COOKBOOKS GALORE

 One of my favourite French desserts is a Clafoutis. It's usually made with cherries, and the question is whether to leave the stones in or take them out! I've read that leaving them in adds flavour, but I don't like finding stones in my dessert so I always take them out. I like to add some vanilla extract too. So for the Clafoutis you need: 500g cherries [stoned] 300ml milk 125g flour 100g caster sugar 3 eggs 20g butter [to butter dish] pinch salt icing sugar to dust Preheat oven 180C/gas5                         Grease a 23cm flan dish In a bowl sprinkle 50g of the sugar over the cherries and leave aside. Break the eggs and beat them together. Add the flour, rest of the sugar, a tspn of vanilla extract and the milk. Beat well to make a batter. Add a pinch of salt. Put the cherries in a layer in the base of the dish and pour over the batter. Bake for 35-40 mins till set. When cool, sift some icing sugar over the top....

                 There was a special offer on British blueberries at my local supermarket, so I bought several punnets.  I love them for breakfast, in muffins and in one of my favourite cakes, blueberry lemon yoghurt cake. Watching Monty last week, he said to pick any lemons that were ripe, so this gave me the lemon for  my cake. It's an easy cake to make too.   Preheat oven 180C/gas4                     Grease and line 20cm springform tin you need: 125g softened butter,150g caster sugar, 175g sr flour, 100g Greek yoghurt, 3 eggs, grated zest of 1  large lemon,  130g blueberries For the icing: 100g icing sugar, juice of the lemon   Cream the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy. Add the flour, yoghurt and eggs and beat together. Stir in the lemon zest. Spoon half of the batter into the tin. Mix most of the blueberries into t...

Thought I'd post something sumptuous for Valentine's Day. I'm cheating a bit because my daughter made this, with a little help from me. It's a lovely dessert with a meringue base, delicious chocolate cream layer, more meringue, then topped with a good layer of grated chocolate. You could buy 2 large meringue discs to save making them. This is a recipe from my French friend, and she says it originates in the North of France. Meringues:  2 egg whites, 60g caster sugar and 60g icing sugar Ganache:     150g dark chocolate, 150ml single cream Topping:      100g grated dark chocolate It's best to make the meringues the day before, but it's up to you! Heat oven 160C/gas3              Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone sheets Beat egg whites till stiff and add half of the 2 sugars. Whisk again then add the other half and whisk till shiny. Put into a piping bag and pipe into 2 large discs onto ...

This is the cake I  decided to make for a get together of the helpers in our Toddlers’ group. It’s just a coffee Victoria sandwich, and I used espresso powder to give it a better coffee flavour. I now find that buttercream is a bit sweet for me. Guess your tastes change as you get older. I used mascarpone flavoured with espresso. So it’s the usual mixture - 225g each of butter, caster sugar and sr flour, 1 tspn baking powder, 4 eggs and 2 dspn espresso coffee powder. Filling and topping : 250g tub of mascarpone, 1 dspn espresso powder, 1 dspn sifted icing sugar Preheat oven 180C                    Grease and line 2x20cm sandwich tins. For the cakes - dissolve the coffee powder in the eggs. Put all the ingredients in a bowl of a stand mixer or use an electric hand mixer. Beat together till smooth. Spoon into the tins and bake for about 25mins. Turn onto a wire rack to cool. For the icing- beat the mascarpone, icing sugar...

On Wednesday mornings I help with a Toddlers group. We're having a little Christmas party next week so have been trying out some biscuits. My grandson was here testing the results! This recipe came originally from Woman's Weekly, I think. It's in a pull-out about baking with children at Christmas. How many stars you make depends on the size of your star cutter! For the biscuits you need: 370g plain flour, 200g soft butter, 120g caster sugar, 3 egg yolks and a pinch of salt A star biscuit cutter For the decoration: red Smarties, 150g icing sugar, 1 egg white, 6 squares of chocolate to melt , red and white sugar sprinkles In a bowl or mixer beat the butter, sugar and egg yolks till it's creamy. Add the salt and flour and mix together. Bring together into a ball, cover in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 30 mins. Preheat oven 160C/gas3                                  Cover a baking tray wit...

The friend I've mentioned before on here, who owns a tea shop, came over at the weekend and brought me some strawberries grown locally. I wanted to make a tart with some of them, so found a French recipe in a folder for this one. The pastry is 'une pâte sablée', a rich sweetened shortcrust, but it's made in a processor or mixer. The filling is just a mixture of mascarpone, ricotta and icing sugar and the whole is topped with sliced strawberries. For the pastry - 1 egg, 200g flour, 125g butter, 75g caster sugar, 50g ground almonds, 1 tspn almond essence [opt], pinch salt. For the cream - 250g each of mascarpone and ricotta and 100g icing sugar Topping - punnet of strawberries, sliced Preheat oven 200c/gas6          You need a 23cm tart tin Put all the ingredients for the pastry in a blender and mix till blended. Bring together into a ball, cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge for at least half an hour. Mix the cheeses and icing sugar together ...

