COOKBOOKS GALORE

 Not been around for a while because I haven't been well. Hope everyone had a good Christmas and a belated Happy New Year! It's January, so must be Galette de Rois time again! I love these and made several of them to take to our French group's postponed Christmas get together. One of them was apple; I know I have already put 2 or so recipes for apple ones on here, but this one is so quick and easy that it's almost a must make! You need: 2 sheets of puff pastry, 125g caster sugar, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 500g apples, peeled and sliced, 1 tspn cinnamon and 1 egg yolk.  Pr4e4heat oven to 220C/gas7                 You need a baking sheet Put the apples in a pan with the sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Simmer for 20 mins then put aside to cool. Roll out of the pastry sheets and cut a large circle [I drew around my biggest flan tin]. put this on the baking tray and spread the apple mixture on top, leaving a 3 cm edge all round. Wet this edge...

A Happy New Year! Bonne Année!  I can't let Epiphany pass without a Galette, and I think we all need something sweet to keep us going in these difficult times.  I asked my French friend for ideas for something different and she sent me this recipe. I found the ground hazelnuts in Waitrose, or you could grind your own. So you need: 2 sheets of butter puff pastry, 125g ground hazelnuts, 100g dark chocolate, 100ml single cream, 1 egg, 75g caster sugar, 50g melted butter, 1 tspn vanilla extract and 1 egg yolk Preheat oven 200C/gas6                       Baking sheet Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in the microwave or over a pan of simmering water. Beat the egg with the sugar till fluffy. Add the melted chocolate and mix well. Add the hazelnuts and vanilla extract and stir together. Roll out the first sheet of puff pastry and cut out a circle using a large dinner plate or something similar. Place on the baking she...

I always try and make a galette in January. You can find them in all the pastry shops and supermarkets in France, as they're made to celebrate the arrival of the Kings on January 6th. Have sadly lost all my little fèves that I collected [the little china figures that go into the galette des rois]. Whoever finds the fève is king or queen for the day and gets a crown! Decided to make it a bit different this year and added chocolate to the frangipane. It's so useful to have the puff pastry ready cut out into a circle, as in France, but a large dinner plate used to cut round to make the circle is fine. You need: 2 packs of butter puff pastry, 200g dark chocolate, 125g ground almonds, 125g caster sugar, 125g soft butter, 25g plain flour, 3 eggs and 1 yolk, and 1/2 tspn almond extract Preheat oven 200C                             A baking sheet Beat the eggs and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add the alm...

I love to make one of these traditional French galettes, but wanted to make it a bit different so added some apples. You need: 2 packs of puff pastry, 3 eating apples, 200g crème fraîche, 200g ground almonds, 100g caster sugar + 40g, 3eggs and 1 egg yolk Preheat oven 220C/gas7                 A baking tray Cut the apples up into small cubes and put into a pan with the 40g of sugar. Caramelise for about 10 mins. Add 1 tbspn of the cream and mix together. In a bowl mix together the rest of the cream and the 100g of sugar, the ground almonds and eggs. Put this in the fridge for 10 mins. Roll out the pastry sheets. Cut out 2 large circles [I used a large dinner plate]. Put one of the circles on the baking tray and cover with the apples. If you have one, put a bean or little fêve in then spoon over the almond mixture. Cover with the second circle of pastry and pres the edges together. Dilute the egg yolk with 1 tbspn water then brush ove...