pieces 150g white chocolate, chopped Preheat oven 200C/gas6 Filla 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases Beat butter and sugar together. Add the beaten eggs, vanilla extract and yoghurt and gently combine. Fold in the flour and then add the rhubarb and chocolate. Blend together thoroughly, but do...

The title is not quite correct because I couldn't find any Key limes! I've made this cake before using oranges, which were the fruit used in the original recipe.It's  from Woman's Weekly magazine, but when I don't know, as it's in my recipe folder. I thought I'd try it with limes, and it turned out well. It's a thick layer of mousse, and it's definitely a dessert cake, rather than a cake to have with a cuppa. I haven't used the original cake recipe either this time, as I wanted to make a Victoria sandwich. 175g butter 400g caster sugar- 175g for the cake 3 eggs 175g sr flour 1 tspn baking powder 400ml double cream 250g mascarpone cheese juice and rind of 5 limes juice of a small orange 1 tbspn gelatine powder icing sugar to dust if you want the filling really green, you can use a few drops of green colouring, which I did. Preheat oven 160C/gas 3 Grease and line a 23cm springform tin. Beat the butter and 175g of the sugar togethe...

On Sunday May 19th it's World Baking Day and there's some great baking recipes to try. Just found it by chance. http://worldbakingday.com/#/en-gb/recipes I've mentioned before, that from time to time I bake with one of my grandsons. For some reason he really loves apricots, and he wanted to bake something using them. In a very old 'Blue Peter' activity book, from when my children were young, we found a recipe for these biscuits. They're quirky and T. loved making them, as they had apricots on them. We made 12 biscuits, and T went home with the recipe [and most of the biscuits!] to make them with his Mum. 150g plain flour 7g [about 21/2 tspns] vanilla sugar or 1 packet [or you could use caster sugar and some vanilla extract] pinch salt 150g cornflour 150g butter - cold and cut into pieces 250g tin of apricots in syrup 75g icing sugar 1 tspn or so of lemon juice Preheat oven 200C/gas6 Grease a baking tray. Mix the 2 flours, vanilla sugar and sal...