We've been eating sweet potatoes for some time, but have never tried them in a cake. I wanted to make something different last week to take to OH's family get together, so decided to make a sweet potato cake. There are lots of recipes and ideas on the net, but many, as is usual with American cakes, had so much sugar.  I played around with a few recipes, tweaking this and that, and tried this one out first as muffins. It we didn't like them, the birds could have an early Easter present! They certainly tasted different, but pleasantly different, so decided to make the cake.  Lots of the recipes I looked at had a marshmallow frosting or some other sickly stuff. This one is one I've used many times since being given it by an American neighbour - it's not too sweet, and I love cinnamon! The first thing you need to do is to roast 2-3 medium sweet potatoes in oven 190C/gas5 for 45 mins or so till soft. Cool. You could cook them a couple of days before and keep them in...

I was in an experimental mood yesterday, so found this American recipe given to me by a friend. It's a sort of traybake pie, with pastry top and bottom and a chocolate filling. I love chocolate in any form and this sounded interesting. Preheat oven 180C/gas4           Grease and flour a 18x30cm cake tin. To make the pastry put 250g flour, 250g butter of margarine, an egg yolk and 4 tbspn of water into a processor and blitz. Wrap in cling film and put in fridge to rest. For the filling beat 6 egg whites till stiff; add 200g caster sugar gently. Mix in 5 egg yolks, one at a time. Add 1 tspn vanilla extract, 140g grated or melted dark chocolate and  the juice a a lemon and mix together carefully. Fold in 80g ground hazelnuts or walnuts with a spatula or spoon. Cut pastry in half and roll out one piece to fit the tin. Spoon over the chocolate filling then top with the other piece of pastry. Bake for about 30 mins till golden. You ca...

After all the indulgences of Christmas and the New Year, I thought I'd make a simple cake. The addition of rum makes it a bit different, and as I brought a bottle back from France, this is a good way of using some of it.  Doing some research about the origins of the rum, I found that in the 18th century it was very popular in Nantes, and came in on the trading ships from the Caribbean. The cake is perfumed, dense, moist and has a hint of almond, and to enhance the rum flavour, the traditional white icing is usually made with rum instead of water.  The cake: Preheat oven 180C/gas 4             Grease and base line a 23cm cake tin Beat 220g of room temperature butter with 250g caster sugar till white and fluffy. Gradually add 80g of sr flour, 200g ground almonds and 4 tbspn rum. Mix together thoroughly. One by one beat in 4 eggs. Spoon the batter into the tin and bake for 30-40 mins till golden. Cool on a wire rack. Icing: 3 tbspn icing...

I needed a simple recipe to use up some lemons I bought, and found many versions of this uncooked tray bake [I suppose it's not really a tray bake as it's not baked, but it's made in my Delia tray bake tin!]. I played around with several recipes till I made exactly what I wanted - a good lemony flavoured  slice with a decent amount of coconut and a lemon icing. It was perfect to make with my grandsons over the w/e. You put 125ml of condensed milk in a pan with 125g butter and stir till the butter has melted. In a food processor or using a plastic bag and a rolling pin, break a 250g packet of Nice biscuits into crumbs and put into a bowl with 1 tspn of grated lemon zest, 1 tspn lemon extract and 85g dessicated coconut. Add the butter mixture and stir together till well mixed. Line a baking tin 28x18cm with parchment paper and press the mixture in. Put in the fridge for about an hour. Make the icing - 250g icing sugar, 3 tbspn lemon juice and 15g butter - beat tog...

I love financiers - the little French almond flavoured cakes that look like little bricks. I wondered where they got their name, so after a bit of googling it seems that they were first made in the 19th century by a Parisian pastry chef near the Parisian stock exchange, and he made them look like little gold ingots. They became popular with the financiers, hence their name. Maybe this is the true story, or maybe not? Anyway we love them. I wanted to try a different flavour, and found this idea of using green tea on a French web site - they used it in muffins, so I thought I'd try it in financiers. The recipe makes about 24 cakes, but I only made half the mixture. 200g butter 200g icing sugar 6 egg whites 80g ground almonds 80g flour 2 level tspns of tea [I used green tea but other flavours could be used] butter for the moulds But butter in a solid based pan and bring slowly to the boil then cook gently on a low heat till nut brown [beurre noisette]. Take off the heat and...

My stepson and family came for the day this week, and we have a tradition of having a nice cake for afternoon tea. I've mentioned my lovely German dil before, and she really is a superb baker [ her profession is in catering], so I try and make something new each time they come. I decided on a chocolate cake, but with something different as filling. I found a jar of peanut butter in the cupboard – perfect - and is something I know we all like. I know it's calorific, but it's a special cake for an occasion. 200g sr flour 1 tspn baking powder 150g caster sugar 150g butter 200g dark chocolate 100ml milk 6eggs Filling 250g peanut butter [smooth, but if you wanted a different texture, crunchy] 100g butter 100g icing sugar Preheat oven 180C Grease and baseline 2x20cm cake tins Melt the chocolate and butter over a pan of simmering water. Whisk the eggs and sugar till light and frothy. Add the milk and gradually mix in the chocolate mixtur...

