COOKBOOKS GALORE

If you like Hershey's peanut butter cups, which I do, then these are for you. They aren't the healthiest of options, but as a treat they're very moreish.  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 has completely melted. Pour this over the layer in the tin and smooth. When cool, put into a fridge for at least 30 mins t...

On my friend Phil's lovely blog, As Strong as Soup, [ http://asstrongassoup.blogspot.com ]   he writes about Nonnettes and using honey. I haven't tried his recipe yet, but my Polish dil also gave me her  recipe for a Polish Honey cake. Every time I visit a farmer's market I always buy a jar of local honey, so have plenty to use in both recipes. I decided that I needed a large cake to take to a meeting yesterday, so made the Polish honey cake. It's called Piernik in Polish. There seem to be many varying recipes for this cake, but they all contain a mixture of ground spices. The recipe said to use a 22cm tin, but I don't have one this size, so used a 23 cm tin and it turned out fine. 500g plain flour, 2 tspn baking powder, 1/2 tspn ginger, 1/2 tspn cinnamon, 1/2 tspn cloves. 1/2 tspn allspice, grated zest of 1/2 orange, 25g chopped walnuts, 25g seedless raisins, 25g chopped figs, 300g honey, 90g caster sugar, 90g butter, 4 egg yolks, 2 tspn instant coffee dissol...

I love loaf cakes. They’re easy to make, easy to cut and so useful. A few very ripe bananas in the fruit bowl was my inspiration for this loaf cake. I added some pecans, and used the buttermilk left over in the fridge from making scones. Cake : 3 ripe bananas, 100g pecan nuts broken into small pieces, 100g soft butter, 175g soft brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 250g plain flour, 1 tspn bicarb, 1 tspn mixed spice, 100 ml buttermilk Topping: 1 small banana, sliced, Preheat oven 180C/gas4.        Grease and line base of 200g loaf tin Beat the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract, a bit at a time. Mash the bananas and add to the batter then add  flour, bicarbonate and mixed spice and fold in. Stir in the buttermilk then most of the nuts, saving a few bits for the top. Pour into the loaf tin, then put the sliced bananas on top and sprinkle over the rest of the nuts. Bake for about 45-50 mins. If...

I made this last week for a friend’s birthday. It’s easy to make, but looks impressive. It’s a pavlova with a top! For the cake you need : 4 egg whites, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, 125g light Muscovado sugar, 100g caster sugar, 1teaspoon white wine vinegar Filling: 200ml double cream, 250g strawberries Preheat oven 150C/gas 2.     Grease and base line 2 x20 cm sandwich tins Whisk egg whites and cream of tartar in bowl till stiff. Put the sugars together then add to the white a bit at a time. Whisk a few minutes more till nice and thick and shiny. Divide equally between the sandwich tins and bake for 35 - 45 mins till light brown. Cool on a wire rack. Whip the double cream to peaks. Save 8 strawberries and slice the rest up. Put one meringue on a plate and cover with half of the cream Sprinkle the strawberry slices over the cream then put the second meringue on top. Cover this with the rest of the cream then slice the 8 remaining strawberries in half and arrange in t...