I wanted to make a sandwich cake for OH's birthday, but also wanted it to look a bit different. Had a large orange to use up, so decided to use it in the cake and to decorate it.  Recently I saw a tv chef add a flake bar to a chocolate cake, so thought I'd try the same, instead of using cocoa or melted chocolate. Cake: 225sr flour 175g soft butter 175g caster sugar grated rind of a large orange 3 eggs 2 crushed Flake bars 4 tbspn milk Icing: 100g soft butter 225g icing sugar juice of 1/2 the orange For the top: 1 orange divided into segments a little crushed Flake bar Preheat oven 170C/gas3 Grease and line a deep 20cm cake tin [or use 2 x 20cm sandwich tins] Cream butter, sugar and orange rind together till light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the crushed Flake bars and fold in the flour alternately with the milk. Spoon into the tin or tins, smooth top and bake for about 1-1/4 hrs till golden. Leave in tin for 10 mins then turn onto a...

Another one of my favourite loaf cake recipes. This one uses stem ginger to give a better flavour than ground ginger. I've found a similar shop to the much missed [by me anyway] Julian Graves stores, so I stocked up on walnuts and dried fruit, including apricots. This such a quick loaf to make, and you can chose whether to ice it or not. I think the recipe is a WI one, as my mil gave it to me, and she usually used their recipes. Preheat oven 180C/gas4 and grease and line a 900g loaf tin. In a large bowl put 115g wholemeal flour, 115g plain flour, 11/2tspns baking powder, 150g soft brown sugar, 115g soft butter, pinch salt, 2 beaten eggs, zest of a lemon and 2 tbspns of milk - beat it all together with an electric hand mixer. Stir in 175g chopped dried apricots [the no soak ones] and add 3 pieces of stem ginger chopped finely together with 4 tbspns of the ginger syrup. Finely slice a 4th piece of ginger and keep for the top. Spoon mixture into the tin, level, then arrange the 4...

I recently bought myself a Patisserie book, by Murielle Vallette. Among other things, I wanted to have a try at making my own puff pastry. This is an excellent book, as it has photos showing you all the steps. This time I didn't fancy making any of the suggestions in the book with my puff pastry, so made these easy turnovers. I adapted the ingredients from an idea I saw on Pinterest, which were turnovers using pear and walnuts. I had a search through my cupboard and found some cranberries lurking in the back. When I'd cooked the apples they were rather too mushy to put in the pastry, so I thickened them with some cornflour. I used Braeburn apples as they were in the fruit bowl, but you could use any apples. I decided to ice them with some simple glace icing. 2 apples peeled, cored and chopped into small dice sheet of butter puff pastry 50g brown sugar ¼ tspn cinnamon 30g dried cranberries 250ml water thickening: 30ml cold water ½ tbspn cornflour Cinnamon Icing: 6...

I love Sticky Toffee pudding, so having it in a cake form is my idea of heaven. The ingredients are virtually the same, just baked instead of steamed. Icing replaces the toffee sauce, but again you use almost the same ingredients. The recipe was given to me by a friend who runs a small cake shop, and this cake is one she makes regularly for her shop, and it's a best seller. So, first preheat your oven to 180C/gas4. Grease and line a 28x18cm tin. You need 225g of dates which you cut into pieces and put in a pan of water and bring to the boil. You boil them uncovered for about 10 mins till the dates are soft. Then take them off the heat and stir in 1 tspn of bicarbonate of soda, and leave to cool. Cream together 175g of soft brown sugar and 115g of butter of margarine; add a tspn of vanilla extract. gradually beat in 2 eggs and fold in the dates and 175g sr flour. Spoon this mixture into your tin and bake for about 35 mins till nicely risen. If you need to, cover the cake...

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...

A very Happy New Year! Here's to lots of great baking. After the success of the meringue on Christmas Day, I thought I'd try a variation as a dessert for New Year's Eve. I hunted through my cookbooks and folders and found a recipe for a meringue log in a Home and Freezer Christmas book. Anyone remember Home and Freezer magazines, littles ones which were always in racks by the checkouts? Anyway I thought it sounded ideal, although it has a fewextra ingredients in it, like mini marshmallows. You could use a chocolate sauce as the filling instead of the spread if you wanted, as this what was in the original recipe. I thought the spread would be more substantial when rolling up the log. I had visions of the sauce running out of the sides of the log! I know there's hazelnuts in the spread, but I don't think this will change the taste of the log very much. 5 egg whites, beaten 150g icing sugar, plus 1 tbsp extra 2 tsp cornflour, sieved  1 tbsp cocoa powder 400m...